self-improvement

Get Happy – Join a Group!

by ultrapeg

Recently, I’ve been following a series called “100 Days of Lovingkindness” from Wildmind’s Meditation Newsletter .  Every day for the duration of the series an e-mail is sent out with a description of ideas and practices that the reader can try and, hopefully, incorporate into their lives.  Here is an excerpt from Day 66 – Appreciation is Contagious:

When. . .you become happier, . . . your friends become measurably happier because you’re happy. (This has been scientifically verified).

And your friends’ friends become measurably happier.

And your friends’ friends’ friends become measurably happier.

Happiness spreads outward into the world through your social network like a virus — although a rather beneficial one.

This may all seem rather incredible, but . . .the evidence for this [from a British Medical Journal article wonderfully titled “Dynamic Spread of Happiness”] . . . is based on a huge study carried out by Harvard Medical School and the University of California, San Diego.

Professor of Medical Genetics James H. Fowler and social scientist Nicholas Christakis, MD, PhD, have been studying social networks for years, using data from the ongoing Framingham Heart Study, which has been tracking the health, behaviors, and attitudes of tens of thousands of people since 1948.

The study measures many aspects of health, including happiness. Participants have been asked how likely they are to agree with questions like “I feel hopeful about the future” and “I feel happy.” And the study also tracks social networks, allowing the researchers to see how attitudes and behaviors spread.

Fowler and Christakis have found that if you have overweight friends, you’re more likely to be overweight yourself. If you have friends who don’t smoke, you’ll find it easier to give up smoking. If your friends are unhappy, you’re more likely to be unhappy yourself. And, crucially, if you’re happy your friends are more likely to be happy, and if your friends are happy you’re more likely to be happy.

In fact, if you’re happy you increase the chances of an immediate social contact becoming happy by 15%. And this effect ripples out into your friend’s friend’s relationships.

So it pays to surround yourself with healthy, happy people.  One way you can do that is by coming to a class!  (Yup – you knew I’d find a way to bring you back to that.)  Classes are full of people striving to improve their health and general outlook on life.  Be a part of that effort!  It’s contagious!  According to this study, just by showing up and being part of the group you have at least a 15% chance of becoming happier and healthier yourself.  And if your own well-being is not enough incentive, your association with healthy people may enable you to spread that health to everyone around you.  The more of us who participate, the more this spreads.  Just think what we can all accomplish!

The study also implies that if you’re not feeling particularly happy or healthy, you’re likely to pass those feelings on as well. So maybe these ideas will help you to just try rubbing elbows with a group that’s trying to improve their lives.  It can’t hurt and it just might help you feel better.  You don’t have to perform in any prescribed or specified way.  Just be there and be a part of the group.  If you keep it up, pretty soon all those you associate with might start feeling better, too.  What a concept!

Hope to see you all in a class soon!

 

Research Round-Up

by ultrapeg

Just in case you need one more reason to sit less and move more, yet another study has just been published in the Journal of Physical Activity and Health which found that:

People who spent more time sitting were more likely to become disabled when compared with people with similar health and exercise habits who sat less. Each daily hour spent sitting increased the odds of problems with activities of daily living by 46 percent.

But here’s the good news – it’s never too late to get moving!  And anybody can do it.  The following comes from an article on the NPR website discussing the study’s findings:

The key to maintaining your muscles’ ability to do basic, low-intensity tasks is keeping them working, says Marc Hamilton, an inactivity physiologist at Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, La.

If you want to maintain mobility through life, Hamilton says, get your muscles focused on just that.

“Get nonfatiguing activity in as much as possible,” he says.

That can be as simple as walking around the office, or parking your car at the far end of the parking lot or even just standing up while talking on the phone.

Bottom line – just get up and move!  You don’t need to run a marathon, just get moving.  Any movement at all is better than none.  As you’ve all heard me say many times, getting started is the hard part.  Once you get up and go, the rest is easy.

And if that’s still not enough to motivate you – wait!  There’s more .  .  .

These two recent research reports from the Journal of Aging and Physical Activity may give you some incentive to specifically try Pilates. One study was conducted to “evaluate the effect of a program of modified Pilates for active individuals with chronic non-specific low back pain”.  This study found that

Pilates used as a specific core stability exercise incorporating functional movements can improve non-specific chronic low back pain in an active population compared to no intervention. Additionally, Pilates can improve general health, pain level, sports functioning, flexibility, and proprioception [awareness of the position of one’s body – important for maintaining balance while moving] in individuals with chronic low back pain.

Another study “investigated the effect of Pilates exercise on physical fall risk factors 12 months after an initial 5 week Pilates intervention”.  This study got the following results:

Balance improvements after a short Pilates intervention were maintained one year later in all participants, with increased benefits from ongoing participation.

So give it a try!  You might even find out you like it.  Don’t let fear hold you back.  I can promise you this:   no one who comes to my classes will bite you – or judge you.  Remember, the consequences of not moving are pretty scary, too.  Just come and do what you can.  You will be welcomed by all!

Of course there are many other research findings that support continued activity regardless of age or perceived limitations.  So take that first step.  Even if your first effort feels confusing or uncomfortable, you will improve if you stick with it.  Just making the effort will give you a sense of accomplishment.  But you’ll never improve if you don’t try.  So make the commitment and give it a whirl.  You’ll be glad you did!