by Ram |
| by Norman Rockwell |
In my previous article regarding santosha, Santosha: Happiness and Longevity, I mentioned that discontentment and unhappiness arise when we get caught up in the materialistic world. If we are happy with our lifestyle and what we currently have, it will help us in the journey to absolute truth and the highest realization.
Santosha Anuttamah Sukha Labhah
From an attitude of contentment/true happiness (santosha), mental comfort, joy, and satisfaction (anuttamah sukha) are obtained. —Yoga Sutras, translated by Swami Jnaneshvara.
This observation was supported by a scientific study that showed that people who are contented are not only healthier but they may also live longer (see Santosha: Happiness and Longevity).
There are several ways of expressing santosha or happiness. One visible way of showing that you are happy and contented is through a SMILE. Smiles can be warm, beautiful, welcoming, cute, innocent, charming or heart melting. A smile of any kind has the same positive effect: it brightens up the people surrounding the smiling person. Smile and notice that the people around smile with you. The world changes based on a person's perception and outlook, and having a smile on the face not only reveals the radiance of the person smiling but it also makes the individual a pleasurable person to be around.
A person with a smile not only mitigates the suffering around but also boosts up someone else's existence, even if it is for a fleeting moment. People tend to trust and cooperate more with individuals who sport a smile. Moreover, smiling is infectious; a smiling individual lightens up the room, change the moods of others, brings happiness along and attracts more people. Several scientific studies suggest that people who smile a lot are not only happy and contented, they are also more stable, happier in their marriages, have better cognitive skills and interpersonal skills. And now there’s an additional benefit that comes with a smile: it adds years to your life.
A study by researchers at Wayne State University concludes that a smile has an impact on aging and life expectancy. The wider you grin and the deeper you smile, the more likely you are to have a healthy aging and longer existence. For the study the researchers analyzed 230 pictures of major league baseball players who began their careers in professional baseball before 1950. The photos were enlarged and a rating of their smile intensity (big smile, partial smile, no smile) was noted. Researchers then ranked the players according to their smiles and laughter lines (length of the creases). The players smile ratings were compared with data from deaths that occurred from 2006 through 2009. The conclusions from the study: - Players with big smiles (n=23) lived an average 79.9 years.
- Players with partial smiles (n=64) lived an average of 75 years.
- Players with no smiles (n=63) lived an average of 72 years.
The above results did not change when the researchers also corrected for other factors associated with longevity. Furthermore, the researchers also noted that the benefits did not extend to players who put out a false smile but only those who looked truly happy had the extra life expectancy.
One may wonder how the act of opening the lips wide and bringing on a smile triggers all of the above-mentioned benefits including longer lifespan? Studies have shown that a simple smile triggers several positive changes in the body. Smiling helps to boost the immune system, which provides resistance from many diseases. Smiling relieves stress, lowers blood pressure, triggers the release of endogenous pain killers and changes the mood attitude for the better, all of which help in graceful aging.
So how about bringing santosha in the form of a wide smile in your own lives as well? Smile as much as you can, even if you are not on camera!
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by Nina  |
| Ice by Philip Amdal |
“Stated succinctly, lower mortality is being replaced by higher morbidity (ill health).” —Daniel Lieberman, from The Story of the Human Body
For some time now I’ve been meaning to write about the difference between longevity (the number of years you live) and morbidity (the number of years you spend in ill health). I think it’s an important topic because morbidity, not longevity, is the issue we’re trying to address here on this blog. I’ve definitely had people challenge me about the longevity issue, saying for example, that if overweight people live just as long as thinner people, what’s the problem? Well, the answer is that the number of years you live is not the whole story. It’s also important to consider what your quality of life might be during your lifetime, especially your later years.
“As more people are living longer and fewer are dying young from diseases caused by infections or insufficient food, exponentially more middle-aged and elderly people are suffering from chronic noninfectious diseases that used to be rare or unknown.” —Daniel Lieberman
As I’m currently reading a book by Daniel Lieberman called The Story of the Human Body: Evolution, Health, and Disease that considers this very issue from the point of view of human evolution, I decided that now would be a good time to take on the topic of longevity vs. morbidity. (Hey, it’s always easier to write about something when I’ve got lots of handy quotes from an expert, in this case a professor of human evolutionary biology and the Edwin M. Lerner II Professor of Biological Sciences at Harvard.)
Here is how the book describes the current epidemic of ill health (morbidity) in the developed world:
“Cosseted by an embarrassment of riches, a majority of adults in developed countries, such as the United States and the United Kingdom are unfit and overweight, and the prevalence of childhood obesity is skyrocketing globally, presaging billions more unfit and obese people in the decades to come. Poor fitness and excess weight, in turn, are accompanied by heart disease, strokes, and various cancers, as well as a multitude of costly, chronic illness, such as type 2 diabetes and osteoporosis.” —Daniel Lieberman
Throughout the book, Lieberman talks about how human beings evolved to live a hunter-gatherer lifestyle, one that includes being very physically active (we evolved for endurance walking and running), eating lots of fruits and vegetables and other unprocessed foods (rather than quickly metabolized high-processed foods), and experiencing stress as an acute, episodic reaction rather than a chronic state. He says that our bodies are simply not built to handle being sedentary for years on end, a regular surfeit of calories, and/or a chronically stressful lifestyle.
And for the last couple of years, we’ve been on a mission to let you know the various ways that regular yoga practice can help with the morbidity that is becoming associated with aging in the developing world. Although they won’t turn you back into a hunter-gatherer, the yoga solutions we’ve been offering on this blog for the last couple of years will help you move back in the right direction. A regular asana practice is a great way to return to being physical active, one that helps you with strength, flexibility, balance and agility. Yoga’s stress management tools, including meditation, breath practices, and stress-reducing poses help reduce chronic stress associated with many serious illnesses, such as heart disease and high blood pressure. And for those with weight problems, yoga can be of some help in reducing the stress that can cause overeating and the especially dangerous abdominal fat, allowing you increase your will power, and teaching you to be more mindful in your eating habits.
“Just as this is not the best of all possible worlds, your body is not the best of all possible bodies. But it’s the only one you’ll ever have, and it’s worth enjoying, nurturing, and protecting. “ —Daniel Lieberman
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