Positive thinking: 1-minute video advice from a Cleveland Clinic psychologist

Positive thinking. Stop thinking bad thoughts. Scott Bea, Clinical Psychologist, offers a simple solution to negative thoughts. He discusses how mindfulness encourages positive thoughts. Uploaded by ClevelandClinic on Apr 4, 2011.

86% of Australian doctors report high rates of job satisfaction - see why

More than 80% of Australian doctors are moderately or very satisfied with their jobs, a national survey has found.

The survey, of 10 498 doctors, 19% of those who were contacted and eligible, found that 86% were moderately or very satisfied with their jobs, with no significant differences between GPs, specialists, and specialists in training. Hospital non-specialists were less satisfied.

The predictors of high professional satisfaction included:

- a good support network

- a household with a high income

- patients with realistic expectations w
- being able to take time off

- being younger or close to retirement

- having good self reported health.

Female GPs earn an average 25% less than their male counterparts and that GPs on average earn 32% less than specialists. The average annual pretax personal earnings of GPs and specialists were $US 180 000 and $US 316 570, respectively.

With Australia in the throes of national health reform, the researchers said that their findings set an important baseline for examining the effects of policy changes on doctors’ job satisfaction.

The survey was conducted between June and November 2008, before the Australian government announced its national health reform agenda.

The survey findings were published in the 3 January edition of the Medical Journal of Australia.

Twitter comments:

@gastromom (Meenakshi Budhraja): What are comparative figures in the US - 80% of Australian doctors report high rates of job satisfaction http://goo.gl/mchQT”

@PMillerMD (Philip Miller): 80% of Australian doctors report high rates of job satisfaction. / What is it in US? And if lower, why? I suspect payment morass.

@cotterj1 80% of Australian doctors report high rates of job satisfaction http://goo.gl/mchQT -> Explains why half the HSE docs are gone!

@SeattleMamaDoc (WendySueSwanson MD): "A good support network" goes long way.

@docmuscles (Adam Nally, D.O.) This was before the health care reform (HCR).

References:

Australian doctors report high rates of job satisfaction. BMJ 2011; 342:d119 doi: 10.1136/bmj.d119 (Published 10 January 2011)

Australian doctors’ satisfaction with their work: results from the MABEL longitudinal survey of doctors. MJA 2011; 194 (1): 30-33.

Image source: Wikipedia, public domain.

Be lucky - it's an easy skill to learn, says researcher

From Telegraph:

The study findings have revealed that although unlucky people have almost no insight into the real causes of their good and bad luck, their thoughts and behaviour are responsible for much of their fortune.

Personality tests revealed that unlucky people are generally much more tense than lucky people, and research has shown that anxiety disrupts people's ability to notice the unexpected.

Unlucky people miss chance opportunities because they are too focused on looking for something else. They go to parties intent on finding their perfect partner and so miss opportunities to make good friends.

Lucky people generate good fortune via 4 principles:

1. They are skilled at creating and noticing chance opportunities.
2. Make lucky decisions by listening to their intuition.
3. Create self-fulfilling prophesies via positive expectations.
4. Adopt a resilient attitude that transforms bad luck into good.

Unlucky people often fail to follow their intuition when making a choice, whereas lucky people tend to respect hunches.

Unlucky people tend to be creatures of routine. Lucky people tend to see the positive side of their ill fortune.



References:

Be lucky - it's an easy skill to learn - Telegraph.co.uk.

Image source: OpenClipArt.org, public domain.

Happiest people are 22% less likely to develop heart disease

From WebMD:

Happiest people were 22% less likely to develop heart disease over the 10 years of follow-up than people who fell in the middle of the negative-positive emotion scale.

People with the most negative emotions had the highest risk for heart disease and people who scored highest for happiness had the lowest risk.

Possible explanations for how happiness may protect the heart:

- Healthier lifestyle: Happy people tend to sleep better, eat better, smoke less, and get more exercise.
- Physiological impact: Happiness may produce a host of positive chemical changes -- such a reduction in stress hormones.
- Genetic influences: It could be that people who are predisposed to happiness are also predisposed to have fewer heart attacks.

Devote 15-20 minutes a day to doing something enjoyable and relaxing.

Strategies that could help naturally negative people become happier:

- Express gratitude on a regular basis.
- Practice being optimistic.
- Engage in frequent acts of kindness.
- Visualize one's best self.
- Savor joyful events.
- Practice forgiveness.

Regular exercise, sexual activity and good sleep are associated with increased self-reported happiness.

References:

Study: Happiness Good for the Heart. WebMD.

Experienced happiness is largely set by personality, it will temporarily respond to changing circumstances. The Lancet, 2010. http://goo.gl/ot3Kx

Image source: OpenClipArt.org, public domain.

In Adolescents, Gratitude Leads to More Success Than Materialism

Materialistic youth seem to be languishing while grateful youth seem to be flourishing.

