Health Topics
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Healthy Living
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Happiness and Health: The Endorphin Effect
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Prof Adrian Kennedy
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Peak Experiences list - This list could include important moments for you.Finishing school, graduating from college, falling in love,t he birth of your first child....
Spiritual symbols list – For some people religion and religious figures really touch their heart. It could be Jesus, or Buddha, or Mahavira, or Mohammed, or perhaps Mother Teresa or Mahatma Gandhi, or simply God.
Scents, taste, colour and sounds – The smell of a flower or perfume. The smell of rain. The taste of chocolate, or a glass of wine, the colour of sunset or a lovely fabric. The sound of birds or the sea lapping the shore or your favourite rock band.
Your list now has all things that give you happiness and pleasure. This list is the trigger to releasing your endorphins, your happiness hormone. Whenever you want you can add to this list as required and make new lists as life progresses. Now divide the list you have made into the following categories:
- Daily – those things you can associate with easily, everyday.
- Occasional – Those persons and things you can associate with from time to time.
- Picture –Those things you would like to have a picture of in your home or at work.
- Memory –The things that whenever you remember, it brings a smile on your lips and a glow in your heart.
You have identified in your list the things you love and can associate with on a daily basis - now do so. If you like singing, do so, or jogging or watching TV or reading, do so. Each of these pleasurable activities or things will release your endorphins flow. Giving yourself permission to do the things you enjoy is so important to happiness and good health.
As regards the occasional list, make the opportunity to do these from time to time - visiting distant friends, going on a holiday, undertaking that mountain trek, visiting the opera, eating out once a week, gardening, mowing your lawn. Occasional doses of pleasure are better than none at all.
Surround yourself with pictures, objects and memories that give you happiness. Most homes are filled with photos and mementos of past holidays - inspiring religious symbols, a poem framed or your graduation certificate. Looking at these will give you happiness and joy each time you see them and remember the occasion. You don’t need to go anywhere or do anything, just remembering happy times will release your endorphins.
Textures, smell, taste, colour - The sense of smell, sight, touch & taste are directly connected to your brain that controls the release of endorphins. The objective here is to fill your surrounding space, with the smells you like, the smell of your favourite perfume or a favourite flower. Colours can have their own effects - sometimes a bright red shirt gives energy and vitality; or perhaps you feel like a soothing green to calm your nerves or a pastel blue to feel light & happy. Colours & smells have a profound effect on emotions. |
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Professor Adrian Kennedy is Consultant, Wellness Rx, international guru on health, wellness and lifestyle medicine and guest faculty for Harvard Medical School, USA. |
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