HAPPINESS - The Intelligent Pursuit of Happiness

The Pursuit of Happiness
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What is the secret to happiness? 
Back in 1994, after returning from an enchanting one month hiking trip to Machu Pichu in Peru, I set out to write my first book. I called it Be Happier Starting Now. Little did I know that writing Be Happier would eventually lead me to become a bestselling author, not with a happiness book, but books on health and natural supplements. I put 2 years into this happiness book, day and night, and weekends... the most intense endeavor I have taken upon myself since medical school and residency. I wanted to create a unique work or written art. A happiness book that combined philosophy, poetry, science, humanism, pragmatism, openness, warmth, and love. The pursuit of happiness led me to write this happiness book.
        Although I have not promoted this happiness book much, it is very special to me and it has touched many lives. Sometimes when I'm feeling a little down I pick up to read my own book, and it really does make me happier! I had not planned on placing it on this page for sale until recently when a dear friend of mine read it and was so moved by it that she encouraged me to share the wisdom to a wider audience. "You can help so many people be happier," she said.

If you would like a copy of Be Happier, please feel free to order it and our office staff will ship it to you.

 
Be Happier Starting Now has ten chapters:

1. DEVELOPING A HEALTHY PERSONALITY
2. CULTIVATING A SENSE OF CONNECTION
3. HEALING OLD WOUNDS
4. SETTING GOALS TO FOLLOW OUR DREAMS
5. FINDING SATISFYING WORK
6. BEING FINANCIALLY SECURE
7. PURSUING PLEASURE... INTELLIGENTLY
8. NURTURING PHYSICAL AND MENTAL HEALTH
9. LEARNING & CREATING
10. DEVELOPING A PERSONAL TRUTH

PLUS: THE ONE MINUTE HAPPINESS QUIZ

Price 12.00 plus 4 dollar shipping. Send a check made to

Ray Sahelian, M.D.
PO Box 12619
Marina Del Rey, CA 90295
 

Subscribe to a free Supplement Research Update newsletter.  Twice a month we email you a brief abstract of several new studies on various supplements and natural medicine topics and their practical interpretation by Ray Sahelian, M.D. See link at top of page.

The One-Minute Happiness Quiz

by Ray Sahelian, M.D.

Circle a number in each category. The higher, the truer.

1. I have a healthy personality with high self-esteem, strong willpower, and a positive attitude. 1 2 3 4 5
2. I feel connected with and have loving relationships with family, pets, friends, spouse, or lover. 1 2 3 4 5
3. Old or new emotional wounds have healed. I harbor no grudges. 1 2 3 4 5
4. I have meaningful goals that I'm passionately pursuing. 1 2 3 4 5
5. Work (and/or school) is satisfying. 1 2 3 4 5
6. I am financially secure. 1 2 3 4 5
7. I have many interests and pleasures. 1 2 3 4 5
8. I am physically healthy, I exercise, sleep well, eat well, and have low stress. 1 2 3 4 5
9. I enjoy learning and acquiring knowledge. Furthermore, I use my creative talents. 1 2 3 4 5
10. I have a personal truth or belief system that provides a meaning to my life. 1 2 3 4 5

    Score: Total _________

    Quiz score interpretation:
     

    10-15 Double your Prozac dose

    16-25 There's room for improvement

    26-35 Very good. You can learn to be happier.

    36-49 Congratulations. Consider writing your own book on happiness.

    50       Incredible! Hold on to something. You may be levitating at any moment.

        Be Happier was written 10 years ago, but i still stand by what I wrote... the thoughts and emotions seem timeless. If I were to update it, I would change the part about pharmaceutical medicines for mood enhancement. At the time I didn't know about SAM-e, St. John's wort , 5-HTP and other mood enhancing herbs and nutrients. SAM-e can be helpful for the temporary relief of anhedonia.

