The Happiest (Free!) Way To Give Your Immunity A Boost

culled from:prevention.com

You may chug green juice, sleep eight hours a night and apply hand sanitizer liberally, but researchers have discovered a much simpler way to boost immunity, and it's as easy as watching a sunrise.
"We found that positive emotions—especially awe—are linked to markers of good health," says lead study author Jennifer Stellar, a postdoctoral researcher now at the University of Toronto. Good feelings may boost the body's defenses by lowering levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines, proteins that tell the immune system to work harder. "Pro-inflammatory cytokines are great for fighting illness and infection," Stellar explains, "but when they're cruising around the body without an ailment to fight, they're not good for health." Specifically, sustained high levels of cytokines can lead to disorders such as arthritis, clinical depression, type 2 diabetes, heart disease and Alzheimer's disease.
While the research, published in the journal Emotion, also linked emotions such as pride, joy, and contentment with lower cytokines, it was awe—that feeling of being moved by the wonders of nature, art, music, or spirituality—that proved most powerful, though it's not clear why. "We originally thought that perhaps the experience of positive emotions would reduce our experience of negative emotions, which past work has shown to be linked with proinflammatory cytokines," explains Stellar. But the positive emotions seemed to work on their own. “So we theorized that awe may promote curiosity and a desire to explore, behaviors that are opposite of ones found during inflammation, where people typically withdraw from others in their environment."

Photo by Alan Bailey/Getty Images

In the experiments, conducted at University of California-Berkeley, participants recounted the positive emotions they'd felt that day and then had samples taken of their gum and cheek tissue. Those who reported feeling the most positive emotions—including amusement, awe, compassion, contentment, joy, love, and pride—had the lowest levels of the cytokine, Interleukin 6, a marker of inflammation.
Since most of us can't witness sunsets over the Grand Canyon or take in the arias at the Metropolitan Opera on a daily basis, how can we go about trying to elicit these healing emotions regularly? "I think building small moments into our routine that make us feel positive emotions is important," Stellar says. For some people that may mean taking a walk, watching a poignant film, or having QT with a friend. For others it may be writing in a gratitude journal.
While previous research has linked physical moves—getting adequate sleep, for example—to enhanced immunity, this was the first study to explore the role of psychological forces in maintaining our body's defense systems. "I hope our work shifts the way people think about these experiences," Stellar says. "Instead of seeing a walk in the park or a trip to the museum as an indulgence, we should view these experiences as important for maintaining a healthy mind and body."