A Guest Article: Happiness, Health, & the Science of Positive Feelings

Indonesian women in native costume walk in a ceremonial procession.
Ancient cultures like Bali’s have always known that health, happiness, and social connection are tightly interrelated. Photo: Our grateful thanks to Ruben Hutabarat on Unsplash.

We’ve all felt the warm glow that positive, uplifted feelings spread throughout our being. They seem to spread their healing rays to every cell.

Can these feelings actually influence our health?

As naturopathic physicians, Drs. Connie and Marcel have seen, over and over, how a simple change in feelings can speed the healing process.

What follows is a guest post by George Beinhorn from his inspiring book, Happiness & Success at School. Although the book is directed at parents seeking an education for their children that will help them be both successful and happy, we feel that it’s vital for every adult be aware of the powerful links between happiness, healing, and a successful life. (You can follow this link to read the chapters online, download a free PDF, or order a paperback copy.)

 

Scientists at the Institute of HeartMath™ Research Center (IHM) in Boulder Creek, California have studied the effects of positive feelings such as love, compassion, and kindness on our bodies and brains. Their research supports the notion that it’s vital to “accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative, and don’t mess with Mister In-Between.”[1]

Here are some of the Institute’s findings:

  • Positive emotional states exert a whole-body synchronizing effect by bringing brain waves, heart rhythms, breathing, and blood-pressure oscillations into a unified, harmonious rhythm. During positive feelings, “bodily systems function with a high degree of synchronization, efficiency and harmony.”
  • Deliberately focusing attention in the heart while cultivating feelings of love, compassion, etc., leads to clearer thinking, calmer emotions, and improved physical performance and health, as well as increased frequency of subjective reports of spiritual experiences.
  • Positive, expansive feelings such as love, appreciation, and compassion promote relaxation and synchronization of the nervous system. They quiet the “arousal response” (sympathetic) branch of the nervous system and activate the “relaxation response” (parasympathetic) side. The sympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system is responsible for speeding-up heart rate and preparing the body for action, while the parasympathetic branch governs the “relaxation response,” slowing heart rate and calming body, emotions, and brain.
  • Positive feelings quiet the mind, generate a sense of “self-security, peace and love,” and increase the frequency of reported feelings of “connectedness to God.”
  • Additionally, the researchers found that negative emotions such as anger, fear, and hatred make the heartbeat change speeds erratically—the heart literally speeds up and slows down chaotically from one beat to the next, like the random jerky motion of a car that’s running out of gas. (See figure.)
  • Positive emotions such as love, compassion, and appreciation, on the other hand, make the heart beat in a harmonious, regular rhythm. During negative emotions, the heart’s irregular speed changes appear as jagged, disordered spikes, and its power output is relatively low. Simple relaxation produces a more regular rhythm, but deliberately cultivating positive emotions makes the heart beat in a steady, consistent, harmonious rhythm, reflected in the regular, sine-wave-like pattern in the figure (“Appreciation”). Moreover, during positive emotions the heart’s power output jumps by over 500% above the levels attained during negative emotions and simple relaxation. (In the figure, note the Power Spectral Density [PSD] scale in “Appreciation.”)

Figure showing heart rate variability during

The heart and brain communicate continually through the nervous system. Thus the heart’s powerful positive or negative, harmonizing or disruptive messages are carried instantly to the brain, where they enhance or interfere with our ability to remain cool and concentrate. (The heart is the body’s most powerful oscillator, sending out electrical signals roughly 60 times as strong as those emitted by the brain.)

To summarize: positive, harmonious feelings enhance mental focus, calmness, health, performance, intuition, and the frequency of spiritual feelings. They increase relaxation, alpha-wave output in the brain (associated with a calm, meditative state), and synchronize heart-rhythm patterns, respiratory rhythms, and blood pressure oscillations.

When the Institute of HeartMath scientists taught simple methods for harmonizing the heart’s feelings to school children in the Washington, DC area, the children’s test scores rose immediately.

In the Living Wisdom Schools, the teachers lead the students in practicing heart-harmonizing methods every day. In the classroom and on the playground, the teachers pay close attention to the children’s mood and the quality of their interactions. The teachers are trained to nurture a harmonious, safe, expansive environment that is optimized for learning.

At DrsHernandez.com, we serve the whole person, helping our client-friends find healing and balance in all aspects of their being. To discuss your health issues and to schedule an appointment, give us a call or send us an email.

DrConnie@DrsHernandez.com

DrMarcel@DrsHernandez.com

650-602-8972 (voice and text)

DrsHernandez.com | 240 Monroe Dr. #305 Mountain View | Mountain View, CA 94040 U.S.

 

 

[1] The basic Institute of HeartMath research is described in The HeartMath Solution by Doc Childre and Howard Martin (HarperSanFrancisco 1999), as well as in research papers on the organization’s website, www.heartmath.org.