Current Event #1

Happier People Keep Healthier as They Age

                                        Old Couple

In this article, it talks about how being happy can grant a person a healthier lifestyle. Specialists have discovered that people who are happy, tend to have a better physical structure. Happiness is important to me, and while reading this article I can understand how people who are unhappy don't quite have the physical stamina as a happy person. Who would want to live their lives being miserable all the time any ways? Around the age of 60 is the time to start maintaining a healthy lifestyle. In the article they took "3,000 people age 60 and older...for eight years" ("Happier People Keep Healthier"). Within those eight years the researchers examined reported statements about their day to day lives. In a study by the Canadian Medical Association Journal, it was found that 80% of unhappy people are more likely to have deterioration in everyday functions.   

This article for me, depicts how stressful school work can be and how this emotional toll does have an effect on my body. Even though I'm no where near the age of 60, I believe that having the absence of happiness make me feel weak and more vulnerable. When I am so into my school work, it feels like I don't really have an outside life, as well as staying up late to make sure I finish all of my work. This unforgettably depresses me, as well as making me more tired than normal, strains my eyes and also my muscles.  Hopefully I can manage my time more, so that in the future I will be able to enjoy things that I miss out on, as well as getting my work done.   

I feel this article is absolutely on point with the notion that happiness is essential, also that in order for an older person to live a long life would be to live it pleasantly. Even though there are many things that hold people back from gaining this happiness, I believe that  it can be achieved by taking the time to enjoy the good things in life (and to be honest these older people don't have much time left). Without it, as said in the article, people are more likely to suffer with "chronic illnesses such as heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, stroke and depression [also] reported lower levels of enjoyment of life" ("Happier People Keep Healthier"). This makes me realize, when I get older, I need to get happy or my chances of living a few more years are going down the drain. I see my grandmother ever summer, and she is the most jolliest and healthiest person I know! Knowing now that exercise and a good meal plan is not the only things that can keep the old bones strong, has definitely changed my whole perspective of living a healthy lifestyle. 

How does the author support his claim? Use evidence from the selection to support your answer?

The author supports his claims by quoting professional researchers. He quotes a director of Institute of Epidemiology and Health Care at University College London, with him stating that they "found that happier people's walking speed declines at a slower rate than those who enjoy life less" (Steptoe). He also supports his claims by supplying the reader with links to other relyable reasourses that are also on the same topic.



SalFalko. "A happy couple surfing on a laptop." Photograph. Flickr. Yahoo, 6 Feb. 2009. Web. 20 Jan. 2014. 
<http://www.flickr.com/photos/57567419@N00/6765938509>. 

Gholipour, Bahar. "Happier People Keep Healthier as They Age." livescience. TechMedia Network, 20 Jan. 2014. Web. 20 Jan. 2014. <http://www.livescience.com/42712-happier-people-healthier-aging.html>.