In this study, 1,000 high school students completed measures of materialism, gratitude, academic functioning, envy, depression, life satisfaction, social integration, and absorption.

Gratitude, controlling for materialism, predicted all outcomes considered: higher grade point average, life satisfaction, social integration, and absorption, as well as lower envy and depression.

In contrast, materialism, controlling for gratitude, uniquely predicts three of the six outcomes: lower grade point average, as well as higher envy and life satisfaction.

References:
Gratitude and the Reduced Costs of Materialism in Adolescents. Jeffrey J. Froh1 , Robert A. Emmons2, Noel A. Card3, Giacomo Bono4 and Jennifer A. Wilson1. Journal of Happiness Studies, 2010.
http://www.springerlink.com/content/21616624m5621673/

Comments from Twitter:

@drjohnm RT @DrVes: In Adolescents, Gratitude Leads to More Success Than Materialism >>It also much better for the heart.

R U OK? Day on 7th October

Hugh Jackman shows his support for R U OK?Day, a national day of action that aims to prevent suicide by encouraging people to connect with colleagues, friends and loved ones and ask: "Are you OK?".

Suicide prevention in Australia: "A conversation could save a life", link via @dreamingspires.

Video: A life cycle in 90 seconds

From the British tabloid Daily Mail:

"Sometimes we forget just how short and precious our time on this planet really is. It's for this reason that John Lewis's new television ad seems to have struck an uncharacteristic chord.

You won't find many people admitting to crying over the usual flood of formulaic adverts on our screens - yet this 'moving' ad has got Britain talking - and sobbing into their breakfast bowls.

At 91 seconds long, and costing £6 million, the ad shows the the life cycle of a woman from birth to old-age - infancy, a girl's birthday party, a clumsy kiss in a university corridor, marriage, pregnancy, parenthood and the path into old age."

Can You Tell Your Life Story In 6 Words?

Larry Smith and Rachel Fershleiser talk to NPR about the fun and the challenge of capturing real-life stories in six little words.

Some examples related to medicine:

Alzheimer's: meeting new people every day.
Phil Skversky

After cancer, I became a semicolon.
Anthony R. Cardno

Normal person becomes psychotic on Twitter.
Robin Slick

Yale at 16, downhill from there.
Anita Kawatra

References:
Can You Tell Your Life Story In Exactly Six Words? NPR, 2010.

"Europeans Work to Live and Americans Live to Work" But Who is Happier?

Americans work 50% more than the Germans, the French and the Italians. Americans may work more than Europeans because of domestic tax rates - there are lower tax rates in the US than in Europe, and hence working more pays off more in the US. In other words, working longer hours pays off more in the US than in Europe.

This study compares the working hours and life satisfaction of Americans and Europeans using the World Values Survey, Eurobarometer and General Social Survey.

The purpose is to explore the relationship between working hours and happiness in Europe and America. Is it possible that working more makes Americans happier than Europeans?

The findings suggest that Americans may be happier working more because they believe more than Europeans do that hard work is associated with success.

References:
Europeans Work to Live and Americans Live to Work (Who is Happy to Work More: Americans or Europeans?). Adam Okulicz-Kozaryn. Journal of Happiness Studies, 2010.

Image source: Wikipedia, GNU Free Documentation License.

"Values-In-Action" Character Strengths Predict Well-Being

Character strengths can be conceptualized in the Values-In-Action (VIA) strengths classification system.

135 undergraduate university students completed measures of strengths use, subjective well-being (SWB), self-esteem, self-efficacy, and health-related quality of life (HRQOL), and endorsed 5 top VIA strengths.

Results revealed that strengths use is a unique predictor of subjective well-being, but not HRQOL.

The VIA strengths of hope and zest were significant positive predictors of life satisfaction.

The most commonly-endorsed VIA strengths were:

- love
- humor
- kindness
- social intelligence
- open-mindedness.

The least-endorsed VIA strengths were:

- leadership
- perseverance
- wisdom
- spirituality
- self-control

The results suggest a link between VIA strengths and subjective well-being.

References:
Predictor of Well-Being and Health-Related Quality of Life. Journal Journal of Happiness Studies, 2010.

Image source: OpenClipArt.org.

Michael Jordan: I’ve failed over and over again. And that’s why I succeed

Video: Michael Jordan "Failure" Nike Commercial. "I’ve missed 9000 shots. I’ve lost 399 games. I’ve failed over and over again. And that’s why I succeed".

Related:
"The ultimate competitor will never stop competing even though he won the fight long ago" http://goo.gl/SVLZ

Mispredicting Happiness

From the Journal of Happiness Studies:

Young people mispredict happiness levels in old age, believing—wrongly—that happiness declines with age.

Young male binge drinkers are particularly prone to thinking that happiness declines with age.

References:
Mispredicting Happiness Across the Adult Lifespan: Implications for the Risky Health Behaviour of Young People. Journal of Happiness Studies, 2009.

