Some Profits for Being Happy

The health advantages of delight :)
About 30 million people received cure for depression on the year 2008 and the American Psychological organization reports: more than half of American people say they are stressed. It's becoming a major focus for doctors all over the world.

Here's what you want to know, to protect both of your mind and body.

These days, world-renowned speaker Deepak Chopra teaches that happiness is no longer just a mental quest, but a physical one. Chopra recently released his newest DVD "The Prescription for Happiness." Doctors are on the same page. They now have solid evidence your happiness directly affects your health.

"We discovered where ever a thought goes, a molecule goes and it affects your biology," he says. Well-being translates into a biological response because your brain secretes things like dopamine, and opiates and serotonin, oxytocin, all of which are hormones which make you happy."
Serotonin is the hormone that gives us that happy "feeling." Low levels can lead to, among other things, insomnia, fatigue and depression.

Doctors with the National Institute of Health have found during bouts of depression certain parts of the brain shrink by as much as 40%, and over-time that can do permanent damage.

Dopamine, known as the "pleasure system," controls emotional responses and movement. People with Parkinson's disease often have low dopamine levels.

Liz Vaccariello, author of the flat belly diet, studies why people who are depressed or stressed typically gain weight.

"Cortisol is the hormone that we create when we are stressed out and that makes us crave sweets and makes your body store extra calories that we consume as belly fat," she says.

What we can do about it is not rocket science, but some might be more obvious than others.

-Regular Exercise: most of us know this one. Regular exercise provides a host of benefits including maintaining weight and lowering blood pressure.

-Get "Good" Sleep: the body burns the most fat during "deep sleep", and re-sets chemical patterns in the body-which regulates everything from moods to memory.

-Get a Well-Balanced Diet: which includes vitamins b, d, and omega oils-which all help manage depression.

-Think Happy Thoughts: thinking happy thoughts might sound a bit fluffy, but Vaccariello found, for example, a sense of happiness in athletes--even if it's "faked"--improved performance.

"Runners, for example, hit a wall and start to get fatigued and think 'I can't go on any longer.' If they just do one thing, 'smile,' just the act of smiling changes what is hormonally going on in the body. There is a 30% increase in their ability to perform for the next several minutes," she says.

-And Maintain Relationships: Chopra says people in countries outside the US are naturally happier, because they pay more attention to relationships.

"Happy people are generally not only healthier, they're able to accomplish a lot more because they come from a place of strength and power," he says.