Happiness fact 54: small stress events act like a happiness vaccine

As parents know instinctively, some babies are just born happy. But neuroscientists have also learned over the past decade that the brain is highly plastic. It rewires itself in response to experience, and that's especially true before the age of puberty.

One might naively assume, therefore, that negative experiences might destroy a happy personality--and if they're extreme and frequent enough, that might be true. Davidson has learned, however, that mild to moderate doses of negative experience are beneficial. (In animal studies, he compared groups that had been moderately stressed when young to those that never were and found the former better able to recover from stress as adults.

In human studies, in which deliberately inducing stress on kids would be unethical, he based his conclusions on self-reported stories of stressful childhoods.) The reason, he believes, is that stressful events give us practice at bouncing back from unpleasant emotions. They're like an exercise to strengthen our happiness muscles or a vaccination against melancholy.

Source: Health: The Biology of Joy. Scientists know plenty about depression. Now they are starting to understand the roots of positive emotion by Michael D. Lemonick Sunday, Jan. 09, 2005 The Time

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Happiness fact 53: three happiness genes

In the latest study with a large-scale effort involving more than 298,000 people, experts discovered three genetic variants for happiness, in which two variants might account for differences in depressive symptoms.

The main areas in which the genetic variants for happiness are expressed include the central nervous system, the adrenal glands and pancreatic system.

Source: The 'Happiness' Gene Has Been Discovered: Study, by R. Siva Kumar (writer@newseveryday.com) - 26 Apr '16

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Happiness fact 52: close relationships result in a happier, healthier life

The researchers followed 724 men, conducting questionnaires every two years, interviews at different intervals and collecting health information every five years. They looked at everything from their personalities, to drinking habits, and even skull shape and size.

What did make all the difference were the men's relationships with others. "Our men found that good, close relationships predicted not only that they would stay happier, but that they would stay physically healthier,"

Source: CBS News May 27, 2016, 5:26 PM What makes a happy, healthy life?

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