Happiness Strategies | How to be Happy

Tuesday’s SMH ran a story on a new book telling us what to do, and what to avoid, to keep our brain cells firing at optimal levels.

Top brain gainers include copious sex, dark chocolate and cold meats for breakfast.

So start your day with a daybreak dalliance, followed by cold, leftover BBQ chicken pizza and a Cherry Ripe chaser, and it’s goodbye Cletus-ville, hello Mensa. Sweet.

Also helpful, but way less fun, is cuddling babies (okay, that is fun), a business degree and reading aloud. No, I don’t think moving your lips as you read Where’s Wally counts. And no, neither does calling out the subtitles during a foreign movie.

If you want to mix it up, try narrating snippets from your business text during sex. You may need to periodically rouse your partner, but at least you’ll have super cognitive powers at the ready for a snide remark should they complain.

Brain drainers include TV soap operas, smoking cannabis and hanging with whiners.

I love TV shows, but to qualify for watching my proviso is they must make me (a) laugh (b) think or (c) feel happy - and soap operas masterfully sidestep all 3. (Ironically, the show Weeds is a triple scorer).

Drugs cause more trouble than they’re worth, so avoiding the lot is a no-brainer - oops anti-brain-drainer.

And as for whiners - I wish there was awards-speech music that welled up as a bout of whining approached 4 minutes. Or a whining download limit that shaped the whinge to an inaudible whisper as it went over 210 seconds. For chronic whiners who persevered beyond all deterrents, I’d like there to be a whiners’ island where they could be exiled to live with other whiners.

Authors Terry Horne and Simon Wootton say the ideas in their book Teach Yourself: Train Your Brain come from research by experts around the world, including findings that certain activities precipitate chemical reactions.

Their advice is excellent: “Mix with people who make you laugh, have a good sense of humour or who share the same interests as you and avoid people who whinge, whine and complain as people who are negative will make you depressed.”

Add a little sex, no drugs and some rocky road - and your brain’s golden.

Technorati Tags: happiness,brain,happiness strategies

Image by by f10n4 under a Creative Commons license.

December can be crazy - shopping crowds, stressful relatives, too much eating, drinking, and spending - too much everything!

When the end of the year is filled with excess it can really put the kibosh on your plans for a great start to a happy new year.

If you want to avoid falling into the same olds patterns as last year - and the year before - then download and print SparkPeople’s calendar of  31 daily tips for better choices through the holiday season (you’ll need Adobe Acrobat Reader).

These are excellent ideas for keeping this December sane - including how to:

• Splurge wisely
• Simplify gifts
• De-stress
• Just say no
• Give back
• Rest up
• Stop when full
• Stay active

Follow SparkPeople’s tips and you can ease into January with a mind, body and bank account ready to enjoy a fresh start and a happy 2008.

Technorati Tags: Christmas,New Year,life strategies,happiness strategies,money,health

Image by donut_p under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0.

The November 2007 issue of Australian Women’s Health magazine looks at the strategies of that rare breed of weight-loser - the one who keeps it off. The findings are from the National Weight Control Registry (NWCR), which has more than 6000 members who’ve managed to misplace at least 14kg without finding them again.

Founders of the registry, Dr Rena Wing and Dr James O. Hill offer ‘11 golden rules’ for long-term success.

Here’s my summary of the rules from the article.

1. Ditch the diet
Once weight is lost, it’s time for maintenance mode. Dieting doesn’t work long-term.

2. Embrace exercise
In Dr Hill’s opinion, ‘exercise is the single most important strategy’.

3. You can do less, if you do it more
Of the 91% of registry members who exercise 60-90 minutes daily, most break it down into 10-15-minute mini-workouts. They fit walks or resistance exercises in when and where they can.

4. Break the fast
Since breakfast helps prevent overindulgence later in the day, it’s a daily staple of 78% of registry members.

5. Be a dietary creature of habit
People who eat consistently through the week maintain their weight over a year better than strict-weekday, relaxed-weekend dieters.

6. Plan a naughty treat
A small dietary indulgence once a week or so can head off major temptation.

7. Less fat, more carbs
Fat is easy to overeat - it tastes good and doesn’t look like a lot of calories. Carbs are fuel. The average registry member’s diet is 25-30% fat, 15-20% protein and 50-60% carbohydrates.

8. Step up
Registry members walk 11,000-12,000 steps daily. That’s 6.4-8.8 km and more than twice the average Australian’s daily perambulation. For 28% of registry members walking is their sole exercise (delightfully witty pun unintended); 50% do other cardio as well as walking.

