Surprisingly, a similar effect was not observed for the other end of the spectrum. It didn't seem to matter for inflammation whether people regularly experienced many or only a few variations of negative emotions. Lead author Anthony Ong, professor of human development at Cornell University, suspects that people may be able to maximize these benefits by more closely examining their emotions. Despite efforts to control for outside factors, Ong acknowledges that there may be unforeseen reasons why people with a smaller range of positive emotions may have higher inflammation.
The study was not able to show a cause-and-effect relationship, or even the direction of the association. More research is needed, but this study strengthens the link between many kinds of happiness and better health. Amanda MacMillan. Happiness Guide. These States Are the Happiest and Healthiest. View Sample. All rights reserved. TIME may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Emotion researchers believe there may be something parallel going on with emotions: When you believe that feelings are something you can impact through effort, rather than being out of your control, you may be willing to try strategies to manage them better.
In a recent paper , Ford and her colleagues looked at how participants with different emotional beliefs reacted to stressors.
In one experiment, researchers deliberately stressed out participants by requiring them to give an impromptu talk; in another experiment, people kept daily diaries about how they handled stressors in their regular lives. Participants also reported on whether they were more accepting or more judgmental of their emotions. In both cases, participants who accepted their feelings experienced less negative emotion while stressed than people who judged their feelings, though they did not experience more positive emotion.
In the latter experiment, emotion-accepting participants were also less depressed and anxious, and more satisfied with life, six months later. Her study supports other research showing the benefits of believing that all emotions are useful and equally valuable. For example, one study found that participants who thought emotions were helpful also reported being happier and having more social supports than those who found emotions a hindrance.
Additionally, the more participants viewed emotions as helpful in their lives, the better they performed on a timed reasoning task—which is somewhat surprising, given how often people pit reason against emotion. Similarly, other research has found that believing that happiness is very valuable can lead people to be less happy , as they struggle to meet their own high expectations and experience disappointment.
Neither of these are productive ways of expressing emotion. We need to feel the feelings and let them go to deal with them in a healthy way. Expressing an emotion doesn't have to be something outward like slamming a door, yelling into a pillow or even telling someone about it. It can happen entirely in our minds, too. Instead of getting enraged at someone, we have to forget who we're angry at, forget the story behind it and allow ourselves to truly feel the emotion inside.
We can say to ourselves, "I'm really mad, and that's OK. Just by doing that, we loosen the emotion's grip over our well-being.
Expressing our emotions brings about a lot more benefits, too. Use precise geolocation data. Select personalised content. Create a personalised content profile. Measure ad performance. Select basic ads. Create a personalised ads profile. Select personalised ads.
Apply market research to generate audience insights. Measure content performance. Develop and improve products. List of Partners vendors. Emotions can play an important role in how you think and behave. The emotions you feel each day can compel you to take action and influence the decisions you make about your life, both large and small. Emotions can be short-lived, such as a flash of annoyance at a co-worker, or long-lasting, such as enduring sadness over the loss of a relationship.
But why exactly do we experience emotions? What role do they serve? Emotions are influenced by a network of interconnected structures in the brain that make up what is known as the limbic system. Key structures including the hypothalamus, the hippocampus , the amygdala, and the limbic cortex play a pivotal role in emotions and behavioral responses.
In order to truly understand emotions, it is important to understand the three critical components of an emotion. Each element can play a role in the function and purpose of your emotional responses. When faced with a nerve-wracking exam, you might feel a lot of anxiety about whether you will perform well and how the test will impact your final grade.
Because of these emotional responses , you might be more likely to study. Since you experienced a particular emotion, you had the motivation to take action and do something positive to improve your chances of getting a good grade. You also tend to take certain actions in order to experience positive emotions and minimize the probability of feeling negative emotions. For example, you might seek out social activities or hobbies that provide you with a sense of happiness , contentment, and excitement.
On the other hand, you would probably avoid situations that might potentially lead to boredom, sadness , or anxiety. Emotions increase the likelihood that you will take an action. When you are angry , you are likely to confront the source of your irritation.
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