Let's Get Happy

8/19/2019 Let's Get Happy

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How is it that the wor takes overyour life, leaving you burned out, evenmiserable? It doesn't have to be tnat

way. Here's how to make it all better.

BY DANA TANYERI

AYBE IT'S A CHAR-GRILLED STEAK AND A BONE-DRY MARTINI. OR BEING

in love, playing with the dog or perhaps a new pair of Jimmy

Choos. It could also be that warm glow you get looking over a fulldining room on those rare nights when everything hums along perfectly.

Turns out, happiness-deep, lasting satisfaction asopposed to pleasures that evaporate as quickly as thelast drops of gin in that martini-is considerably morecomplex. Scientists who spend their lives studying the

subject contend that it s some combination of genetics,values and life experience that lead to a happy life

Whatever happiness is for you, chances are you don'thave enough of it. You spend most of your time justtrying to make sure that everyone else-customers, staff,suppliers, reviewers, inspectors-is happy. You workwhile others play and the days when life controls you faroutnumber those when you control life Employees don'tshow, prices rise, bad weather kills your traffic, the dish-

washer's been lifting steaks andyour spouse has had it with yourschedule. You re on the firing lineevery day, and that's one tough placeto find happiness.

But figuring out how to find it does

more than put a smile on your face. Happypeople are healthier, tend to be more suc-

cessful-and they live longer too. According toDr. Ed Diener at the University of Illinois, a lead-ing researcher in the science of happiness, Not onlydoes happiness feel good, but happy people appearfunction better than unhappy people-making more

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money, having better social relation-ships, being better organizationalcitizens at work, doing more volun-teer work and having better health.

Diener cites one study that foundthat, on average, happy people lived

10.7 years longer than unhappy people.Another study tracked a groupof nuns in a Milwaukee convent.Before joining the order back in the1930s, each nun agreed to keep adiary.The language used and emo-tions exhibited in those journalswere analyzed over the years andenabled researchers to separatethe group into happy nuns and not so happy nuns. Accordingto Diener, two-thirds of the not so

happy nuns died before their 85thbirthdays, while 90 percent of thehappy nuns lived past 85-andunder almost identical living condi-tions. On average, the happy nunslived nine years longer.

That's huge, says Diener. Welook at the impact of smoking ciga-rettes on life expectancy, which cancut three years off the life of peoplewho smoke a pack a day. So nineyears related to happiness is verysignificant. There's a

differentpat-

tern of biological responses thatallows happy people to remain in ahealthier state for more years.

Dr. Martin Seligman, directorof the University of Pennsylvania'sPositive Psychology Center andauthor of 'Authentic Happiness, ishailed as the founder of the newpositive psychology movement.While traditional psychology focuseson helping to make the world a lessunhappy place by confronting thedistresses that bring people down,positive psychology focuseson posi-tive emotions, character traits an dinstitutions to help make the worlda more happy place. That shift in

reasons to be happywe're2Rain this business

32 RestaurantBusinessMay2 7 rest ur ntbiz cour

APPINESS AND STRESS REPRESENT

two sides of a biological see-saw.

When one is up the other is down.British researchers have pinpointed a

measurable indicator of this, the hormonecortisol. When you get stressed, there's

more cortisol in your blood. When you're

happy, there's less.

Why decrease stress? In a nutshell,stress will kill you, via high blood pressure,

strokes, eating disorders or diabetes,

says Dr. Edward Creagan, a professor ofmedical oncology at the Mayo Clinic.

But, more importantly, it erodes the

spirit. Herewith, seven ways

to get happier by limit-

ing your stress:

Exercise. The new

research shows that

you don't have to work out for 20 to 30

minutes to get the benefit, says

Kathleen Hall, director of The Stress

Institute in Atlanta. You can do a few

10-minute intervals throughout the day.

Even if you have just a couple minutes,

go up and down a few

steps and get your heart

rate up This prompts the

body to up production of

endorphins, which create

a sense of well-being.

