Happiness -- Delamothe 331 (7531): 1489 -- BMJ

Happiness -- Delamothe 331 (7531): 1489 -- BMJ

Happiness, according to the British Medical Journal can seriously improve your health! The opening statement in this paper is astonishing! It points out that whether you've won the lottery or suffered a disabling accident, one year later your happiness level will have returned to what it was prior to the event! I am sure we would all rather have the lottery win but if money is not the way to happiness what is?
Engagement - social engagement - Here's what the authors say - "In fact, the breadth and depth of individuals' social connections are the best predictors of their happiness"
In fact, there are apparently three sorts of happy lives -

• The pleasant life—where you experience a succession of pleasures that lose their effect with repetition
  
• The good life—where you play to your strengths and are "engaged"
  
• The meaningful life—where you put your strengths at the service of something higher than yourself

according to Martin Seligman.

A Few Squares Of Dark Chocolate A Day May Stave Off Artery Hardening In Smokers

A Few Squares Of Dark Chocolate A Day May Stave Off Artery Hardening In Smokers

This is the kind of health story I like! Not one based on why don't you give up this or that, or why don't you stop doing whatever it is you are enjoying doing!
Apparently about 10 - 40 grams a day of dark chocolate can contribute to health in relation to heart disease. For a Scot, that's a great piece of information. Luckily, it being just after Christmas, and me just having been in Carcassonne, I happen to have a bar of Poulain's 1848 86% cocoa Chocolat Noir here in my bag.....mmmm....well, less of it now than there was a moment ago!