One big thing that is often overlooked in the pursuit of good health is the importance of happiness.

Dr Derek Cox, Director of Public Health at Dumfries and Galloway NHS in Scotland believes that happiness could be more important than smoking in determining our health. Like doctors everywhere he tried to promote health by advising his patients to give up smoking, eat correctly and take more exercise but he found that this had very little effect on the mortality rate in his area.

He then started to look at the health benefits of happiness. In the BBC news article, The Health Benefits of Happiness he is quoted as saying:

If you are happy you are likely in the future to have less in the way of physical illness than those who are unhappy

Andrew Steptoe, the British Heart Foundation Professor of Psychology at University College London, has found that happier people also have greater protection against things like heart disease and strokes. Studies in the USA have found a similar correlation between happiness and health. Research by Robert Emmons and Michael McCullough show that people who kept a daily gratitude journal had higher levels of emotional and physical well-being.

Sometimes it is difficult to have control over our environment and it is not always possible to take control and direct things in ways we think will make us happy. Financial worries, especially in the present economic climate, effect us all too. However, I think it is important to take a more positive outlook on life.

My sister has recently recovered from breast cancer and she is the most positive person I know. She has had a very difficult time this last decade but she always looks for the positive things in all situations, refuses to dwell on the bad things which have happened or may happen in the future, is grateful for what she has now and actively goes out to find the things which give her pleasure instead of waiting for happiness to find her.

I think we all have a lot to learn from my sister. We alone are the creators of our own happiness. Our happiness should not depend on other people, the material possessions we have or do not have, places or events in our lives. Grab life the way it comes and make the best of it. Count your blessings every day and hopefully we will all live much healthier lives as a result.

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