Scientifically-Proven Ways to Boost Your Happiness

There are scientifically-proven ways to boost your happiness – which are backed by more than 60 studies. Here’s how anyone can become a happier person:

• Spend time with the “right people.” The people who make you happiest are most likely to be friends, family and significant others, but most of us spend most of our time with coworkers. The best way to take advantage of that “forced togetherness” is to have a “best friend” at work – or a boss you like. You can also boost your happiness by avoiding small talk – which has been proven to make people unhappy. The fix: Find a few coworkers who aren’t interested in celebrity gossip, and strike up a real conversation.
  
  
• Another happiness booster: Make more social connections. Numerous studies show that you can increase happiness by hanging out with friends. You also get the same boost from volunteering. That’s because helping others makes you feel generous, and happier about your own life.
  
  
• Another happiness booster: Make plans for the future - and daydream. Or, as researchers put it, enjoy the experience without spending the time. Numerous studies show that the part of the brain responsible for pleasure can be activated just by thinking about something pleasurable, and planning ahead fills your life with anticipation. In fact, the anticipation of something enjoyable – like a vacation – is often more enjoyable than the actual experience.
  
  
• Finally, know this: Aging changes the way people experience happiness. Studies show that young people tend to equate happiness with excitement, so they get a boost spending time with interesting new friends, but as people get older, they associate happiness with feeling peaceful. So, older people get more joy from spending time with close friends and family.

Wandering Amnesia

A few years ago, Jeff Ingram, drove from his home in Olympia, Washington, to visit a terminally ill friend in Alberta. Four days later, he woke up on a street in Denver—without his car, his wallet, or any memory of who he was.

Ingram suffers from dissociative fugue—a rare form of amnesia in which people suddenly begin traveling (or continue, if on the road). They forget their identity, fail to recognize loved ones, and can't recall how they arrived wherever they are. Some later develop new personalities altogether. The trance lasts from a few hours to several years, and can involve travel across continents and oceans. One study put the average distance traveled by these wandering amnesiacs at 750 miles.

Whereas amnesia is typically precipitated by brain injury, those in fugue states are neurologically intact. Instead, the condition appears to be triggered by stress—often related to marital problems, financial worries, or depression. "They unconsciously run away from traumatic situations," says Philip Coons, professor emeritus at the Indiana University School of Medicine and an authority on the disorder. That's why the incidence of fugue rises during periods of war and natural disasters.

These wanderers sometimes turn to crime, such as vehicle theft and credit-card fraud. No one knows what they're thinking in-fugue, but it appears they live day-to-day with an emphasis on survival. Some have been found with stale bread and pockets full of jelly and ketchup packs. They become aware of their memory loss only after being asked questions about their lives. For Ingram, that occurred when he stumbled into a Denver hospital and was quizzed by the receptionist. He says he became scared and angry and wanted to know who he was.

Most sufferers eventually recover their pre-fugue memories—as suddenly as they lost them. Psychologists remain puzzled as to why. "One problem with trying to understand dissociative fugue is that by the time the patient comes to clinical attention, the fugue state is over," says psychologist Daniel Schachter, a memory expert at Harvard University. In cases where memory does not spontaneously return, therapists focus on resolving the underlying stress or trauma.

Even months after being reunited with his family, Ingram still has no pre-fugue memories. He's scared he might vanish again, so he's ordered a $400 pair of shoes loaded with GPS. "It's a small price to pay for the peace of mind," he says.

Case Study: Jeff Ingram—a former mill worker in Olympia, Washington

• Possible triggers: A friend's battle with cancer and the anniversary of 9/11.
• Spotted: His fiancee's brother recognized him when he appealed for help on TV news two months after his disappearance.
• Dejà vu: Ingram had disappeared once before. In 1995, while living in Alberta, he traveled more than 600 miles to Seattle, where he was discovered after nine months.
• Never again: In addition to ordering GPS shoes, Ingram has tattooed identifying information on his left arm and wears a zip disk with medical information around his neck.
• Happy ending: Although he cannot remember his three-year relationship with his fiancee pre-fugue, the two were married that December.

The Science of Salt, and How to Cut Back

What’s the latest science on salt? It’s addictive, it’ll make you fat, and it can kill you. That’s according to Prevention magazine. They say salt is one of the most dangerous ingredients in the food we eat – and the one people pay the least attention to. Excess salt can cause high blood pressure, heart attacks and stroke, as well as osteoporosis, dementia, cancer and other serious health problems. Since salty foods are usually also packed with fat and calories, it can add inches to your waist. The news about salt is so bad, the U.S. government is revising sodium health guidelines downward. They now recommend no more than 1,500 milligrams a day for an adult. That’s two-thirds of a teaspoon. However, most of us get double what’s recommended. Most of the salt we get comes from processed and packaged foods, like commercial crackers, cookies, cereal, soup, frozen dinners, and pasta sauces, which pack in the salt to boost flavor, protect color and texture, and prevent spoilage. That doesn’t even cover fast food and other restaurant meals.

Scientists point out your body does need a little salt to maintain the right balance of fluids, transmit nerve impulses, and work your muscles. However, when you eat a lot more than the necessary 500 milligrams a day, it triggers the release of the feel-good chemical dopamine – which makes salt as addictive as nicotine and alcohol. The more salty foods you eat, the more you crave. Salt also changes the way your body uses fat. A high-salt diet boosts the production of insulin, and the more insulin you have, the more fat you store, and the more weight you gain. Salt also makes you thirsty, and that’s a problem, since we tend to turn to sodas to quench our thirst. However, sodas are also full of sodium!

