Moreover, scientists observed an even greater drop in heart rate when students broke into a “Duchenne smile” (the type that engages the eyes and the mouth). “Smiling can jump-start the process of happiness,” says Jeff Brown, MD, a Harvard psychologist and the author of Chicken Soup for the Soul: Think Positive for Great Health ($9.95, amazon.com). “When you smile, you trigger a psychological and neurobiological alignment with positive emotions.” “Refueling with food is the main reason we stop in the middle of the day, and it’s important to step away from your desk to do this,” says Regina Ragone, MS, RD. Getting away from your desk and to-dos, even just for 20 minutes, can improve your mood, creativity, and energy levels. But it also matters what you eat: Your body needs nutrients from whole foods and wholesome, well-balanced snacks. Ragone recommends a balanced meal that is 50 percent veggies, 25 percent lean protein, and 25 percent whole grains (bonus if you can sneak in some healthy fats, like avocado or olive oil). That means you need to take every chance you get to add extra activity into your day. In fact, research published in the American Journal of Health Promotion suggests that short periods of activity really add up. When researchers analyzed data from more than 6,000 adults, ages 18 to 85, they found that those who got short bouts of exercise (between one and 10 minutes) through everyday activities experienced the same benefits, including lower blood pressure and cholesterol, as did those who continuously exercised for 30 minutes. Even better, chocolate may help take the edge off stress. When Swiss researchers asked stressed-out people to eat 1.4 ounces of dark chocolate each day, the researchers found that after two weeks, the subjects had lower levels of the stress hormones cortisol and catecholamines. Try this: Think of a challenge you’re facing. That’s your “if” clause (example: “If I’m under the gun on a deadline…”). Then decide what kind of positive response you would like to have. That’s your “then” clause ("…then I will keep a cool head"). Put them together, and that’s what you should say to yourself to make stressful circumstances seem more manageable. It’s the perfect formula to create your own mantra. People in the study who had large friend networks tended to evaluate their lives more negatively right after they spent time on social media, as opposed to people who hadn’t recently logged on. “It’s natural to compare our lives with those of others, but people tend to post disproportionately positive updates and neglect the not-so-glamorous aspects of their lives,” says study leader Dilney Goncalves, PhD, an associate professor of marketing at IE Business School. Also, the more friends you have, the more of those impossibly perfect updates you’ll probably see. So as a reality check, tell yourself that everyone has problems and that you may be overestimating how happy other people truly are. Goncalves says that this simple reminder can help eliminate the negative effects that social media may have on life satisfaction. It’s possible that the closer you hold a device to your face, the more likely it is that the emitted light can interfere with your sleep, which is why tablets may be especially disruptive. And research published in the Journal of Applied Ergonomics found that spending two hours or more in front of a backlit display can suppress melatonin production. What to do with the time after you unplug? Take a bath, read a (real) book, write in a journal, meditate, do light stretches—anything but scroll social media.