Get a hobby. Find some-

thing other than work

that will let you zone out;'

says Creagan at Mayo

(see page 37).

I We get to eat for free.

Clear your calendar. Cut out all but

most essential meetings, prioritizing

those that are about decision-making

rather than sim-

ply sharing

information.

Redecorate. Is your desk chair comf

able? Do you have a photo on the wthat spurs positive feelings? Does y

filing system work for you? If not, yocreating long-term, chronic stress tha

put a hit on your body, not to mention

your soul.

Look back. Think about what you h

achieved and give yourself a pat on

back, says Jessica Pryce-Jones, a paner in iOpener, a British consulting

that specializes in happiness at work

Crank up the tunes. The minute

listen to music you love, you releas

serotonin;' a brain chemical that affe

your mood, says Hall. If you can hum

or sing along, you get an extra immun

boost, too.'

Do what you love. Yo

will never be miserable

you have a passion fo

something, whether it'

dog, your family, your

work,' says Creagan.

-

3f 300

__$199.7

ales should reach a newecord this year: ' l' ,

REL XBY MICHAELA CAVALLARO

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3 quicksteps to calmSTEP 1 Eat Starting your day withbreakfast increases your metabolism,

stabilizes your blood sugar - andstaves off the onset of hunger-

induced irritability.

STEP 2 Breathe. Take adeep breath, inhaling

from your diaphragm,

pausing and exhaling

deeply. Focus on the physical

sensation. Repeat twice more.Besides simply creating a moment of

quiet reflection, deep breathing

increases the flow of oxygen to your

brain, which then lowers your heart

rate and relaxes your muscles.

STEP 3 Talk. Come up with apositive, three- to five-word

phrase (e.g., life is good,I am powerful ) to use as a

mantra or affirmation in tense

moments. The catch: You haveto actually believe it in order for

it to work. If you do, you'll lower your

cortisol levels, according to Kathleen

Hall of The Stress Institute.

owdo youdealwithstress? Go into one of therestaurants at primetime, watch the action.Brings me back to my

r oo t s . - - JOF XING, LE COLONIAL

Kneading dough is...extremely calming and

requires you to center

and focus -LIONELVATNET, LA FARM BAKERY

I knit The repetition ofthe stitches clears mymind and relaxes me.-NICHELLE D RaTER, CONSOU-

DATED ESTAURANT OPERATIONS

Turn off my cell phoneand tell everyone to callmy business partner forone whole day' -SHAR;SCtNEIDE, FUNKY DINER

I find therapy in retreat-ing to the butcher shop:-BRYAN MOSCATELLO,

INDIGO LANDING

Head to the nearestgolf course and whackthe ball as hard as Ican:' -JORDI VALLES, ALT

I like to sit down to agood game of computerchess:' -FRANKLIN BECKER,BRASSERIE

I eat a pint of HaagenDazs and a bag of cook-ies then I go for a run:'-TENNEY FLYNN, GW FINS

Play squash. The onlyperson you have toplease or push is your-self:' -FRANK BONNANO,

LucA WITALIA

I like to take my Lotusout to the racetrack andput the pedal to themetal7 -CHRISTIAN SHAFFER,

AVENUE

I play war games onmy PlayStation 3, theneat a big sandwichstanding in the kitchen'.- ADOLI-O UAYA, HE LODGE

Play pinball. Whenyou're hitting yourramps all is right in theworldr' -ERIC GREENSPAN,THE FOUNDRY ON MELROSE

I take a mambo danceclass. It keeps mefocused on my footwork7-- VICTORIA URGHI,

CAFE CENTRO

I count to 10 inSpanish, but using mytwin boys' voices.-ANTHONY C. BOMEACt,

NANA RESTAURANT

Paddle out into the

ocean-away from landand work-and just be:'-JOHN KOWALENK.o, AMPTONS

EVENT MANAGEMENT

_o rtsleepySTTINGG0OD NIGHT'S SLEEP ISN'T A LUXURY TO

Gbe lndutged in as your schedule allows.Says Dr. RuseII Rosenberg, director of the AtlantaSleep Institue There's plenty of scientific evidence

to demo trate hat sleep loss affects moods in anegativ way and adds to-.stress

So .I you want to be happier and decrease theamount of stress in your life, you've got to catchmoe Zs. Experts agree that the optimal amount of

p is 7 to 8 hours a night But Rosenberg saysit's important not to get overwhelmed by the thoughtof finding several more hours for sleep in analready jam-packed schedule. Even just adding 30minutes onto your nightly sleep can help, hesays, You don't have to go from getting five hoursto eight hours to notice a difference

