Good Health, Good Work, Great Life

Throughout the month leading up to Christmas and the New Year we spend our weeks singing holiday songs, decorating the house and planning for joyful celebrations with our family and friends. Unfortunately, the festive season eventually comes to an end, and even the most cheerful person can find it hard to continue the holiday happiness after the big event has come and gone.

Wake Forest University Assistant Professor of Psychology Christian Waugh, who studies human emotions, states that “a large part of happiness is anticipation... While the celebration itself may be short-lived, the anticipation of the fun and excitement to come extends the feelings of positivity.”

After the festive seasons parties have ended and the fun times with family and friends are over it can be easy for people to slide into a case of the blues. Waugh suggests three tips in order to make the excitement and happiness of the festive season last all year round.

1. Plan Ahead

Deliberately plan a combination of different celebrations throughout the year, both big and small. Everyone gets excited over big events, but don’t forget the joy of smaller events such as dinner with friends. Also take time to plan for personal milestones and accomplishments; according to Waugh this “helps to build anticipation” which in turn helps to increase a person’s happiness.

2. Get Excited

Let yourself look forward to the enjoyment to come and feel good about a positive experience just around the corner, like you used to feel on Christmas Eve as a child. Waugh says that even though stress is expected, it shouldn’t be allowed to overshadow the joy of anticipation.

3. Savour the Moment

You must take the time to switch out of planning mode long enough to truly appreciate and enjoy the experience you have been anticipating. Unfortunately it can be all too easy to let the moment pass and feel let down once it’s over, Waugh suggests taking a deep breath and “switching your focus away from the work that led up to the celebration and forget about what comes next. Have fun.”

Sometimes, the holiday blues are unavoidable, but by using these tips you will be able to enjoy the festive season and maintain holiday cheer all year round.

There are many different ideas about what is adequate exercise for fitness. And to confuse it all further a lot of fitness ads (usually picturing some well toned athlete) seem to focus on losing weight, toning up muscles and even building muscle mass.

No wonder so many people lack motivation for fitness. This view of fitness would have you think that we need to be at the gym using all our spare time to workout.

Being fit should allow you to have the energy and stamina to get through your day, sleep well and improve your flexibility. You can get this through light to moderate exercise, requiring no more than half an hour three to five times a week. To get your exercise routine right we recommend you see a personal trainer. 

A large part of the problem is that exercise is frequently carried out in a manner which fails to take account of the way we actually use our bodies. Some programs encourage an unconscious exaggeration of our worst habits of movement. These habits often produce excessive muscular contraction, or tension preventing the spinal column from achieving its full length and restricting your breathing and movement capacity.

To be fit you simply need to work this moderate exercise into your life’s routine. The key is in getting your postures and movements right so that you get the benefits and impact it is meant to have. Even brisk half hour walks need to consider the right body postures and movements.  

You don’t have to become an athlete to be fit. Becoming more comfortable in your own skin gives you greater freedom to enjoy the world around you, and to develop all your abilities, mental and physical, to the fullest.

Before you check into a gym, check out a personal trainer. Look for one that shares your objectives on being healthy and can teach you the right way to build exercise into your walk of life. Of course, a personal trainer can also show you safe ways to lose weight or gain muscle as well if that is also your goal. Make sure you understand what you want to achieve and communicate it clearly to your personal trainer.

Wellbeing is a belief that recognizes good health encompasses much more than treating ailments. The level of happiness or satisfaction we experience in life can often have more impact on our health than the presence of disease or dysfunction. When health is viewed as simply disease management we can fail in many aspects of health that support good immune function and system restoration – leading to disease vulnerability.

A holistic view of our personal wellbeing recognizes it is influenced by: our genes, our unique circumstances, choices, social conditions, and the interaction of all these together. Genes pre-dispose our wellbeing mainly through their influence on character. Genetic influences are not however, fixed or unstoppable. Genes express themselves as a reflection of the environment in which we live. Someone may have the genes for diabetes and never get the disease; because their environment has not turned on that particular expression of the genetic function.

Research shows that there are a number of environmental conditions that enhance our wellbeing in their presence and diminish our wellbeing in their absence. Social connection; good friends, meaningful work, financial security, a good diet, exercise, good sleep, leisure engagement and spiritual connection all enhance our wellbeing. The absence of these has been shown to diminish individual and group wellbeing. Likewise, optimism, integrity, self-respect and autonomy improve wellbeing. Here again the effect is clearly related to health as people experiencing higher than average character for happiness have been shown to be20% less likely to develop chronic illnesses, while those who do not were 20% more likely to develop chronic illness. Having clear goals that we believe we can work towards, filling our need for belonging, maintaining a positive view of the world, and the holding a belief that we are part of something larger than ourselves improves our wellbeing.

The qualities and characteristics for wellbeing can be cultivated and so improve our physical health and longevity. People who experience isolation are two to five times more likely to die in a given year than people who experience strong relationships and community connection. When we focus on wellbeing as a means to improving health the positive effects express themselves through direct effects on our physical health; improving our immune system, influencing: weight, fitness, and reducing risky lifestyle behaviours.

This is not the search for happiness which is often confounded with the pursuit of pleasure. Wellbeing is more than living “the good life”; it is about having meaning in life, about fulfilling our potential and feeling that our live is being lived with purpose.

Wellbeing comes from:

1. being connected socially;
2. being engaged in work and hobby interests;
3. having a sense of safety;
4. being active and filling physical needs;
5. having access to good information about the world around us;
6. having structures to cope with disease; and
7. taking responsible attitudes.