Are You Happy?
Are you happier now than you were last year? Five years ago? If you're like most people, your level of happiness has declined significantly, while your "anxiety index" (things you worry about) has increased (also significantly). Across the American population, the number of people who identify themselves as "very happy" with their lives has declined by about 60 percent within the last fifty years. Why were people in the 1950s happier? Less stress, fewer hours of work, and a higher comparative standard of living. In the past twenty-five years, the average American workweek has blossomed to fifty hours from forty hours, a level higher than any European country and equal to that of Japan. Even with those extra hours of work, we are behind in our ability to maintain the same overall standard of living of twenty-five years ago (or at least it feels that way when we take into consideration the fact that most of us want to improve our lives and the lives of our kids). Talk about stress! We're all working longer and harder than our parents did—and yet we're not able to live up to the same (comparative) standard of living we had as kids. Those ten extra hours of work have gained us nothing in terms of security or living standards.
We're spinning our wheels, and yet even more seems to be expected of us. We need to be the best worker, the best mom, drive the best car, live in the best neighborhood and the best house, eat at the best restaurants—and it is driving many of us to an early burnout. We even see it in our kids, who go from school or day care to the babysitter to soccer to homework at the same frantic pace. Is there any mystery behind the rise in Ritalin and Prozac use in American kids or the rise in the diagnosis of ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder)?
In a survey conducted in 2006 by the New York Academy of Medicine and the National Association of Social Workers, only about 20 percent of women between the ages of thirty-five and fifty-four rated themselves as "very happy," a lower proportion than that found in other groups of Americans. Money, time, and health concerns loomed large in the survey. Fifty-five percent indicated that they had "difficulty managing stress" in their personal lives.
Perhaps one of the most potent and prevalent stressors in our modern society is money. Researchers refer to a "worry about money" as "socioeconomic stress" (SES), and dozens upon dozens of new studies are showing us that SES is associated not only with elevated cortisol levels but also with increased risk for heart disease, weight gain, and diabetes. In one study conducted by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University, in Pittsburgh, individuals with higher levels of "money stress" had higher cortisol levels. (They also smoked more and skipped breakfast more often.) Scientists at Brandeis University, in Boston, have shown that the highest cortisol levels are found in older adults suffering from money stress.
Ask any of your friends about the things that stress them out the most, and the issue of money is sure to come up. Making it, spending it, balancing bills, etc.—money is undoubtedly one of the primary sources of stress for all of us. Researchers from the University College of London, in England, have assessed the impact of changes in financial strain. They looked at people who made more or less money than one year prior and found that individuals with "improved" (less) financial strain also had lower cortisol and reduced blood pressure.
I know that it would be very politically correct of me to tell you that you need to "dial it back a notch"—to stop and smell the roses, decompress, work fewer hours, take on less debt, and all the rest. But I won't. Instead, I will acknowledge that each of these approaches affords some very real benefits, but I will also acknowledge that "dialing it back a notch" is completely impractical for most people. I can certainly tell you how great the various approaches to "destressing" your life may be, but I know that you'll most likely roll your eyes and go on with your high-stress, hurry-hurry, frantic pace—and I will not have helped you at all.
Rather than focusing most of my efforts on preaching to you about something that I know you'll probably ignore, I will instead focus the bulk of my recommendations on some proven approaches to using minimal exercise, simple nutrition, and natural dietary supplements to control the biochemistry underlying your stress response. I will also offer up a few simple stress-management techniques that you can implement without drastically changing your lifestyle. By following some of my suggestions, you can reduce the detrimental effects of stress on your metabolism—meaning you can lose weight, boost your energy levels, enhance your mood, and improve your sex life—without having to sacrifice your current lifestyle (or become a monk).
by Shawn M Talbott, PhD