No matter when you go to bed, try to wind downfirst, whether you read, watch TV or do some gentle

stretching (vigorous exercise should be avoided

before bedtime). The key, says Rosenberg, is toput a buffer between your work day and bedtime.

Sing songs to my nine-month-old baby boy:'-GWEN TROST, SANDRINE 'S

BISTRO

I ride around on myscooter and soak up

some sunshine:'-DAVE QUERY, BIG RED F

Get a neck massage,

watch Law Order rerunsthat I've seen before.'-KYLE HADty, NUTRITION

CULINARY ONSULTANTS

[Make] a big pot of mymother's famous meat-balls and red sauce,: MICHAEL ERICKSON, FIFTH

GROUP RESTAURANTS

Call somebody who's...more stressed thanI am and compare days:'-MIKE HILL, F REPL

Karate is the key for

me. It clears my mind ofeverything' -DOUG GULIJA,

THE PLAZA CAFE

I [take] short vacationsinto the walk-in. I vent; 5minutes later I'm a newman. -MICHAEL SALM-O,MACYW CrLiAR BAR & GRILL

Take a long walk inCentral Park:'-TONY MAY, SAN DOMENICO

-COMPILED BYPATRICIA ORE

3 We get hassled a lot by the courts, but at least Mickey D'sdidn'tactually haveto pay that ladywhen she spilled hot coffee on herself.

4 We're the backbone of the U.S. economy: our economic inputwillbe 1.3 trillionthis year and we'll employ 12.0 millionpeople.

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scientific thinking has spurred newresearch into happiness and newefforts to measure the most importcontributors to it. While some havesaid that trying to get happier is liketrying to get taller, the positive psy-

chology camp contends that peoplecan, indeed, induce or elevate theirhappiness by focusing on a numberof key contributors. Here's the lateston what they've learned.

Abe Lincoln once said, I have noticedthat folks are generally about as happyas they have made up their minds to

be. Tolstoy was more direct: If you wantto

be happy,be.

It'smind-over-misery

and social psychologists say studieshave shown that simply choosing to beand acting happy can be habit formingand life changing.

Seligman cites a 35,000-person pollfrom the National OpinionResearch Center, in which

40 percent of marriedAmericans describedthemselves as veryhappy, comparedwith just 24 percentof unmarriedAmericans who said thesame. He admits that it couldbe that happy people are the ones whoget married to begin with. Bu tresearchers generally agree that mar-riage offers strong emotional security.

If health and happiness are linked,marriage apparently helps in thisregard. A recent study in the Journal ofEpidemiology and Community Healthsupports findings that married peoplelive longer than those who are widowed,divorced, separated or never-married.

The study puts the lifespan ofmarrieds at seven years longer thannon-marrieds.

A study by the Centers for DiseaseControl and Prevention also suggeststhat married people are healthier.

Based on interviews with 127,545adults, between 1999 and 2002, thestudy found that married adults,among other things, are:o Less likely to be in fair or poorhealth, and to suffer from health con-ditions such as headaches and seriouspsychological distress. Less likely to be limited in variousactivities, including work.* Less likely to smoke, drink heavily orbe physically inactive.

Or at least don't expect them to boostyour happiness. While parents mightinsist their kids are their greatestsources of joy, research shows that the

emotional and financial toll thataccompanies those preciousbundles of joy cancels out

any happiness gains. Britisheconomists RichardLayard and AndrewOswold found that

children have a statis-tically insignificant

, impact-and even a smallnegative effect-on happiness.

