The challenge – It’s hard work to maintain a state of good physical health.
 
The science – Health and wellbeing are interrelated, so there are many wellbeing benefits from being healthy.  
 
The solution – Increase your health as a path to increasing your wellbeing (or vice versa).   
 
 
So far in this series we have covered aspects such as connectedness, communication, optimism, meaning, strengths, positive emotions, hope, gratitude and resilience. Now you might be wondering, if these aspects are good for my wellbeing, how do they impact my health? This is a good question to be asking because the science indicates that the relationship between health and wellbeing is largely reciprocal – increase you wellbeing and your health improves, increase your physical health and your wellbeing improves. Thus the mechanisms discussed previously (strengths use, hopefulness, etc.) are equally import for your health as for your wellbeing. So let’s get geeky in order to see how that actually unfolds...
 
Psychologists (and some other disciplines) have defined an area of study called ‘positive health’ where they specifically study ‘health assets’: factors that produce longer life, lower morbidity, lower health care expenditure, better prognosis when illness strikes, and/or higher quality of physical health - over and above the usual suspect risk factors like hypertension, obesity, and a sedentary lifestyle. Whereas medicine has traditionally focused on the absence of symptoms and eradicating illness, and psychologists on the absence of distress and disorder, a more contemporary way of thinking is questioning if these foci are the same as (or equate to) health, happiness, fulfilment and vigour. Although psychology and medicine have done well with curing illness, disease and disorder, ameliorating these has not lead to optimal functioning – either health wise or wellbeing wise. Quite simply the absence of disease is not equivalent to good health. The ambitions of the field of positive health are more in line with the World Health Organisations definition of ‘health’, who back in 1946 defined health as “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.”
 
So take time out to invest in and consider your physical health as an asset to enable your wellbeing. Although this will require time, self-reflection and exploration, and effort, even very small improvements in health status can boost wellbeing. Ask yourself: What activities can you do to improve an aspect of your physical health? To improve your nutrition? To improve your sleep? To improve your exercise regime? What activities do you love to do that could positively impact your health, and thereby increase your wellbeing indirectly?
 
 
For more information:
 
Seligman, M. E. P. (2008). Positive health. Applied Psychology: An International Review, 57, 3-18.

The challenge – It’s hard to bounce back when things get tough or go wrong.
 
The science – It’s possible to become more resilient and greater resilience is related to greater wellbeing.
 
The solution – Focus on increasing your daily dose of positive emotions, reframing experiences positively, getting physically active, obtaining and utilising social support, use your strengths, and being optimistic – all of these lead to becoming more resilient to stressors.  
 
 
Confucius mentioned that “our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall”. So let’s face it, everybody falls and life has it downs to go with the ups. It’s unrealistic to suggest or expect otherwise – at some point we will all have to deal with adverse events or experiences, and major ones at that.
 
Although everyone has downs, how and why do some people survive and grow stronger as a result of misfortune, and even thrive on the challenge, whereas others crumble at the slightest setback? Well their level of psychological resilience may be part of the answer. Resilience is a multidimensional construct that is defined as “the flexibility in response to changing situational demands, and the ability to bounce back from negative emotional experiences”. Thus by resilience I mean our ability to keep going in the face of difficulty, to bounce back from adversity, and to manage our negative emotions more effectively - rather than letting them drag us into a downward spiral of doom and despair.
 
Now some people think of resilience as being a personality trait or characteristic that you are born with or not. However the scientific evidence suggests otherwise - resilience is a skill which can be learned and increased. In fact perhaps the biggest psychology program and study in the world – the US Army’s ‘Comprehensive Solider and Family Fitness’ program –trained all 1.2 million soldiers in the skills of resilience, at a whopping cost of $125 million dollars. The rationale here is that greater resilience will prevent major psychological problems downstream, like Acute Stress Disorder and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) which are both individually debilitating and socially costly.
 
However the benefits of becoming more resilience are applicable to everyone; not just soldiers and not just in remediating negative experiences. Resilient people are more likely to perceive challenges and setbacks as manageable, have greater emotional stability, greater energy and curiosity, and demonstrate greater ability to cope with both major stressors and daily hassles.
 
In short, greater resilience is related to greater flourishing, and more specifically related to greater life satisfaction, happiness, physical activity, optimism, strength use, social relationships, and less depressed mood to name just a few. Therefore it is unsurprising that validated ways to increase resilience include increasing your daily dose of positive emotions, reframing experiences positively (an optimistic explanatory style), getting physically active, obtaining and utilising social support, use your strengths, and being optimistic.
 
So in times of psychological plenty, now might be a good time to inoculate and increase your resilience.
 
 
For more information:
 
Reivich, K., & Shatté, A. (2002). The resilience factor: 7 keys to finding your inner strength and overcoming life's hurdles. New York: Broadway Books. 

The challenge – It’s hard to be regularly grateful.
 
The science – Being grateful builds strong social relationships and is related to our wellbeing.
 
The solution – Focus on, nurture, and invest in personal relationships by being more thankful.
 
 
When was the last time you said ‘thank you’ to someone and really meant it? Today? Earlier this week perhaps? Last month? When was the last time you said ‘thank you’ out of habit, and then reflected silently that that ‘thank you’ seemed fake? How did that make you feel? Two very different experiences no doubt…
 
Being thankful and grateful is not about being forced to write that thank you card to aunt Mildred for those lovely keen-length brown woollen socks for you birthday in the heat of summer. However, as we become adults we get out of the habit of thanking people formally or regularly. This is a shame as the research evidence suggest that more grateful people are more energetic, determined, helpful, attentive, joyful and optimistic, and report higher life satisfaction than people less grateful. More grateful people are also less anxious, depressed, envious, lonely and materialistic.
 
Gratitude is both a character strength and an emotion, and one of the ways that gratitude works is by helping you reframe your experience in a more positive way, and also to focus on the way in which other people assist you. You can become more grateful, or develop an attitude of gratitude, in a myriad of ways, for example:

• Write a thank you letter as a way of acknowledging and appreciating what other people have done for you.
• Keep a general gratitude journal and write down the things that you are grateful for.
• Write down “three good things” that went well for you each day. These can be significant things or small things, but focus on your or others role in making these good things happen.
• What went well? At the end of the day, write down ‘what went well’. This is a great way to start the process of putting positive things first. It works by simply focusing you on the things that worked, what you can learn from them, and what you can do again next time.

 
So why is this important to know? Well, gratitude builds social relationships which are critical for promoting wellbeing. People’s wellbeing improves when they have richer social networks and connect with others including friends, relatives, colleagues and neighbours. So it may pay to focus on others as “other people matter”, not just in themselves, but in relation to your wellbeing and your ambitions and goals. Invest in building and acknowledging (i.e., being thankful for) good relationships.
 
 
For more information:
 
Emmons, R. A. (2007). THANKS! How the new science of gratitude can make you happier. Boston, MA: Houghton-Mifflin.