Happiness is a virtue! It is acquired; not inherited. Through the eons of time, humankind has been in pursuit of the perfect elixir for happiness. In the early days, happiness was equated with possessions of material wealth. It was also thought that happiness could be gaged by land ownership. Then, came the industrial revolution and humankind thought technology and industrial progress could have a positive bearing on their happiness. However, with the advent of the industrial age, when both men and women had to toil in factories that had access to technology, their happiness score didn't deflect in a positive direction.
More mind boggling was the results of studies done by the London School of Business, Economics. Countries like Bhutan, Bangladesh, and some of the under-developed countries had a higher happiness scores than overtly industrialized nations like the United States, the United Kingdom, and parts of Western Europe. These findings revealed that happiness is measured by true reflection of oneself, which yielded more by positive experiences than material possessions.
EPIGENETICS
We tried to dispel some popular myths about what are the main drivers of happiness. One of the first thing that dawns in our mind is the science of epigenetics. We know that 1% of our human genome is controlled by three million epigenetic regulatory sites. So in reality, our diet, lifestyle, sleep patterns, environment, physical and emotional state, physical activities, and the kind of relationships we have and nurture all have a profound bearing on our mental state. According to the SMILES study on Supporting the Modification of Lifestyle in Lowered Emotional States and an evidenced based approach to mental health, we figured out that there is no single element or drug that can bring joy and happiness. Instead there are a multitude of factors that contribute to or take away from our health, happiness and mental well being.
RISK FACTORS
In today’s world, we are bombarded with multiple risk factors. Risk factors to depression stems from:
1)Death in the family
2)Divorce
3)Disability and/or loss of independence
4)Displacement from one’s homestead or country
5)Children moving away
6)Dietary and full-spectrum light deficiencies
7)Drugs/medications (e.g. statins, calcium channel blockers (CCB), and beta-blockers (BB) and even the same drugs used to treat depression can contribute to serious mental health issues)
8)Pollution, toxic metals, and/or chemicals
INFLAMMATION & LIFESTYLE
We know for sure whether it is cancer, coronary artery disease, strokes, osteoporosis, arthritis, the smoking gun at the end of the day is inflammation. Inflammation contributes to tumor cytokines IL-6 and looking at those inflammatory markers, we know about one third of patients with depression have higher levels of cytokines.
In Pursuit of Happiness: A Holistic Approach