Have a laugh a day, it will do you good !

Apr 19 2005

It used to be an apple a day which kept the doctor away now scientists at University College London have found that being happy might be equally beneficial.

In the first study to measure happiness and link it to the biochemistry of the body, researchers found that the more moments of joy and happiness people experience, the healthier they will be.

According to the researchers, banishing a gloomy state of mind can lead to a healthier heart and lower levels of stress-inducing chemicals.

The most significant chemical difference in those who were happy was the amount of the chemical plasma fibrinogen in the bloodstream, which is a major predictor of cardiovascular disease risk, and they also had lower levels of cortisol, a stress hormone related to conditions such as type II diabetes and hypertension. Happy men also had lower heart rates throughout the day and evening, suggesting good cardiovascular health.

Professor Andrew Steptoe of the British Heart Foundation says the study shows that there are plausible biological pathways linking happiness with health and confirms the suspicion that happier people may be healthier both mentally and physically than less happy people.

The research, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, involved subjects rating their level of happiness more than 30 times a day. The results were adjusted for sex, age, employment status, body mass index, smoking and psychological distress.