How to Recover from Fatigue: Happiness and the ties that bind

Wondering how to recover from fatigue? According to a recent Gallup Poll, family ties and friendship could be just what the doctor ordered. In fact, “The Gallup Healthways “Happiness-Stress Index” Poll indicated that weekends, holidays and social time account for the highest spikes in happiness and most significant decreases in stress and anxiety. Another study conducted by James H. Fowler and Nicholas A. Christakis found that happiness was contagious and asserted that “People’s happiness depends on the happiness of others with whom they are connected … seeing happiness, like health, as a collective phenomenon.”

How to recover from fatigue: Dr. Happiness weighs in on what makes us happy.

According to Edward Diener, a.k.a. Dr. Happiness, “…the most salient characteristics shared by the 10% of students with the highest levels of happiness and the lowest signs of depression were their strong ties to friends and family and commitment to spending time with them.”

On that note I’d like to encourage you to start making dates with happiness i.e. setting aside time daily and weekly to enjoy social time with your ties that bind, heal and energize your  mind, body and spirit.

Daily Family & Friend Breaks: Stressed at just the thought of planning a get together?  Relax. A break could be as simple as a few minutes here to a couple hours there …

* Spending a couple of minutes around the office chatting

* Sharing a coffee break in your cubical while giggling over Demotivation.com posters.

* Renewing participation in your WAHM/SAHM, collegiate, church, etc.

* Inviting a friend to join in a weekly class you already enjoy – dance class, craft class, knitting, quilting, cooking …

* Sharing a relaxing glass of red wine after an evening yoga class.

* Writing a note to a friend and mailing it off with a fun “Celebrate” or “Adopt a Shelter Dog/Cat” Stamp will give you more energy for hours and feel happier. According to Gale Berkowitz of the renowned Nurses Health Study “The more friends women had, the less likely they were to develop physical impairments as they age, and the more likely they were to be leading a joyful life.”

Don’t underestimate the happiness health benefits of “virtual” dates with your out-of-town significant others. Although I live in Virginia I regularly eat lunch with my mother who lives in San Diego. Noon is the perfect time for me to break and catch her at the breakfast table. Often I can catch a few moments with my dad too.

Weekly Gathering and the return of the Sunday meal tradition. Just the thought of this conjures up images of that famous Norman Rockwell Thanksgiving Painting. The one with the beautifully set table, happy faces and a huge turkey on a platter just making its appearance… This is a far cry from the hasty meal gobbled down in front of the “News” that too many of us rush through every night.

For your health and well-being I highly recommend a return to the past. Remember that old-fashioned tradition where Sunday was a day of rest, recuperation and reconnection with spirit above and within? Well it can be again with a delicious and merry brunch or dinner with loved ones. (Last night my gathering was around the Super Bowl but any or no-occasion will do!)

Dress it up with your best linens, silver, candelabras and china. Spend all day cooking up your favorite “food for energy” and flavor dishes. Be sure to include a decadent desert. You can make the meal preparation a fun family or group project or, take it easy by making it pot-luck affair complete with plastic knives and forks and paper plates. It truly is the “thought that counts” and enjoying the guests at your table that matters.

Psst. If you do decide to cook, the Sunday meal is an excellent opportunity to “double up” your recipes. This habit reduces meal planning, preparation and clean-up during the rest of the week. You’re gonna love the way that makes you feel!

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The single most important thing you can do to increase your level of health, wealth and success in your life is to increase your level of happiness. – Marci Shimoff, author, Happy For No Reason. For more thoughts on the topic of fatigue recovery via friendship, click here.

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Happiness is Contagious

Happiness Is Contagious
Social Networks Affect Mood, Study Shows

By Salynn BoylesWebMD Health News
Reviewed by Louise Chang, MD

Dec. 4, 2008 — Could happiness be contagious?

New research from Harvard Medical School and the University of California, San Diego suggests that happiness is influenced not only by the people you know, but by the people they know.
The study showed that happiness spreads through social networks, sort of like a virus, meaning that your happiness could influence the happiness of someone you’ve never even met.
Sadness spreads too, but much less efficiently, says study co-author James H. Fowler, PhD, of the University of California-San Diego.
“We have known for a long time that there is a direct relationship between one person’s happiness and another’s,” Fowler tells WebMD.”But this study shows that indirect relationships also affect happiness. We found a statistical relationship not just between your happiness and your friends’ happiness, click here for the rest of this fascinating article!

Fatigue Be Gone Food for thought. Right now pick up the phone and call a friend who makes you feel happy. Notice how that feels in your body … don’t you feel more energized when you are speaking with him/her? How long does that good vibration last? Next notice how your energy level feels around someone who doesn’t make you feel happy.

Journal on this … what did you uncover and discover about yourself. How can you use this information to have a more enjoyable day-to-day life, feel more energized and have more fun this Christmas season?

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