Happiness and health
In a study of 3,000 healthy British adults, Dr. Andrew Steptoe of University College London, found that those who reported upbeat moods had lower levels of cortisol -- a "stress" hormone that, when chronically elevated, contributes to high blood pressure, abdominal obesity and dampened immune function, among other problems. Women who reported more positive emotions had lower blood levels of two proteins that indicate widespread inflammation in the body. Chronic inflammation is believed to contribute to a range of ills over time, including heart disease and cancer. American Journal of Epidemiology, January 1, 2008.

Review of Be Happier Starting Now
Be Happier Starting Now: A Medical Doctor Explores the Fascinating Field of Happiness

Reviewed by Sharon Presley

Happiness quote:
"There is no point in holding on to cobwebs of archaic creeds if they are not enhancing your quality of life. Just because you were taught something as a child does not mean it is correct . . . . This age requires us to keep an open mind, revise, review, and readjust our thinking patterns . . . ." - Ray Sahelian, M.D.

"Holistic" may be a clichéd term but I like it. It's a good word to describe Dr. Ray Sahelian's approach to charting the path to a happier life. Unlike the stereotyped physician only trained to treat the body, not the whole person, Sahelian integrates ideas from psychology, medicine, philosophy, nutrition, science, spirituality, and other sources. He understands what psychologists have known for years but many physicians (and scientific materialists) scoff at or simply ignore - there really is a connection between the mind and body, with each affecting the other in complex ways.

Let me make one thing clear from the start. Sahelian is not some New Age flake pushing tofu, out-of-body experiences and inner-child weekends. Not in my review! Not even close. There are no wild-eyed claims, no psychobabble, no mysticism. Just sensible, balanced suggestions based mainly on medical and psychological research journals and books. An annotated bibliography is included for those who want to read the original research.

On the other hand, just because this book cites research, don't expect a dry, distancing catalog of mere facts. There's a real human being writing this book. Sahelian's style is gentle, joyful and exuberant, with a sweetly poetic flair that many will find charming (while some will decide it's not their cup of tea). It's possible to be poetic and scientific at the same time.

Here's what topics are included: developing a healthy personality, cultivating a sense of connection, healing the wounds, setting goals to follow our dreams, finding satisfying work, being financially secure, pursuing pleasure intelligently, nurturing physical and mental health, learning and creating, and developing a personal truth. An appendix discussing natural supplements that improve mood and describing mood-improving medicines is also included. (Not everyone will agree with his position on Prozac.)

Sahelian weaves together specific information and suggestions with his own personal experiences and his observations of others in a style that is easy to read but not fluffy. Though basic rather than encyclopedic, his book provides an integrated nondogmatic overview that does an excellent job of putting happiness into a proper perspective. No one thing brings you happiness; there is no one "magic answer." But a lot of things that help can be found in this book.

Start being happier now, here's a bit of advice from Dr. Sahelian: "Be timid no more. Life's a sumptuous banquet. Sample! Explore! Expand!"

Sharon Presley, Ph.D. is a social psychologist who writes and speaks frequently on topics relevant to critical and independent thinking. She is executive director of Resources for Independent Thinking.

Happiness through altruism?
• Pleasure occurs when giving to charity or helping people
• Pleasure in the brain centers -- the caudate nucleus and the nucleus accumbens, known for pleasure -- are similar to areas for basic needs: food, sex, shelter, social connection
• Pleasure in giving suggests existence of pure altruism

