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(CNN) - It is a difficult start for this new decade. The year 2020 begins under the shadow of divisive policies, threats of international security, a series of hate crimes and a planet in environmental danger, in addition to all the reasons why we stress individually: work, health problems, changes in life and more
No wonder many of us are anxious or depressed.
But you can take scientifically validated measures to improve your mental perspective and, because the mind and body are intertwined, these behaviors will also improve your overall health.
1. Practice optimism
The studies are positive: looking at the positive side of life is really good for you. Optimists have a 35% lower chance of dying from a heart attack or stroke; they are more likely to eat a healthy diet and exercise regularly; they have a stronger immune system; and even live longer. In fact, a 2019 study found that people with a more positive outlook were more likely to live up to 85 years or more.
Now, let's be realistic: being optimistic does not mean that you ignore the stress of daily life. Who can do that? It simply means that when bad things happen, you don't blame yourself unnecessarily. If you face a challenge or obstacle, you are more likely to see it as temporary or even positive, allowing you to learn and grow.
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Optimists also believe they have control over their destiny and can create opportunities for good things to happen.
Are you not a natural optimist? Do not worry. Science has shown that you can train your brain to be more positive. Anyway, only about 25% of optimism is programmed by our genes.
"There is research that indicates that optimism can actually be improved or encouraged through certain types of training," said neuroscientist Richard Davidson. Davidson is founder and director of the Center for Healthy Minds and has done innovative work on the link between mental attitudes and physical health.
"When these types of mental exercises are taught to people, it actually changes the function and structure of their brain in a way that we believe supports these kinds of positive qualities," said Davidson. "And that can be key to producing the impact on the body."
According to a meta-analysis of existing studies, using the technique of "The best possible being" is one of the most effective ways to increase your optimism. It is based on exercises that ask you to imagine yourself with all your problems solved in a future where all the goals of your life were achieved.
In one study, people who did this for only 15 minutes a week for an eight-week period became more positive and stayed that way for almost six months. What do you have to lose?
2. Start volunteering
A prayer attributed to Saint Francis of Assisi tells us: "Giving is how we receive."
It turns out that he was scientifically correct. Studies have shown that putting the welfare of others before ours without expecting anything in return, or what is called being altruistic, stimulates the reward centers of the brain. Those chemicals that feel good flood our system, producing a kind of "stimulating effect to help."
There are also physical benefits: studies show that volunteering minimizes stress and improves depression. It can reduce the risk of cognitive impairment. It can even help us live longer.
Even if you have little time to offer, only the act of giving has shown that it improves our health, possibly by temporarily reducing our pain sensation.
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A new study found that people who said they would donate money to help orphans were less sensitive to electric shock than those who refused to give. Also, the more they thought they helped people with their donation, the less pain they felt.
Are you looking for ideas? CNN has a country-by-country list of aid organizations worldwide.
3. Be grateful
We hear a lot about the benefits of thanks in the last decade, and that is backed by science: counting our blessings protects us against anxiety and depression and increases optimism. Do you need more tests? High school students who practiced gratitude exercises had fewer behavioral problems. (Did you read that, parents of teenagers?)
One of the best ways to make gratitude a part of your life, experts say, is to keep a diary. Before going to bed, write down any positive experiences you had that day, however small.
But you can also do it by practicing mindfulness or an intentional self-regulation of attention to stay in the moment. One of Davidson's favorite mindfulness exercises, cultivates gratitude.
"Just remember the people in our lives from whom we have received some kind of help," Davidson told CNN. "Remember them and appreciate the attention and support or whatever these individuals have provided."
If you do that for a minute every morning and afternoon, he added, that sense of appreciation can be extended to others in your life and reinforce optimism and better mental health.
4. Strengthen your social connections
"People who are more socially connected with family, friends, community, are happier, are healthier physically and live longer than people who are less connected," Harvard psychiatrist Robert Waldinger said in his popular TEDx talk .
The proof of this comes from the Harvard Study of Adult Development, which tracked 724 Boston men for more than 75 years and then began following more than 2,000 of their descendants and wives.
“The clearest message we receive from this 75-year study is the following: good relationships keep us happier and healthier. Point, ”said Waldinger.
And you don't have to be engaged in a relationship or have many friends to get this benefit. Instead, what matters is the quality of the relationship, he said.
"High conflict marriages, for example, without much love, turn out to be very bad for our health, perhaps worse than divorce," Waldinger said. "And living in the midst of good and warm relationships is protective."
5. Find your purpose
Finding a sense of purpose contributes greatly to well-being and a longer and happier life, experts told CNN.
Psychologist Martin Seligman of the University of Pennsylvania, co-founder of the field of positive psychology, says that a sense of purpose will come from being part of something bigger than us. He points to religion, family and social causes as ways of increasing meaning in our lives. (See No. 2 on volunteering).
It doesn't have to be a traditional religion to be effective, according to Lord Richard Layard, one of Britain's most prominent economists and author of several books on happiness.
In his outstanding book "Happiness: lessons from a new science," he says that spiritual practices can range from meditation to positive psychology and cognitive therapy.
“If your only duty is to achieve the best for you, life becomes too stressful, too lonely: it is prepared to fail. Instead, he needs to feel that he exists for something bigger, and that same thought takes away some of the pressure. ”
Mental health