So, how can you cut back on salt? Eliminate processed and packaged food, restaurant meals, sodas and alcohol for two weeks. That’s how long it takes to get a whole new set of taste buds. Cutting excess sodium will also boost your metabolism and increase your energy, and it’ll help you feel thinner, because you’ll drop water weight from bloating.

Don’t Be a Jerk – You’ll Live Longer!

Don’t Be a Jerk – You’ll Live Longer! That’s the gist of nearly a dozen new studies, which have been compiled and published in the journal Psychological Science in the Public Interest. The research involves millions of people, who were tested and studied at different times over the past seven decades! The results are fairly unanimous: Smart people who do good deeds for others tend to live longer - and suffer fewer diseases - than bullies with lower IQs.

- For example, one study found a strong link between lower IQs and a higher likelihood of being admitted to the hospital.

- Also, a 30-year Scottish study found a strong relationship between lower intelligence and a higher risk for heart disease and stroke.

- In a 65-year study, researchers found that grade-school students who showed signs of being conscientious – or charitable towards others - were more likely to still be alive in their 70s!

So what’s going on here? In a nutshell: Researchers say smarter people make smarter decisions, meaning they’re more likely to understand the benefits of exercising, eating a healthy diet, and the hazards of smoking. Smart people also tend to be better at using common sense to avoid accidents, and they’re less likely to be injured in fights, or to die by suicide.

The shocker in this report is the conclusion that being nice to others can influence how long you live. Because in study after study, people who were highly conscientious were less likely to develop diabetes, high blood pressure, bone problems, stroke, and Alzheimer’s! However, “mean” people who were self-absorbed were more likely to die at a young age. Why would this happen? Researchers say one explanation is that selfish people tend to be more cynical and distrustful of others, so they’re less likely to see doctors. Selfish people also tend to be overly confident, so they take more risks with their health and well-being - thinking “bad things happen to other people, not me.” Turns out, they’re dead wrong.

Your Guide to Better Sleep

From Journal Psychology Today:

It's what we do in response to a bout of insomnia that determines whether we will end up with long-term sleep problems. The fact is the sleep system tends to right itself after a few nights of insomnia—provided you make no adjustments to your sleep-wake cycle.

We all know that sleep is crucial to having the energy and ability to perform whatever it is we want to do. All it takes is one or two sleepless nights to drive home that point—and we all have a sleepless night or two sometimes. It's the cost of being human and having the capacity to worry about the future and chew over the past.

Yet, it's what we do in response to a bout of insomnia that determines whether we will end up with long-term sleep problems. The fact is that the sleep system tends to right itself after a few nights of insomnia—provided you make no adjustments to your sleep-wake cycle.

Unfortunately, most people take special measures to get some rest. They nap in the afternoon or evening. Or they go to bed early the next night, or sleep late the following morning. Or they take a drink or two to fall asleep.

Every one of these "corrective" measures interferes with your body's sleep "homeostat," a mechanism that builds up pressure for sleep and helps assure a good night's rest. The homeostatic pressure for sleep depends on how long you have been awake—and how active you are while awake.

I spoke to Dr. Michael Perlis, head of behavioral sleep medicine at the University of Rochester. An expert on insomnia, he has plenty of advice to offer on how to get the rest you need while steering clear of sleep problems.

• Get more exercise—physical and mental. It primes the sleep homeostat. It's a myth that exercise at bedtime is bad. Sex is, among other things, a great exercise.
  
  
• Set a regular bedtime—and keep it. Your body needs reliability.
  
  
• Set up conditions so that you catch the wave of sleep. Sleep has to be permitted. Take obstacles out of the way, and give up the notion that you can control sleep.
  
  
• Learn simple meditation and practice it before bedtime; it cuts down nervous system arousal.
  
  
• Put sleep in the background of your life. Don't monitor it, don't evaluate it.
  
  
• Jack up your body temperature with a warm bath before bed. Exaggerating the normal drop in body temperature that accompanies lying down abets sleep.
  
  
• Keep your bedroom dark, especially as you get older. Even small amounts of light and noise can disturb sleep as you age.
  
  
• Don't overheat your environment. Sleep loves cold. Keep your bedroom cold but load up on blankets.
  
  
• Less is more. The less you do in response to a bout of sleeplessness, the faster your sleep patterns will return to normal.
  
  
• Keeping your wake-up time constant but going to bed one hour later will help 25 percent of insomniacs in one to two weeks. Prepare to feel sleepy at times and avoid driving then. After two weeks, add back the time in half-hour increments.
  
  
• Look on two or three nights of insomnia as a gift—the gift of time you wanted to get done all that you have to get done. Insomnia may be functional, a signal that you need to attend to what got you up.
  
  
• Don't fight the insomnia. The homeostat makes sleep a self-reparative system—if you stay out of its way.
  
  
• Don't worry about the consequences of not sleeping. Worrying about insomnia can create insomnia.
  
  
• Don't sleep with your pets! Animal dander can create allergies that manifest only at night, and the movement of any pet on your bed can wake you up.
  
  
• Do not sleep later to make up for lost sleep. It de-primes the sleep homeostat and reduces pressure for sleep the next night, turning a night of sleeplessness into insomnia.
  
  
• Don't make up for a night of sleeplessness by napping. That undermines the sleep homeostat and makes it less likely you will sleep through the next night.
  
  
• Don't make up for an acute bout of insomnia by going to bed early.
  
  
• Do not try to induce sleepiness by drinking alcohol. Yes, it's a great relaxant—but it is metabolized so quickly it creates rebound insomnia within the night; it's so fast-acting you'll be up in four short hours.
  
  
• Limit caffeine to one cup of coffee in the morning. At age 18, caffeine has a half-life of 4.5 hours, which increases with age. Gradually eliminate caffeine altogether if you have trouble sleeping.