Happy People Can Eat More Cheeseburgers

Ok, not exactly.   I’m pretty sure that’s not what the study meant.  Read on…

Happiness at work is a great idea:   it is related to greater employee engagement and — in the end — an increase in productivity.  Besides, who really wants to hate work?

But researchers at Columbia University have linked happiness to health.  To avoid heart attacks, we should add happiness to the list that includes limiting out intake of cigarette smoke and cheeseburgers.

I’m not a doctor, but I’m guessing that this study doesn’t mean we can eat more junk food if we are happy.  But it does lend a bit of power to the notion that investing thought and energy in creating joy and happiness for ourselves and our work environments makes a ton of sense.  How many total miserable jerks out there that exercise regularly and shop in the health food stores, but would never consider trying to make themselves — and their families and workmates — happier?  Ironic.

Here’s an excerpt from the Associated Press:

After a decade, they examined the 145 people who developed a heart problem and found happier people were less likely to have had one.
The study was published online Thursday in the European Heart Journal.
“If you aren’t naturally a happy person, just try acting like one,” said Dr. Karina Davidson of Columbia University Medical Center, the paper’s lead author. “It could help your heart.”

Yeah sure, this stuff is common sense.  But seeing that science proves what we sense (whether you’re Spiderman or a Jedi) to be true is cool.

So…. Pick Happy.   You’ll work better.  And you’ll live longer.   And you can eat more cheeseburgers.   (Ok, not the last one.)

Want to be happier at work?  Want your work culture to foster more levity and more joy? Contact me here about being your motivational speaker or to work with your organization.

Brad Montgomery
Motivational Speaker, Comedian, Pretty Darned Happy Guy