Layard cites a study in which 1,000working Texas women divided theiraverage day into episodes, or specific

activities, and indicated their level ofhappiness during each episode. Of 19identified activities, childcare ranked

16th in terms of associated happiness,only higher on the scale than com-muting and working. The same studyshowed that when asked to rankgroups they're happiest spending time

Continued on page 8

Areyouhappy? R. ED DIENER, A LEADING HAPPINESS

researcher at the University ofIllinois, developed a tool for gauging

happiness. Called the Satisfactionwith Life Survey;' it's considered bymany in the psychological communityto be a valid indicator of a person'soverall level of happiness, or subjectivwell-being? Think you're happy? Take

Diener's test and find out.Using the 1-7 scale shown, indicat

your (brutally honest) level of agree-ment with each of the five statements.When finished, add up your score andcheck it against the happiness scale.

Scale7= Strongly agree

6= Agree5= Slightly agree4= Neither agree nor disagree3= Slightly disagree2= Disagree1= Strongly disagree

Survey statementsIn most ways, my life is close tomy ideal.

The conditions of my life areexcellent.I am satisfied with my life.So far, I have gotten the importathings I want in life.If I could live my life over, I wouldchange almost nothing.

Happiness scale31-35 Extremely satisfied

26-30 Satisfied21-25 Slightly satisfied20 Neutral15-19 Slightly dissatisfied10-14 Dissatisfied5-14 Extremely dissatisfied

5 Restaurants' shareof the

fooddollar keeps growing:6 We knowwhat 86 means.

1955 Present

7 Blood oranges, tomatillos, yuzo and other exothard-to-source ingredients are now just exotic

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ontinued rom pagewith, kids came in fourth, after friends,parents/relatives and spouse and onlyabove co-workers, self/alone and boss.

findgoEmbracing religion has been shown tocontribute to happiness. Dutch sociol-ogist Ruut Veenhoven, w ho directstheWorld Database of Happiness, a com-pilation of more than 1,500 surveysaround the world, found that countrieswith the highest degree of religiousparticipation also report the highestdegrees of happiness.

Psychologists offer three explanationsfor the link. social support networks

involved in organized religion; a firmbelief structure and a feeling of beingclose to God; and religion itself, whichgenerally provides for positive experi-ences and holds the promise of relieffrom the pain of this life.

get a o gA recent Market Opinion ResearchInternational poll reveals that dogsbring more happiness into people'slives than steady relationships and jobsatisfaction. In fact, owning a dogcame out atop the happiness index,with 81 percent of the 2,000 peoplesurveyed stating that their happiness significantly improved upon

getting a dog.

Dogs can make you healthier, too,and not just because of all those dailywalks. Research from the University ofMissouri-Columbia suggests that sim-ply stroking a dog prompts a releaseof so-called feel good hormones that

lower blood pressure and decreasedepression and anxiety.

Getting a dog isn't something to rushinto, though. Daisy Okas, a spokesper-son for the American Kennel Club, saysthat you're making a 10- to 15-yearcommitment with significant lifestyleand financial implications.

forget money

Except in situations where basicneeds are not met, money doesn't buyhappiness. In a 1995 survey, Diener

determined that people on theForbes 100 list reported beingonly slightly happier than theaverage Joe. And a 1978 studyfound that 22 lottery winners were

no happier than a control group.Say what? Scientists chalk it up

to a phenomenon called the hedonic treadmill. Basically,

regardless of how much youmake and how much stuff you

accumulate, your expectations con-

tinue to stray upwards, you continueto compare yourself against those who

have more. As such, you're nevertruly satisfied. That treadmill, theyaccounts for the fact that dramaticincreases in wealth and standard ofliving in the past 50 years have resultein no increases in levels of happiness.

nurture friendshipsMoney might not buy happiness, butfriendship does. According to Diener, We need good friends and family,and we may need to sacrifice to someextent to ensure that we have intimate

loving relationships-

people who care about u

and about whom wecare deeply. The happies

people of allseem

to have good friends.

