or even cut out entire groups or foods in your diet. This will only increase
the risk of obesity, diabetes and heart diseases.
Of course, dont forget to drink a glass of water every meal.
In our elementary science lessons, we have learned that water is a
universal solvent. With its capacity to dissolve any substance, it dissolves
the harmful toxins our body has taken due to the food that we eat or the
pollution in our environment we were exposed to. It makes our skin look
fresh and our intestines clean. Since our body is 60% water, drinking 8-12
glasses a day would also help our body achieve balance (or homestasis)
which helps transport nutrients in the body, regulate body temperature,
digest food and more.
Happiness rule # 3: TRAIN YOUR BRAIN; EXERCISE, NOT OVERSTRAIN.
We dont just lose muscle over time our brains can atrophy, too. So let those neurons work and those muscles
stretch! Give your brain and your body some exercise. What are easy ways to train your brain? Answering
puzzles like soduku and crossword puzzles has not only become everyones favorite pastime, but it aids the
brain in building more neural highways for higher cognitive processing! This has proven to enhance memory
and prevents us from acquiring neuro-degenerative diseases such as Alzheimers disease, aphasia and
dementias.
Hitting the gym is okay when you want to get those muscles toned, but it may not be the best solution if you
want to just maintain a good health. You dont have to lift those double-your-weight dumbbells, do 1,000 pushups a week or run 50 kilometers. One simple, doable and inexpensive exercise is to just keep moving. Brisk
walking, climbing the stairs, lifting mild weights every now and then are effective ways to keep your circulatory
system going. This should be adequate in supplying more oxygen to your blood.
Happiness rule # 4: AVOID HEALTH-DAMAGING BEHAVIORS
What are the usual health-damaging behaviors people do? In the prior rules, you have learned how important it
is not to lack in sleep, over or under eat, skip meals, set the fluids aside and exercise too much as it damages
you in the long run. But other health-damaging behaviors such as drinking alcohol, smoking, and taking illegal
drugs will not only affect your lungs, heart, brain and other organs in the body, but it also affects your
relationship with others.
Drinking kills the neurons in the brain and slows down the senses; hence increasing the risk of road and
pedestrian accidents. And like I said, yhese health-damaging behaviors has been proven to affect relationships.
It has increased the risk of domestic violence, sexual, physical, emotional and psychological abuse. It also cuts
productivity, making you achieve lesser than usual.
Happiness rule # 5: CREATE HEALTHY RELATIONSHIPS
By creating healthy relationships, you do not just avoid toxic people, but you also avoid the unnecessary stress
coming in to your system. With this, you prevent damaging your coronary arteries, gut function, insulin
regulation, and the immune system. Basically, it prevents the body from releasing too much cortisol.
A raised cortisol level hinders us from performing cognitive activities such as problem-solving, memorization
and more. Healthy relationships develop state and trait positive affect which regulates tone of the vagus nerve.
The vagus nerve has been linked to pro-social behaviors like gaze, affective touch and sound.
Being in healthy relationships means youre also with the right kind of people. It has been linked to high
conscientiousness, thus preventing you from doing health-damaging behaviors.