The Mental Health Benefits Of Being Happy

By Robin Percyz

Have you ever noticed how depression and anger are physically draining? Maybe you've never suffered from clinical depression, but you certainly know what it feels like to carry the burden of anger, fear, anxiety, and sadness on a smaller scale. These are all human emotions and they are completely natural, but indulging these feelings for longer than necessary is physically harmful to both mental and physical well-being. Now take a moment and remember the feeling of pure happiness. When happiness is pure, it takes little effort and energy to promote it. Being happy might seem like a cliché thing to promote, but there are many mental health benefits of this necessary emotion.
Let's take a closer look at the many positive emotional payoffs of happiness:
1- Successful relationships:
Studies have shown that happier and more stable individuals often possess relationships that are healthy. Relationships can include anyone from parents, friends, coworkers, and intimate partners. Regardless of the individuals we communicate with, our balanced mental state promotes a more rational state of mind. This state of mind allows for greater thresholds of anger and sadness, which in turn, provides more insightful, rational, and healthy communication. Studies have also shown that individuals with rich social lives exude healthier mental well-being and are regarded by their friends as more enjoyable individuals.
2- Longer Life:
A study conducted by the Mayo Clinic articulated that individuals who were primarily optimistic in life were shown to live longer. In contrast, those who identified as pessimistic, or were regarded as such by friends, were shown to live increasingly shorter lives.
3- Success in work:
The happier the individual, the better the production and quality of work completed in the workforce. It is said that happiness allows an individual to not only create his or her own motivation to work hard, but also possess the potential to deal with work stressors. Further, these individuals are shown to possess higher gross income, receive better job evaluations, maintain a job for a longer duration of time, and receive positive praise from coworkers and bosses alike.
4- Great self control and coping methods:
Coping is something that proves particularly challenging for those lacking happiness in their lives. Studies have shown that rational, happy individuals will possess a greater likelihood to deal with the everyday stressors of relationships, work, and life in general. Their positive rationalization allows for a more clear and realistic indication of particular scenarios, giving way to a healthier and more sound view on the situation at large.

It might be easy to read the above and question, "well, how can I be happy?" If you thought this, you are not alone. While no one can give you a formula for happiness, there are many exercises that one can implement to create healthier thinking. One way is to create your own personal, "my bucket list," or even "I Am Thankful For." These lists allow us to see all that we wish to achieve, as well as reasons we might already be happy on a daily basis. Achieving happiness is not easy, but understanding our current happiness will help reinforce this in the future.