Experienced happiness is largely set by personality, it will temporarily respond to changing circumstances. The Lancet, 2010. http://goo.gl/ot3Kx
Image source: OpenClipArt.org, public domain.

Effect of children on life satisfaction of married people is positive and increasing with number of children

From the Journal of Happiness Studies:

We investigate the relationship between having children at home and life satisfaction. Contrary to much of the literature, our results are consistent with an effect of children on life satisfaction that is positive, large and increasing in the number of children.

The effect, however, is contingent on the individual’s characteristics. In particular, our findings are consistent with children making married people better off, while most unmarried individuals appear to be worse off with children.

An erratum was issued after the study was published which claimed that a coding mistake made the results invlid and the author requested a retraction:

"After correcting the problem, the main results of the paper no longer hold. The effect of children on life satisfaction of married individuals is small, often negative, and never statistically significant."

I appreciate the input of the commenter who took the time to point to this link.

References:
Children and Life Satisfaction. Luis Angeles. Journal of Happiness Studies. 10.1007/s10902-009-9168-z, 10/2009.
Erratum to: Children and Life Satisfaction. Luis Angeles. Journal of Happiness Studies, March 12, 2010.

Experienced happiness is largely set by personality, it will temporarily respond to changing circumstances. The Lancet, 2010. http://goo.gl/ot3Kx
Image source: OpenClipArt.org, public domain.

Happiest men are ages 60 to 69, while least happy are ages 20 to 29

From CNN:

"As you get older, if you're wise, you avoid all stress. Older people are better able to recognize what will bother them, and better able to negotiate their environment."



References:
More happiness may come with age, studies say. CNN.

Pessimism and Cynicism May Increase Risk of Heart Disease and Death

From WebMD and Circulation:

Pessimism and Cynicism Appear to Increase Risk of Heart Disease and Death.

Women who scored highest for optimism had a 9% lower risk for developing heart disease and a 14% lower risk of dying.

Optimists were more likely to:

- be younger
- live in the western U.S.
- have higher education
- have higher income levels
- have a job
- have health insurance
- attend church

MOTORS of Your Life

Studies describe a set of wellbeing practices that are correlated with the feeling of happiness (BMJ, WJM). I tried to summarize them in the mnemonic MOTORS because the pursuit of happiness, in its altruistic sense, can be the motor of your life.

“MOTORS” stands for:

Meaning --> find a meaning in what you do for a living but don't forget to set limits around it
Outlook --> have a positive outlook on life. Be philosophical but also focused on success
Time --> spend quality time with F&F (Family & Friends)
Out of of yuppie values --> don't focus on chasing money or prestige
Religious / spiritual practices
Self care practices, like sports or meditation

All these 6 features are correlated with feeling happier, and some of them even with living longer.

References:
Pessimism, Cynicism Can Hurt Your Heart. WebMD.
The American Heart Association journal Circulation, Aug 25, 2009.
Six Tips for Happiness by a Harvard Teacher
Image source: OpenClipArt.org, public domain.

TED Talks: "Success is a continuous journey"

Richard St. John: "Success is a continuous journey"

" In his typically candid style, Richard St. John reminds us that success is not a one-way street, but a constant journey. He uses the story of his business' rise and fall to illustrate a valuable lesson -- when we stop trying, we fail."

RICHARD ST. JOHN’S BLOG: The 8-Traits that Lead to Great Success.

TED Talks: Calibrate outlook on time to achieve a happier life

Psychologist Philip Zimbardo says happiness and success are rooted in a trait most of us disregard: the way we orient toward the past, present and future. He suggests we calibrate our outlook on time as a first step to improving our lives.

Philip Zimbardo was the leader of the notorious 1971 Stanford Prison Experiment.

Secrets of longevity from a Greek island or How to outlive your doctor

Icaria, Island Chain: North Aegean. Image source: Wikipedia, public domain.

From CNN:

"Since at least the sixth century B.C., Icaria was known to the ancient Greeks and Romans as a health destination -- largely for its hot springs believed to relieve pain, joint problems and skin ailments.

For much of the ensuing two millenniums, people here lived in relative isolation. The people here evolved a unique diet that we believe is a more heart-protective version of the Mediterranean diet. We're doing pharmacological analyses of dozens of herbal teas and unique honey produced by bees that draw pollen of thyme, fir and erica. We think we'll find anti-cancer, anti-oxidant and probiotic properties in these locally produced products.

We also know that people here have a vastly different character than the rest of the Mediterranean. They have volcanic tempers that quickly subside. Despite living on harsh, steep terrain, they're known for relentless optimism and three-day parties. They don't get stressed by deadlines. They go to bed well after midnight, sleep late and take naps. Anecdotally, we know that most people over 90 are sexually active.

Do these people possess the true secret to longevity? We're not sure yet, but we'll certainly distill a few clues about living longer, better."

References:
Commentary: How to outlive your doctor. CNN.
Sex + Sleep = Long, healthy life? CNN.
AC360 transcript. CNN.