Happy people are physically healthier, they live longer, and they enjoy a higher quality of life. You can be happy, too. Here, 10 concrete steps you can take to improve your mood, from Dr. Kelly Traver, author of The Program: The Brain-Smart Approach to the Healthiest You.

There are hundreds of different studies that show that how you choose to live your life — what you do and how you decide to think — plays an enormous role in your ability to be happy. In other words, you are not just a victim of chemicals floating around in your head. You can take some very concrete steps to take the reins of your life and improve your mood. It is extremely important to remember that our lives are not wholly predetermined by our genes. For example, the environment you are exposed to influences whether certain genes are turned on or off. Your behaviors can also turn genes on or off. So can your thoughts. You can have much more influence over your mood than you may have thought.

Here are the top ten Happiness Strategies that have been scientifically documented to improve mood.

• Count your blessings and appreciate what you have. Every day, either write down three things you are grateful for or tell them to your partner or a close friend. People who actively focus on what is going right in their lives become happier people. The more you think this way, the more your brain will lay down new nerve paths and the more reflexive and second nature this positive way of thinking will become.
• Practice optimism. Expect positive outcomes. Always try to see the best in people, situations, and circumstances. You don’t have to be a Pollyanna, nor should you be unrealistic, but there are always two sides — good and bad — to a person, situation, or circumstance. Focus on the good. Optimistic thoughts are often self-fulfilling. When people are optimistic and believe that something good will come of what they are working toward, they are more likely to persevere when they hit roadblocks. Their resilience and persistence are what lead them to succeed.
• Focus on your own life and making it everything you want it to be. Don’t compare yourself to other people. Whenever you see yourself start to make comparisons, stop. Shift back to your own life. In the end, if you are happy and fulfilled with what you are doing, it doesn’t matter what anybody else is doing. People who live life without making comparisons are happier.
• Surround yourself with loving, supportive, positive friends and family. Human beings have evolved to be part of a bigger network. Social interactions change the very chemistry within your body. In your brain, serotonin and dopamine levels increase in response to positive social interactions. In women, positive social interactions cause oxytocin levels to rise, and, in men, vasopressin levels rise. Oxytocin and vasopressin are the “tend and befriend” chemicals that drive people toward tighter social connections. People with strong, supportive social networks live healthier, happier, longer lives.
• Learn to manage stress. Stress plays a pivotal role in initiating depression because the high cortisol levels associated with stress disrupt the brain’s ability to modulate the feel-good chemicals of serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine.
• Live in the present. Enjoy the moment. Stop thinking so much about everything you need to do tomorrow. Savor the little things along the way, like the way the grass smells when you leave for work in the morning or how comfortable it feels to sit down and relax at the end of a day. Don’t be afraid to be frivolous, either. You don’t have to be serious all the time. It’s okay to watch a mindless sitcom and just laugh. Your brain loves to play. Let it.
• Strive to be part of something bigger than yourself. Work toward something in which you find significant meaning. People who turn their focus away from themselves and toward something in which they find true meaning often find themselves happier and more passionate about life in general. If you are looking for a job, look for a company that has a mission statement that involves a more meaningful pursuit than a purely financial one. Studies show that employees who feel their jobs are meaningful on a deeper level are happier.
• Volunteer. Helping others increases happiness. Become involved with something you feel deeply about, such as global poverty, health, education, the environment, or disadvantaged children. There are many areas in which you can make a difference. People are happier giving than receiving. In a study published in Science in 2008, investigators asked forty-six participants to rate their happiness in the morning, gave each of them some money, and then randomly assigned them to spend the money on themselves or on others. When participants rated their happiness at the end of the day, the amount of money they had received was unrelated to their happiness. Those who spent the money on themselves had no increase in happiness, but those who spent it on others had significantly higher happiness ratings. Buying things for yourself or receiving gifts may bring happiness briefly, but once you get past the basic essentials for survival, such as food, clothing, and shelter, material wealth does not translate into happiness. After an initial burst of pleasure, people quickly revert back to their baseline level of happiness. This also happens when someone loses money or material wealth. With loss, people are sad at first, but then they revert back to their baseline level of happiness.
• Learn to accept what you can’t change. Try to let go of things over which you have no control. If you can accept that there are things in life that aren’t always ideal but that life can be good anyway, you’ve taken a giant step closer to happiness.
• Finally, work exercise into your daily routine. I’ve saved this one for last because this is the most tangible of the ten strategies to improve your happiness. When you exercise, you change the chemistry in your brain, but, more important, you ultimately change the very structure of your brain.

In all of the strategies I’ve just mentioned, repetition is required so that there is strong and consistent signaling to stimulate the brain to strengthen the synapses of existing nerve connections and to build up new and improved networks.

So here’s the question: Is happiness important to your health? Absolutely! Happy people are physically healthier. Happy people live longer. Happy people enjoy a higher quality of life. There’s one thing for sure: the brain and body are inextricably connected. You can’t address the body without addressing the brain, and vice versa. If you want to be happy and enjoy optimal health, you need to take care of both.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Kelly Traver, M.D., author of The Program: The Brain-Smart Approach to the Healthiest You: The Life-Changing 12-Week Method (Copyright © 2009 by Kelly Traver, M.D., and Elizabeth Kelly Sargent), has been practicing medicine for more than seventeen years. She recently served as medical director at Google and is currently on the board for the Institute for the Future. Dr. Traver is the founder of Healthiest You, a company that works with corporations, health care organizations, and the government to help individuals become more empowered and engaged in their health.

Betty Kelly Sargent is a writer and veteran book and magazine editor, as well as a certified life coach.

MORE ARTICLES BY THE AUTHOR

• 7 Strategies for Reducing Stress
• 10 Weight-Busting Ingredients and Easy Substitutes
• Change Your Brain, Change Your Routine, Change Your Life
• Embrace Change: How to Make New Actions Second Nature

LEARN MORE

• Read Chapter 2 of The Program, a life-changing 12-week method
• Watch the video: How to Get Started with a Healthy Lifestyle