20 easy FEEL-GOOD fixes

Like a healthy and happy life? Try these simple ways to put some pep in your step and bring a smile to your dial.

- RUTH COLE

1 DIARISE HAPPY TIMES

Schedule an enjoyable event into your diary once a week – meet a friend or watch a movie. Unless you commit, it’s easy to overlook doing it. A US study found that people who write down feel-good activities on a calendar, then look at them in tough times, experience a 90 per cent reduction in stress, as it puts feelings into perspective.

2 Crack a smile

Smile more and you could live longer! A US study has found that big smilers live an average of seven years more than their unsmiling counterparts. Better still, have a laugh. Laughter reduces stress hormones and releases the happy hormones, endorphins and serotonin. Some Zen Buddhists believe that starting the day with a belly laugh has the same calming effect as meditation. It’s also been found to reduce food cravings.

“The biological changes we see with moderate, routine exercise are very similar to the changes we see with the constant use of mirthful laughter,” says Associate Research Professor of pathology and human anatomy, Dr Lee Berk.

The physiological benefits of a good chuckle have been found to kick in even if you’re faking!

3 KEEP TALKING

Phone a friend. A US study has found that people who spend 70 per cent more time talking are the happiest. Interestingly, though, small talk doesn’t count. The happy people had twice as many substantive – that’s deep and meaningful – conversations than the others studied.

4 ENJOY A SPECIAL DINNER