9. Weigh in regularly
More than 75% of registry members weigh themselves more than once a week. They aren’t slavish about daily fluctuations, but take increased weight over several days as a call to remedial action.

10. If at first you don’t succeed…
Nine out of ten registry members failed to keep weight off on previous tries. This time they had greater commitment - they slipped up, but they got back on track.

11. It gets easier
The longer the weight is off, the better the chance it will stay off.

If ditching those pesky homing kilos once and for all is one of your happiness strategies for 2008, then why not follow the example of these long-term losers.

I will be, starting with Rule #6. And to show my commitment, I’m gonna do it every day!

Image by Thinking Tree under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0.

Web MD has an article called Strategies for Happiness: 7 Steps to Becoming a Happier Person By Tom Valeo. Reviewed by Cynthia Dennison Haines, MD.

Here’s a quick summary of the 7 strategies from the article:

Happiness Strategy # 1: Don’t Worry, Choose Happy

First, make a decision to be happy. Then you can select the strategies to help you. The remaining strategies are the sorts of things psychologists suggest.

Happiness Strategy #2: Cultivate Gratitude

It can dispel bitterness and despair.

Happiness Strategy #3: Foster Forgiveness

Grudges can affect physical and mental health, and ruminating is stressful.

Happiness Strategy #4: Counteract Negative Thoughts and Feelings

Valeo suggests meditation, rhythmic breathing, yoga, or relaxation techniques as well as learning to identify and dispute thoughts of inadequacy and helplessness.

Happiness Strategy #5: Remember, Money Can’t Buy Happiness

Readers of this blog know all about this one! See the recent Happiness Strategy How to be happy - 10. Don’t keep up with the Joneses.

Happiness Strategy #6: Foster Friendship

Valeo mentions that an Australian study found people over 70 with rich friendship networks enjoyed greater longevity.

Happiness Strategy #7: Engage in Meaningful Activities

Do more of what means more to get more out of life.

My 2 cents

In his introduction to the strategies Valeo says ‘your talent for happiness is, to a large degree, determined by your genes’. I say puh-huh! In fact, as we saw in a recent Happiness Strategy - How to be happy - 11. Focus on what you can do to be happier - research suggests that only between 25% and 52% of happiness variance is related to genes. And these figures reflect potential - environment (what you experience) and volition (what you choose to think and do) also contribute to whether and how genetic dispositions are expressed.

Apart from that quibble, the list of 7 strategies is an excellent one.

Valeo sums up by noting ‘happiness can be a matter of choice — not just luck’.

I’d add — and not just money, genes, or life circumstances either.

Technorati Tags: Strategies , money , relationships , forgiveness , gratitude , meaning

In yesterday’s post we looked at nurturing the good in your life rather than just focusing on the problems. If you’re after ideas for nurturing good health, then look no further than this week’s New Scientist magazine.

It reports on the very latest findings from the World Cancer Research Fund and the American Institute for Cancer Research, which have been distilled into 10 ways to avoid cancer. It seems these are 10 life changes that could have a real pay-off in terms of reducing the risk of both cancer and heart-disease.

If you find yourself ruminating unproductively on your health concerns then you might like to make a start with just one item from the list.

10 ways to avoid cancer

1. Body Fat
Aim for a body mass index (BMI) of 21 to 23, and avoid weight gain during adulthood.

2. Physical Activity
Aim for 30 to 60 minutes of moderate physical activity, like brisk walking, every day.

3. Junk Food
Avoid sugary drinks and energy-dense fast food.

4. Meat
Eat no more than 500 grams of red meat per week and avoid processed meats.

5. Alcohol
Limit daily intake to one drink for women, two drinks for men. Do not binge drink.

6. Fruit and Vegetables
Eat five portions of non-starchy vegetables each day and limit refined starchy food.

7. Preservatives
Avoid salt-preserved foods. Limit salt intake to 6 grams per day.

8. Dietary Supplements
Avoid them, except in special cases such as folic acid during pregnancy.

9. Breastfeeding
Try to breastfeed for six months.

10. Cancer survivors
Seek professional nutritional advice.

Source: Obesity increases the risk of cancer, by Collin Barras and Linda Geddes. NewScientist.com news service, 31 October 2007.

They’re not all easy - especially breastfeeding if you’re a guy or don’t have a baby.

But focusing on making one change each month could drastically alter your health profile within a year.