setgoalsIt's working hard towardgoals not actuallyachieving them thatcontributes to happinessaccording to a group of

Swedish researchers. They argue thpeople need to stay active and findfulfillment through setting goals thare interesting to work on and well-suited to their particular strengths andabilities. From our research, the peoplewho were most active got the most joysaid lead researcher Dr. Bengt BrueldeGothenburg University in the BBC's seon happiness. It may sound temptingto relax on a beach, but if you do it forlong it stops being satisfying.

go withiyour ow

In short, play to your strengths. Whatyou're after, says Mihaly Csikszentmihalyia psychologist at Claremont GraduateUniversity and author of Flow-The

ontinued on page

14 Americans h ve more disposableincome than ever before.

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ontinued rom page

Psychology of Happiness, are situationsin which you're completely engagedin your work and your performance iseffortless. That's a state he calls flowand it leads to feelings of great satis-faction, regardless of the nature ofthe work.

unplug itFrom time to time pry yourself away

from cell phones, e-mail, BlackBerry or

whatever other 24/7 communicationsgadgets you've come to believe you

can't function without. Jeff Davidson,author of Breathing Space: LivingWorking at a Comfortable Pace in a

Sped-Up Society and founder of the

Breathing Space Institute, says when

you're constantly plugged in your cre-

ativity and spontaneity diminish. You

wind up in a continual mode of react-

ing and responding instead of steeringand directing, the activities that mostbusiness leaders say bring them thegreatest satisfaction.

begracious

Psychologists recommend keeping a gratitude journal, in which every day,

or maybe once a week, you record

three to five things you're thankful foror that you love. They also recommendreaching out to others to express

gratitude or appreciationfor something

they've done that touched your life ina positive way.

University of California at Riversidepsychologist Sonja Lyubomirsky led a

study that found that, over a six-week

period, taking the-time to count an d

document their blessings significantlyboosted subjects' overall satisfactionwith life. A no-journals control grouphad no such gain. Psychologist Robert

Emmons, at the University of California

at Davis,found that such exercises

improved health, raised energy levels

and relieved pain and fatigue in

patients with neuromuscular disease.

try ogi nsForgiving those who've done you wrong

can do wonders for your happiness and

health, says Dr. Fred Luskin, director

of the Stanford University ForgivenessProject and author of Forgive for

Good. Luskin's research found that

being unforgiving raised stress levelsand blood pressure, woredown the immune

system and deregulatedthe nervous system.

You've heard it before, but sciencebacks it up: Laughter is the best

medicine. Researchers at the Universof Maryland School of Medicine in

Baltimore have shown that laughter ilinked to the healthy function of

blood vessels. Situations that provoklaughter in study subjects caused the

endothelium, tissue that lines the vessto dilate and increase blood flow.

Sure, you could just send a check to

support a charity, but happinessexperts say getting engaged and per

sonally involved is the way to go. Sois getting in the habit of performingsmaller, simple, helpful gestures eveday-opening the door for someonewith their arms full, offering to pickgroceries for an elderly neighbor.

b m o parents

If all elsefails, chalkyour general

level ofsatisfaction(or lackthereof) up

to genes. University of Minnesotaresearcher David Lykken in 1996

published a study of 4,000 sets of tw

After comparing happiness data on

identical versus fraternal twins, hecluded that roughly 50 percent of o

satisfaction with life comes from gen

programming. Genes, he said, infl

ence such traits as general dispositioability to handl

[0 stress and be

5 prone to anxi36 3 and depression.

8 It's so easy to findskilled, reliable workers...

9 OK maybe not, but we do have an incredibly diverseworkforce that is the envy of other industries:

20 We make happy for

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TITLE: Let’s Get Happy!SOURCE: Restaurant Business 106 no5 My 2007PAGE(S): 30-4, 38, 46

(C) Copyright (2001) VNU Business Publications, USA. All rightsreserved. To contact the publisher: http://www.vnuemedia.com/

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