Denmark - The Happiest Country?
Americans are less happy today than they were 30 years ago thanks to longer working hours and the deterioration in the quality of their relationships with friends and neighbors.
   If you're looking for happiness, move to Denmark. According to Adrian White, an analytical social psychologist at the University of Leicester in central England, Denmark is the happiest country in the world while Burundi in Africa is the most miserable. Adrian White based his study on data from 178 countries and 100 global studies from the likes of the United Nations and the World Health Organization. The main factors that affect happiness were health provision, wealth and education, according to Adrian White who said his research had produced the "first world map of happiness." Following behind Denmark came Switzerland, Austria, Iceland and the Bahamas. At the bottom came the Democratic Republic of Congo, Zimbabwe and Burundi. The United States came in at 23rd, Britain was in 41st place, Germany 35th and France 62nd. Countries involved in conflicts, such as Iraq, were not included. Countries in Asia scored low, with China 82nd, Japan 90th, and India 125th. These are countries that are thought as having a strong sense of collective identity which other researchers have associated with well-being.
     Collecting data based on well-being is not an exact science. Other researchers may come to different happiness rankings.

Happiness and the Common Cold
Staying positive through the cold season could be a good defense against getting sick. In an experiment that exposed healthy volunteers to a cold or flu virus, researchers found that people with a generally sunny disposition were less likely to fall ill. The findings, published in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine, build on evidence that a "positive emotional style" can help ward off the common cold and other illnesses. Researchers believe the reasons may be both objective -- as in happiness boosting immune function -- and subjective -- as in happy people being less troubled by a scratchy throat or runny nose.

The concept of will power
Willpower is like a muscle in that the more you work it the stronger it gets. Some of us have more willpower than others. And while people may be born with different amounts of innate willpower, we can probably all take steps to boost our willpower.

Suppress unhappy memories?
People can suppress emotionally troubling memories and in some people this may be a preferable approach than going through psychotherapy where all these old memories are reactivated and brought to light again.

Happiness Research Update
I have collected some research articles I have come across. I hope you enjoy them. I'm still working on this page to make it more organized.

Older adults with a bright outlook on the future may live longer than those who take a dimmer view. 
Researchers in the Netherlands found that older men and women judged to have optimistic personalities were less likely to die over the nine-year study period than those with pessimistic dispositions. Much of this reduced risk was due to lower rates of death from cardiovascular disease among the most optimistic men and women in the study. They were 77 percent less likely to die of a heart attack, stroke or other cardiovascular cause than the most pessimistic group-regardless of factors such as age, weight, smoking and whether they had cardiovascular or other chronic diseases at the study's start.

Create your own happiness
Feeling a little down? Maybe you can fake your way into happiness! You may have more control over your mood than you think. According to new research, people who choose to act more outgoing or assertive can actually improve their outlook on life. The research is published in a recent issue of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

Children and happiness
I think it is important for children to be exposed to positive images and role models, including television. What kids watch influences their behavior. Preschool boys who watch violent TV programs, even in the form of cartoons, become more aggressive than their peers later in childhood.

Women who have not had children seem to be just as happy in their 50s as those who did go down the family path.
The loneliest, least contented and most vulnerable women were found to be mothers who were single, divorced or widowed in middle age, according to new research. Being healthy and having a partner gave a bigger boost to women's happiness and well-being than being mothers, with education, work and relationships with family and friends also important factors. The findings are based on two surveys of nearly 6,000 women aged between 51 to 61 years old that were conducted in 1992 and from 1987-1988. "Whether you are socially integrated or have concerns about paying the bills -- those things play a more direct role in shaping psychological well-being among women in midlife," said researcher Koropeckyj-Cox. The research was published in the International Journal of Aging and Human Development, and showed that the timing of motherhood was also important to happiness. Women who had children in their teens were more depressed and lonelier than those who had their children later. About 35 percent of mothers who had children in their teens reported ever feeling lonely, compared to slightly more than a quarter of women who had children in their 20s. Mothers who delayed childbirth to 25 or older were happier and less lonely or depressed than younger mothers.

