Find Happiness to Improve Your Health

This study involved 80 volunteers who had their blood drawn after being asked the frequency that they felt “hedonistic pleasure” and/or deriving a sense of purpose in life by contributing to their community. Researchers found that “the genes of the volunteers whose lives contained lots of pleasure but little meaning were priming cells to express high levels of inflammation—which is linked to cancer, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease—and a weaker anti-viral response to infection.” Seeking short-term pleasure (and what is non-hunger eating but a fast high?) actually worked against their having good health. Alternately, participants who focused on community and service to others, “showed a pattern of gene expression linked to less inflammation and stronger immunity.” Many disregulated eaters chase quick pick-me-ups—praise for a job well done, a lift from buying new items, a jolt of pleasurable from success—due to genetic programming or modeling behavior after how their parents sought happiness. More likely, it’s a combination of both factors. Either way, short-term pleasure seeking isn’t serving their mental or physical health. It might seem paradoxical that helping others brings more happiness and better health than seeking pleasure, but that’s what this study is saying. Note that I’m not suggesting you stop taking care of yourself just to do for others. Take a minute to reflect on how often you help others and how you feel when you do. Maybe yo...
Source: Normal Eating - Category: Eating Disorders Authors: Source Type: blogs