What makes you happy?

Different things make different people happy. I am going to look at all different aspects of how to make you live a happier life. It feels great to be happy but did you know there are other benefits to being happy. Being happy means you are less likely to catch the flu and more likely to sleep better, learn faster and happy people have 50% fewer heart attacks. Follow theses steps and you will definitely be happy.

Food
It is very important when trying to be happier that you are healthy, foods that are listed below will help you stay healthier and help improve/increase your happiness.
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Blue potatoes. These are quite an unusual product and are hard to find. There are 20 different types of blue potato all initially grown in South America and now also growing in North America. These potatoes have strong antioxidants to provide neuro-protectivity. Neuro-protectivity involves protecting the brain and helps defeat depression. If you don’t want to eat the potato on its own it’s good with herbs and spices in a salad. This rare potato will help make you happy.

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Greek yoghurt. This yoghurt is really good, it originally from Greece. Greek Yoghurt is a great source of dietary protein. Protein is necessary to maintain muscle growth. This yoghurt assists the brain to let go of happiness-inducing neurotransmitters. A neurotransmitter is a substance that affects certain cells, in this case your happy cells. This yoghurt also has more protein, which can help weight loss much easier which can make you happier too.

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Legumes. Legumes are good to eat to get your intake of magnesium. Magnesium helps give you more energy. Without energy you will feel very tired and not happy. Legumes will help keep you energetic and happy. Legumes are also known as peas, beans or lentils. Legumes other health benefits are reduce cholesterol levels in the blood, regulating levels of blood glucose, prevents cancer improve your colon. Most legumes can be roasted or made into dips.

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Salmon. Many types of fish are good for you but fatty fish like salmon and tuna will help make you happy. The fatty acids inside these fish help improve the mood of people with depression. Don’t be fooled by the name ‘fatty acids’ This fatty acid is really good for your health. The fatty acid slows down plaque growing in your arteries and decreases inflammation all through the body.



2. Sleep more
As helpguide.org said “ But Just as exercise and nutrition are essential for optimal health and happiness. Sleep can help you think more positive and avoid negative thinking.” An experiment was done to test if this was true. People who were sleep deprived were told to memorize a list of words. The people could remember 81% of the words that were negative words like ‘cancer’ they could only remember 31% of words that were related to happiness like 'sunshine’. This proves that when you are tired you think/remember sadder moments and don’t see the positive side of things. Having enough sleep is important because it helps you stay awake and aware at daytime. It’s easier to enjoy a day when you are more focused because you are less likely to make a mistake. Most adults need between seven and a half to nine hours of sleep per night to work at their best. If you sleep less than seven hours you may soon suffer from sleep deprivation.

3. Exercise
Exercising is key for becoming happier. As Krista Stryker said ‘no matter how bad of mood I was in, if I fit in some exercise, whether it was a tough workout or even just a walk outside. I felt loads better.' Exercising is sometimes used to defeat depression. A test was given involving people to go on medication to become happier and people to exercise to be happier they both ended with similar results though in the long term run the people on the medication went back to being sad the people who exercise continued being happy. Exercising can keep you relaxed. People who exercise feel a lot better about their appearance even when there is no real difference. Being relaxed and feeling good about yourself makes it a lot easier to be happy than being stressed and ashamed or embarrassed of your appearance. Exercising also releases chemicals into your brain that make you happier. This chemical is called dopamine. As you age you lose your dopamine so it is important to stay fit when getting older.

4. Give your time to the needy
Helping others is looked as a very noble thing to do. Giving up time cannot only help others but this altruistic act also helps you. It has been proven that helping others makes you feel happier. A psychologist at the university of Rochester said ‘ giving gets you more.' Helping others has benefits like making new friends, social skills and other new skills. Social isolation can bring on depression and helping others is a massive involvement socially. There are so many places where you can help. Even with a busy life it’s easy to find an hour to help someone out. Clean up Australia day and Red shield appeal are great social events to help others.