Happiness and Health

Discourse that appeared in the film Eat Pray Love, starring Julia Roberts when he was on vacation to Italy. Julia Roberts plays Elizabeth Gilbert, author of the story of his search had been raised in the film. This film was very eagerly awaited Indonesian audiences because, in addition to taking setting in Italy and India, as well as Bali.

The title of this paper is taken from the main report quarterly magazine edition of the Harvard Public Health Review Winter 2011. Really happy mood (good mood) is a panacea? Can a cheerful appearance makes you less heart disease? Does hope and curiosity to protect us from hypertension, diabetes, and respiratory tract infections? Is it true that more people will live longer happier life, and if so, why?


That's the example of the questions posed researchers who explore new areas of public health are sometimes still controversial: documenting and understanding the links between positive emotions and good health.

So far is so much literature and research on how negative emotions harm our bodies. Chronic anger and anxiety can interfere with cardiac function by altering the heart's electrical stability, accelerate atherosclerosis (clogged arteries), and increased inflammation (inflammatory) systemic.

According to social psychiatrist Dr. Nalini Muhdi SpKJ from Airlangga University School of Medicine, is very much literature and scientific publications about the connection between negative emotions and health. One of them is a psychiatry textbook, written Psychosomatic Medicine Michael Blumenfield (2006), which also discusses mental-emotional conditions that increase the disease / heart attack.

Depression for example can increase levels of C-reactive protein (CRP) in blood flow berkiatan with inflammation or blood clotting or coagulation. Anger in addition to increasing blood pressure were also identified as one of the triggers of the most common and most decisive for the emergence of myocardial ischemia (reduced blood supply to the heart muscle) in daily activities.

Stress and a chronic feeling anxious can affect biological systems in our body such that a trigger of heart disease, stroke, and diabetes. The reason for the people who have experienced serious stress proved to have elevated levels of cholesterol and blood sugar. This according to Dr. Nalini evident from studies of patients who are facing major surgery that usually tense and anxious.

Luckily Laura Kubzansky, professor of the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) said, "negative emotions is just half the equation. Apparently there is a positive mental health benefits that make you not get depressed. What is, is still a mystery. But if we understand the series of processes involved, we would have insight into how health care works. "

Emotional Vitality

Kubzansky is a principal investigator who followed the health of more than 6,000 men and women aged 25-74 years over 20 years. He found, for example, emotional vitality, enthusiasm, hopelessly, excitement in life (elan vitalea), and the ability to face the pressures of life-proven lower risk of coronary heart disease. Protective effect is very realand can measurable ,although already take into account the behavioral variables ,such as not smoking and regular physical exercise  

Among the dozens of papers have been published HSPH since 2007, Kubzansky also explained that children who can stay focused to do the job and have a more positive appearance at age 7 years reported having better general health and have little disease 30 years later . Optimism proved also cut the risk of coronary heart disease by half.

Epidemiological research conducted Kubzansky and his team is a combination of experimental psychology and public health. HSPH Research is a breakthrough because it denies the old notion and opinion that states that mark the absence of positive emotions negative moods and habits that damage the body.

Kubzansky not agree with this view. "We believe that there is something beyond this phenomenon, and our scientists have just started gathering little by little evidence of biological mechanisms, behavioral, and cognitive berkelindan possible."

Research before it was proven to support the findings Kubzansky. In 1979, Lisa Berkman, director of the Center for Population and Development Studies at Harvard, then publish the results of research on about 7,000 adults in Alameda, California. Participants who reported less social ties at the beginning of the survey was more than twice the chance of dying after followed for nine years.

Dr Nalini gives some practical tips to maintain a balance between mental health and physical health, such as more actively involved in social activities, not so anxious and eliminate negative feelings, unrealistic expectations need to be lowered, oriented at the moment, be yourself, more regularly in life, like humor and smile / laugh, and relaxation activities, such as meditation to massage, yoga, and spa.

"Humor and laughter are proven to improve antibody immunoglobulin A (IgA) that help fight infection, increasing the number of T cells that are useful for fighting disease, and can lower blood pressure," said Dr. Nalini.

Therefore rajinlah laugh! Originally not laugh alone is not clear why .... And do not forget: Dolce far niente ....

source: IRWAN JULIANTO -- http://health.kompas.com