Brendan Barrie

Everyone in life aspires to be truly happy and healthy, which is why when we are often sick we become unhappy and sometimes even depressed. However, we don’t often ask if there is a correlation between being happy and being healthy, yet we know the opposite is true when we are sad or depressed and we don’t feel good. By examining how we can be happier, we are in turn also looking at how we can be healthier and each one affects the other. Being happier leads us to do many beneficial things for our body, and I will be breaking them up into three major ideas that I will look at in my project. The first major idea that I will examine is how being happy affects our behavior and how it can lead us to make healthier choices. This includes getting more exercise, eating better, and getting an adequate amount of sleep. Next, I will examine how happiness can have beneficial effects on the cardiovascular and immune systems, our hormones and inflammation levels, and how it can help speed up wound healing. There is also evidence that it is linked to longer telomeres, protein caps on the end of chromosomes that get shorter with age, meaning that we live longer the happier we are. Finally, the last major part I will be examining is how being happy can reduce the likelihood of us using destructive substances such as alcohol or drugs and it can reduce anxiety and stress. Being happier means that you do t get as worried about things and often times it can alleviate anxiety and stress depending on the severity of it and being happier also makes us not want to substance abusers as many people take drugs or drink when they are unhappy which can lead to serious issues. To wrap all of this together I will also close by discussing how we can actually go about being happier in our everyday lives.