Health, Acupuncture, and Happiness

This morning I read about a study that contains new statistics about how U.S. citizens perceive their quality of life. It turns out that 49 percent of the U.S. residents surveyed reported that they were thriving, 47 percent are struggling, and 4 percent are suffering.

Not such a great score, considering that 83 percent of Denmark's residents report that they are thriving.

The study was a joint venture between Gallup, the long famous polling house, and Healthways, a company that partners with corporations to improve the health of workers. The holistic data presented above is further broken down into categories that examine job satisfaction, commute time, exercise habits, chronic illness, and much more.

Basically, only about half of the people in the United States are happy, and, according to this study, there seems to be a strong correlation between health and happiness.

Other researchers dispute the link, saying that there are too many variables to make a direct correlation between health and happiness, but they can't deny that a relationship exists. There's an entire class of medication - tricyclic antidepressants - that is specifically indicated for depression caused by chronic pain.

To me, it's a given. I've been blessed with good health for most of my life, but when something goes wrong, I feel it. And it bothers me. When I was 28 I broke my thumb doing yoga, and I went from being a happy, active yogi to being a slightly depressed 28-year-old.

Perhaps instead of looking problematic positive correlation between health and happiness, we should look at the cut-and-dried, clinically-proven link between chronic pain and depression. When people don't feel good in their bodies, they don't feel good in their minds.

Another interesting piece of data is that the United States health care system ranks 37th in the world. That's not real high, my fellow Americans.

For me, that just means that I need to take more responsibility for my own health. It means that I'm going to stay active so that my overall health is good. I'm going to put an effort to maintaining my own wellness - getting regular acupuncture treatments, taking preventative herbal medicine, getting regular massage, visiting the dentist regularly, eating well, and relaxing often - and not expecting someone else to take care of me down the road.

The more responsibility you take for your physical and mental health now, the less expensive it will be for you and your family later. The choice is yours.