Don’t Worry, Be Happy, Be Healthy

I don’t think it takes a “study” to know this, but apparently happier people are healthier people. From the story:

A happy heart just might be a healthier one as well, new research suggests.In a study of nearly 3,000 healthy British adults, lead by Dr.
Andrew Steptoe of University College London, found that those who reported upbeat moods had lower levels of cortisol—a “stress” hormone that, when chronically elevated, may contribute to high blood pressure, abdominal obesity and dampened immune function, among other problems. In the study, published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, women who reported more positive emotions had lower blood levels of two proteins that indicate widespread inflammation in the body. Chronic inflammation is believed to contribute to a range of ills over time, including heart disease and cancer.

But this reaction seems shallow to me:

But if happier people are healthier people, the more difficult question remains: How do you become happier?

“What we do know,” Steptoe noted, “is that people’s mood states are not just a matter of heredity, but depend on our social relationships and fulfillment in life. We need to help people to recognize the things that make them feel good and truly satisfied with their lives, so that they spend more time doing these things.”

But that is akin to saying happiness is synonymous with having fun. The two concepts are completely different. Indeed, it seems to me that happiness comes not from doing things that make us feel good, but in putting others first and subsuming our own transitory desires for things greater than ourselves. Happiness is a state of being, not the doing of things that we enjoy.