Brain rewards us for laughing: study They say laughter is the best medicine, and a new study may help explain how laughter makes us feel good. Researchers report that humor seems to activate brain networks that are involved in rewards. Humor is no laughing matter, according to Dr. Allan L. Reiss of Stanford University in California, who led the research. "Humor has significant ramifications for our psychological and physical health," he told Reuters Health. Our sense of humor, he said, "often dictates if, how and with whom we establish friendships and even long-lasting romantic relationships." Humor is also a "universal coping mechanism" for dealing with stress. Reiss added.Despite the importance of humor, Reiss said that little is known about the brain mechanisms that underlie humor. The Stanford researcher noted that most people are drawn to humor and that it makes people feel good. "We seem to feel rewarded" by humor, he said. Now, Reiss and his colleagues report that they have zeroed in on the brain's reward system for humor. In the study, volunteers had their brain activity monitored as they read a series of cartoons. Some of the cartoons were supposed to be funny, but others had the funny cues omitted.

After viewing each strip, participants pushed a button if they thought the comic was funny. Researchers found that when a cartoon made a person laugh, a brain network that is known to be involved in reward was activated. In fact, the areas activated by humor have been shown previously to be activated by amphetamines and cocaine, according to a report in the December 4th issue of the journal Neuron. "I believe that understanding humor is fundamental to understanding many aspects of 'normal' human social behavior," Reiss said. Learning more about the brain mechanisms that underlie humor may also help scientists who study depression, according to Reiss. He noted that the loss of the ability to appreciate humor is a common symptom of depression. "We believe that utilizing studies such as this may be one way to more specifically identify individuals at risk for depressive disorders," Reiss said. The research may also be useful in measuring a person's response to treatment for depression, according to Reiss. The humor reward system in the brain may come "on line" even before symptoms of depression change, he said.

The research may also help explain "humorless" people, who, Reiss noted, may have serious problems in relationships. "Perhaps they are missing this reward link in their circuitry," he said. Finally, humor is known to play a role in the sleeping disorder narcolepsy and other conditions, Reiss said.

SOURCE: Neuron, December 4, 2003.

Smiling at strangers can be a thankless exercise in some British cities, where a survey has revealed the famous stiff upper lip is rarely likely to crack a grin in return. Psychology students spent an hour smiling at 100 strangers in 14 British cities as part of the Comic Relief fundraising campaign, according to a report in The Guardian newspaper. Only 4% of people in Edinburgh, 12% in Nottingham and 18% in London returned the students' smiles. On the other hand, the residents of Bristol smiled back 70% of the time, and 68% of Glasgow citizens were cheery enough to raise the corners of their mouths. Pat Spungin, a psychologist who led the research, told the paper that social setting played a large role in smiling, which might explain why Londoners scored so low. "With a population of 7 million, which is very mixed and very mobile, it is difficult to feel a sense of community with other Londoners," he said.

Over time, people "catch mood" of friends, lovers
 Laugh and the world laughs with you, the saying goes, and this is especially true for couples and roommates, the results of a new study suggest. It seems that couples and roommates tend to have similar emotional reactions as time goes by. So if your roommate or lover laughs out loud at movies or gets weepy over hurt puppies, you may too -- given time.

Study: Marriage won't guarantee happiness Though individuals can enjoy a lifetime of happiness from marriage, the difference between them and singles is smaller than expected, a study released Sunday suggests. Researchers led by Richard Lucas, assistant professor of psychology at Michigan State University in East Lansing, examined data on more than 24,000 people in Germany who participated in a survey and then were followed from 1984 to 1995. Of the participants, nearly half were residents of the former West Germany, about 5,000 were residents of the former East Germany, 4,000 were foreigners living in West Germany and 3,000 were East Germans who had emigrated to West Germany. The study sample also included widows and widowers.

Solot called the findings "interesting," adding, "If you're going to have a happily-ever-after life, it probably starts before you get married." Previous studies have suggested married people generally are happier and live healthier lives, and some research even has reported married individuals have lower rates of depression, heart attack and stroke, Solot noted, but added being happy and healthy "may have less to do with your legal marital status. It's whether you have supportive relationships in your life."

The pursuit of happiness with natural supplements and herbs