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The Happiness Workshop: week one
Follow a healthy lifestyle, curb your stress levels and create your own personal space to increase your happiness
Happy body
You may think that happiness is all about what you think and feel. Not so. Recent research suggests that your physical state dramatically influences your mental state. Your body will make you feel miserable if you don't treat it well. Follow a healthy lifestyle and your brain and body will support you in being happy. If you want to be happy:
Choose happy nutrients. Dietary research now suggests that there are specific foods that help boost the feel-good brain chemicals serotonin, dopamine and norepinephrine. So it's worth increasing your intake of these foods. Choose foods rich in refined carbohydrate, such as cereals, pasta, rice and starchy vegetables, and rich in amino acids, such as chicken, fish, beef, nuts and pulses. If you constantly feel unhappy, it may be worth taking a food intolerance test to check for substances that trigger bad moods.
Take exercise. It's been shown that movement boosts mood by releasing those same feel-good brain chemicals. If you don't already take regular exercise, start now. Try to do at least 20 minutes, three times a week. Don't panic - you needn't put yourself through agony. If you don't fancy competitive sport, try dance or swimming. If you're pressed for time try to walk to work.
Don't overachieve. Don't be temped to eat nothing and spend hours in the gym in your quest for a healthy body. Studies suggest that dieting and over-exercise will not only harm you physically, they can also lead to psychological disorders such as depression. It's far better to learn to trust your inner signals in order to get a healthy and happy body.
More resources
Fitness for Life Manual by Matt Roberts (Dorling Kindersley)
Potatoes not Prozac by Kathleen Desmaisons (Pocket Books)
On Eating by Susie Orbach (Penguin)
Happy body
You may think that happiness is all about what you think and feel. Not so. Recent research suggests that your physical state dramatically influences your mental state. Your body will make you feel miserable if you don't treat it well. Follow a healthy lifestyle and your brain and body will support you in being happy. If you want to be happy:
Choose happy nutrients. Dietary research now suggests that there are specific foods that help boost the feel-good brain chemicals serotonin, dopamine and norepinephrine. So it's worth increasing your intake of these foods. Choose foods rich in refined carbohydrate, such as cereals, pasta, rice and starchy vegetables, and rich in amino acids, such as chicken, fish, beef, nuts and pulses. If you constantly feel unhappy, it may be worth taking a food intolerance test to check for substances that trigger bad moods.
Take exercise. It's been shown that movement boosts mood by releasing those same feel-good brain chemicals. If you don't already take regular exercise, start now. Try to do at least 20 minutes, three times a week. Don't panic - you needn't put yourself through agony. If you don't fancy competitive sport, try dance or swimming. If you're pressed for time try to walk to work.
Don't overachieve. Don't be temped to eat nothing and spend hours in the gym in your quest for a healthy body. Studies suggest that dieting and over-exercise will not only harm you physically, they can also lead to psychological disorders such as depression. It's far better to learn to trust your inner signals in order to get a healthy and happy body.
More resources
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