No need for further research on SDOH, nor a WHO Commission...
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http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa003&articleID=000B8074-2527-1264-980683414B7F0000

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April 19, 2005

Happy People Are Healthier, Study Suggests

The song "Don't worry, be happy," could double as sound medical advice, the
results of a new study suggest. Whereas previous research had linked
depression with an increased incidence of health problems, the new findings
reveal that people who report more everyday happiness are healthier overall
than their less joyous counterparts in a number of key ways. In particular,
happy men experienced lower heart rates throughout the day, indicating good
cardiovascular health.

Andrew Steptoe and his colleagues at University College London studied the
emotional and physical well-being of more than 200 middle-aged Londoners
recruited for the Whitehall II psychobiology study in the mid-1980s. The
participants underwent stress tests and blood pressure and heart rate
monitoring, and they were asked to record their feelings of happiness
throughout their daily lives. The team found that those people who reported
feeling happier more often also had on average lower levels of the stress
hormone cortisol, which is linked with hypertension and type II diabetes,
than did people who recounted fewer moments of happiness.

In addition, content subjects performed better under stressful conditions
in a laboratory task and showed fewer ill aftereffects. Following the
assignment, they exhibited lower levels of a blood protein call fibrinogen,
which at high levels can indicate potential cardiovascular problems.

The findings are published online this week by the Proceedings of the
National Academy of Sciences. --Sarah Graham

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