Physical Activity & Happiness

In this podcast we explores the research and reason behind why physical exercise makes us happier. Please note, this is lecture, not a guided meditation.

Transcript

Welcome to the Happiness Podcast.

I'm Dr.

Robert Puff.

For as long as I can remember,

I like to move my body.

I remember my mom when I was younger.

Even though she was a very sweet lady,

She used to complain that when we went to church,

I would just never sit still the entire surface.

I was always swinging my legs or doing something.

Then when I got in junior high and high school,

I got involved with sports and also worked in the summer.

So I was always very active.

When I went to college,

I didn't do sports anymore.

But I remember every day going to the gym and working out,

Either running or lifting weights or something every day.

There was an indoor pool near my college back in Iowa.

And I used to go there even in the winters.

And pretty much most of these habits that I established in high school,

College and graduate school,

I've kept up to this very day.

It's definitely changed over the years,

Not in the sense that I'm doing less,

But more in what I'm doing.

Like in the past,

I used to be more of a long distance runner.

And when my knees started giving me problems,

I switched and started riding bikes.

I've always enjoyed walking outside,

Being in nature,

Which is now part of my regular routine.

My routine has changed over the years,

But it's been pretty steady in that I'm doing something on a regular basis.

For example,

Now I like to get up early and go to the gym.

And then after I take my kids to school,

I go to a yoga class before I head off to work.

And when I travel,

I always bring my yoga mat with me because I find yoga keeps my body limber and flexible and healthy.

And often hotels have gyms that I can go work out or pools I can swim in.

So what does working out have to do with happiness?

I'm glad you asked.

Well,

At the time of this recording of this podcast,

A study just came out in April of 2018 in the Journal of Happiness Studies.

This study was done by Zhang,

Z-H-A-N-G and Chen,

C-H-E-N.

And it's entitled,

A Systematic Review of the Relationship Between Physical Activity and Happiness.

I like this study because instead of being a study in and of itself,

It reviewed all the research being done up to this point.

Actually,

They looked at 23 different studies and said,

Is there a correlation between physical activity and happiness?

And the answer is yes.

So what we want to ask in this podcast is why would that be?

Why does physical activity help us in regards to being happier?

What's going on here?

The goal of research is really to describe what's happening,

Not necessarily telling why it's happening.

So in this case,

What is telling us is that exercise is good for us.

It will make us happier.

Now the why is the question that we want to look at.

And this is conjecture.

This is my conjecture.

But hopefully we'll understand that the bottom line is it is good for us to be physically active until the day we die.

That's what I've seen with people that I've traveled and studied all over the world.

The people that are active often have a more happy disposition and a peacefulness in their lives.

Well,

One of the major benefits of exercise and activity is keeping the body moving.

And if our bodies are moving,

They tend to be healthier.

And if they're healthier,

They tend not to ache as much.

So I do think it's a lot easier to have a smile on our face if our bodies aren't in pain.

I typically do more of the gentle soothing yogas,

Not always,

But typically.

And what I find is after a class,

For me,

It's like getting a massage.

My body feels great.

And when I travel,

Because you know,

I'm sitting in planes and moving around,

I find doing yoga in the morning and at night a really good way to relax my body.

And I find that it's a good way to relax my body.

Particularly because I do meditate every day.

If I do yoga just before I meditate,

It's a lot easier and more comfortable to sit still for an extended period of time.

Besides just feeling better,

I think another aspect of exercise,

Why it makes us happier,

Is because we tend to be under stress.

If we're a human being,

There's going to be stressful events in our lives.

And I think exercise is an excellent way of reducing the stress of our lives.

I mean,

As a clinical psychologist,

I work with a lot of people that are under stress,

Both in the workplace and in their lives.

The number one thing I'm going to ask them is,

Are you working out regularly?

Because if they're under stress,

The best thing to do at the end of the day is going for a walk,

Being outside,

Doing something where we're moving our bodies to reduce that stress.

People have a tendency to come home and watch television,

Have a glass of wine or drink something to reduce the stress.

And that isn't reducing it,

That's just masking it.

I think what exercise does is it really helps to reduce the stress in our bodies.

It just makes our bodies feel better.

Over the past 30 years,

I've obviously had a lot of people I've known that been under a lot of stress.

And sometimes they call me or text me and they're really upset.

So I always ask them this.

I say,

I'm actually not available right now,

But would you do me a favor and get outside and go for a long walk?

And if you're still upset,

Let's go ahead and talk a little bit more.

And over the years,

I've never had that second phone call.

It really seems to help people just to get out there and move the body and they feel better.

Or another technique that I like is when I'm working with couples and they're struggling and they have things that they have to talk about that are pretty intense.

I encourage them to go for a walk when they're having that intense conversation.

So it kind of dissipates that energy and keeps them calmer and more peaceful instead of just sitting there and talking and getting all riled up.

I've found over the years,

Again,

That couples tend to do a lot better when they're walking and talking rather than just talking,

Particularly when it's something intense to talk about.

