The old saying “Health is a matter of luck” turns out to be more ambiguous than expected. Of course, staying healthy does also have something to do with luck. However, researchers have now discovered that happiness has a direct effect on health.
- Back problems as a risk factor
- The search for happiness
- Paths to happiness
- Living more mindfully and strengthening awareness
Back problems as a risk factor
The best example is the topic of “back health”: people who spend much of their day sitting down – the day in an office chair, the evening first in the car and then on the sofa – will inevitably develop back problems at some point. That is, unless they make sure to balance it out with sport, breaks and relaxation exercises. Doctors and health insurers recognised this long ago, offer appropriate back care courses and invest in prevention to keep the long-term effects for policyholders and, of course, the resulting costs for the healthcare system as low as possible. One point keeps coming up time and again: back health is also a question of mental well-being. A quarter of the population will experience back pain at some point in their lives – and it is not always caused solely by physical factors.
Chronic back problems in particular often have psychosomatic causes. That does not mean the patient is imagining the pain. Quite the opposite: it is usually very real, but in many cases the causes are more likely to be found in bullying, stress or unresolved blows of fate than in the wrong desk chair, a lack of exercise or skeletal disorders. It is easy to guess: the mind affects health. Scientists have now discovered that the mind influences not only the back, but overall health as well. In short: physical health is also a question of emotional balance.
In summary, the findings of current studies are as follows: Mental well-being has a significant impact on how susceptible someone is, for example, to back problems, circulatory disorders or viral illnesses. Specifically, grief and stress directly affect the heart, while pessimism raises blood pressure. Test subjects who are more optimistic and go through life with a fundamentally positive attitude have fewer problems with high blood pressure and even cope better with infectious diseases. Even viruses have a harder time with sunny dispositions. A study involving women shows most clearly how a person’s basic emotional outlook affects their health: those who go through life cynical and hostile die earlier than those who are generally content. Another study shows just how much psychological stress affects the heart: in four out of five cases involving heart attack patients, researchers suspect psychological factors among the causes.
The Search for Happiness
This naturally raises a whole series of questions. The most important one is: what is happiness? The Duden, the standard reference work for German spelling, defines happiness as “something that results from a combination of particularly favourable circumstances”, alternatively as a “fortunate twist of fate” or as a “pleasant and joyful state of mind in which someone finds themselves”.
In this case, the most fitting definition is probably the one that describes happiness as a pleasant and joyful state of mind. According to experts, brief happiness or euphoria is less beneficial to health. What really protects against health problems is a general sense of contentment, a positive outlook on life and a positive, or rather constructive, way of dealing with problems and obstacles. In this context, experts speak of an “emotional immune system” that begins to develop in early childhood.
Specifically, people who receive loving care as babies and children and do not have to experience violence develop greater resilience to stress and blows of fate. They cope better with strain, are less quickly affected psychologically and recover more quickly from the physical effects of emotional stress than people who were neglected as children or exposed to insecurity or physical violence. Between the ages of five and ten, a kind of happiness baseline then develops that remains largely stable for the future. Apart from fluctuations up and down, people keep returning to the basic state they acquired in their early years. That is not to say it cannot be changed when needed. With effort, people can raise their level of satisfaction through targeted exercises.
Paths to Happiness
Of course, it’s easy to treat yourself to an ice cream, the occasional trip to the cinema or a short break to give your happiness levels a quick boost. It’s also a proven fact that chocolate can make you happy in the moment; sex and regular exercise release happiness hormones too. Even hot chilli peppers, ginseng and vanilla flavouring are said to trigger the release of endorphins, the body’s feel-good hormones. There’s certainly no harm in treating yourself to a small piece of happiness on a regular basis. But anyone who generally goes through life with a gloomy or even cynical outlook will soon drop back to their previous level of contentment once that little emotional high wears off.
So what can you do to create lasting happiness – and therefore give yourself a better chance of good health? Since so much comes down to perspective, including how you view your own life situation, it can help to occasionally look at everyday mishaps from a different angle. If you tend to launch into the usual “Why does this always happen to me?” refrain in moments like these, then, without any finger-wagging, let’s be honest: first of all, that’s nonsense – fate strikes anytime and anywhere. Secondly, there’s a saying that may sound a bit trite: “It could always be worse.” And for all its simplicity, there’s some truth in it.
As annoying as a flat bike tyre in the garage first thing in the morning may be, for one thing, it can happen to any cyclist on the planet. And for another, the inner tube could just as easily have burst on the way to work, caused a fall and led to serious injury. So who really cares if you have to take the overcrowded tram instead or walk? Who cares if you arrive at work a little later? People who are serious about finding happiness even try not just to take something positive from the situation, but to add something to it. The bike stays where it is – but the sun is shining, so the walk to work can include a detour through the park or a quick espresso at the little café on the corner. If you’re going to be late for work anyway, you might as well do it in a good mood.
Drama is rarely much help when it comes to coping with everyday life. And yes, it can take effort and time. But working on your own happiness is certainly worth it. With just a few very small exercises, you can start to look at things more objectively: anyone who spends a day looking at every event from two sides will see just how many different solutions suddenly present themselves. It also doesn’t hurt to take a closer look at the people around you: am I surrounded by people who are good for me?
Life partners, friends, your social network and, not least, your own family harbour enough explosive potential to build up bit by bit and suddenly erupt. Saying “Stop, this far and no further!” does no harm and can actually benefit friendships or relationships – when said in the right tone and backed up with the right arguments. Because the reverse has been scientifically proven: dysfunctional or one-sided relationships are bad for your health. A healthy social environment is therefore also an essential part of an overall sense of happiness.
Living more consciously and strengthening awareness
The fact that organic food shops, slow food and physical relaxation practices such as yoga are so popular also reflects a key need in our fast-paced age: slowing down. When the day begins with a glance at your smartphone showing the appointments ahead, and breakfast has to be a quick coffee to go on the way to the office, it is hardly surprising that a countertrend was only a matter of time. What this expresses is the need to experience things consciously instead of always doing them on the side. Quite apart from the fact that focusing consciously on one thing is many times more efficient than rushing through tasks half-heartedly and making mistakes, small moments of mindful enjoyment bring a significant increase in quality of life. A conscious moment with a real cappuccino in a café, savouring the aroma of the coffee and genuinely enjoying the little chocolate biscuit that comes with it brings more happiness than a quick caffeine hit from the vending machine during a distracted break at your desk. The same applies to a consciously enjoyed bubble bath instead of a purely practical shower, or dinner at a Thai restaurant instead of a quick takeaway from the counter.
Of course, these little islands of happiness in everyday life do take a bit more time. But what are a few minutes saved really worth compared to greater happiness and better health?