Smile for your Heart31, 03, 2018
General wellbeing has a strong relationship with the mental state, which can change from time to time, just like mentioned state can positively influence the overall health. People can benefit from a variety of elements such as optimism, music and stress release activities, that will influence their mental wellbeing and will become good allies to stay healthier for a longer time.
A study at The Illinois university in the USA analysed the link between optimism and an ideal health wellness. They evaluated the cardiac health of 5100 adults from 45 to 85 years old, they compared health vitals, mental health and their optimism levels and concluded that participants who have the tendency to see the things “on the brighter side” had the healthier hearts and better cholesterol levels.
An other ally that will keep us healthy is music; listening to our favourite music has a positive outcome in our mental state and wellness; according to Professor Deljanin “Listening to joyful music for 30 minutes has been associated with improved endothelial function” she mentions that this is because we liberate endorphins in our brain that mediates and increases the nitric oxide which diminish vascular resistance and improves our cardiac health. In addition, listening to our favourite music while doing our regular exercise training may be an adjunct method in the rehabilitation of patients with Coronary Artery Disease.
Finally reducing stress is a key factor for the prevention of hypertension, stress can become a constant part of life and deteriorate the mental state, in the daily life is not easy to eradicate stress, practices such as reading a book, newspaper or a magazine for at least a few minutes can reduce stress up to 68%. In addition, after high stress levels smiling help us to feel better, since it reduces the speed of heart beating whether the person is genuinely happy or not. Besides these practices, family and friends support, sleeping well and having an enjoyable hobby can keep stress out of our life.
Our physical health can be influenced by our mental state and sometimes it can be difficult to find ways to maintain a calm mind, remember that optimism, music and shutting out stress periods, through reading, smiling and spending time with the people closer to us are elements that will contribute to our wellbeing.