Besides reducing stress and just feeling better,

Which are huge.

One of the other things that I've done over the years in studying happiness is looking at people that are older and have truly led successful lives.

They're doing well,

They have done well,

And their lives are just shining when they're an old age.

And what I've seen,

Not always,

But pretty categorically,

Is that usually they're moving their bodies.

They are active,

They have purpose,

They're doing things.

They're not just sitting around retired and smelling roses.

Not that there's anything wrong with that,

But they're doing things.

They're active.

They have purpose all the way to the end.

It's not just about retiring and quitting.

They're contributing,

Giving back,

Sharing,

And growing to their last breath.

They're amazing souls.

And part of that is they're active.

They're actively moving their bodies.

I know as we get older,

We can't do as much as a teenager or even someone in their 20s or 30s,

But I really believe we can do something until the day we die,

Whatever that is.

Even with people that have really slowed down,

I recommend getting in the pool or going for walks,

Finding something that we can do that gets the body moving.

It doesn't have to be much.

It just has to be getting the body moving,

Stretching.

There are so many different ways we can keep our bodies healthy.

I recommend three areas that we need to keep in mind in order to stay fit for as long as possible.

First,

Of course,

We want to get our hearts moving.

So let's find some activity that really gets our heart beating faster than at a rest rate.

That's number one.

Number two is we want to build muscle mass.

We want to keep our bones strong.

So when we want to be lifting something,

It doesn't matter what it is,

But we want to make sure that we're lifting and keeping our bones and muscles strong.

And then the third thing is flexibility.

I think flexibility is great for avoiding injuries and just overall feeling great.

Now,

Because this podcast is about happiness,

I do want to talk about when we have injuries or things that happen in our bodies that we can't necessarily alleviate immediately.

There is a sense of that we need to work towards acceptance too.

If we've done everything in our power to make our bodies feel better and they still ache,

Then we need to say,

Okay,

I've done everything I can.

I've done everything I can.

Now I'm going to focus on just living,

Even with these aches and pains.

We get quite good at that.

I often use the example of professional athletes.

They actually are in quite a bit of pain,

But their bodies adapt because they are athletes and their bodies get used to the physical discomfort.

We tend to create stories about physical discomfort.

So we suffer,

But if we don't create stories,

We just say,

Well,

I have this ache and pain.

It's just part of life.

I'm doing everything in my power to make it better.

But if I can't,

I'm going to say today,

I can still have a beautiful life regardless of what my body feels.

Whatever we focus on,

We tend to get more of.

So if we focus on aches and pains,

Then we're probably not going to be very happy.

But if we focus on life is beautiful and there is something always beautiful to be with and even with these aches and pains,

I can still live a happy,

Peaceful life.

We all know people like that too,

Who clearly are in discomfort and yet they're happy.

That's because they don't make the discomfort who they are.

They don't identify with that discomfort.

They see it,

They realize it,

But they don't say,

I am this discomfort.

There is discomfort,

But I'm not this discomfort.

I am a beautiful soul living a beautiful life regardless of what the body feels,

Regardless.

So in conclusion,

The research supports that happiness is better when our bodies are physically active and doing well.

And my 30 years of experience of helping people live beautiful,

Happy lives supports the same thing.

That's what I've seen.

So let's make some time to be active so that we can be happier.

I think it's important to make it a priority to make it part of our daily lives.

And that if we do that,

What we'll find is that happiness will become more of our mainstay instead of just sometimes being happy.

If we really work towards taking care of our bodies,

Being fit,

I think we'll find that happiness will be more available.

It isn't the only part of being happy,

Of course,

But it is part of it.

So let's make sure we make time every day to do something that gets our bodies moving,

That keeps them fit,

Keeps them healthy so that we can find that happiness is always within our grasp.

Thank you for joining me on the happiness podcast.

If you are finding these episodes helpful,

I would love for you to share your experience with others.

The easiest way for new people to listen to this podcast is just refer them to www.

Happinesspodcast.

Org.

That's happinesspodcast.

Org.

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A testimonial link,

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Often you can leave reviews there too.

The reviews are an awesome way to encourage people to start listening to the happiness podcast.

And until next time,

Accept what is,

Love what is.

Reviews

Words to live by 🙏

Nice outline and reminder to stay active and integrated.

AMEN...love 2 exercise🌈🤙🙏

Very encouraging and helpful. Many thanks.

Dr. Puff is a breath of fresh air to listen to 😊

I dedicate about 20-minutes of HIIT workout every morning. After hearing this talk, I’m even more determined & inspired to supplement it with yoga as well putting in an extra 10%!
Thank You Robert🙌💪💥

Thank you. So relate to everything you say.

Thank you. I am inspired and went right to the gym!

#HappinessPodcast = 😃
Thank you for referring to the Quality of Life research data linking physical activity + self efficacy & greater life satisfaction.

Move your body and be happy!😊💪🏽