By Jill Suttie — 2020
Our emotional well-being can benefit the people around us.
Read on greatergood.berkeley.edu
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As a professor of psychology at Yale and host of The Happiness Lab podcast, I've spent the last few years teaching simple science-backed tips to improve our well-being. I know the research inside out—but the giant dumpster fire of a year that was 2020 has had me struggling, too.
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The cognitive scientist Laurie Santos says “we’re fighting cultural forces that are telling us, ‘You’re not happy enough.’”
Experts and researchers use terms like “epidemic” and “crisis” to characterize the mental health challenges currently facing American college students. Statistics back up these claims.
Michael A. Freeman had long noticed that entrepreneurs seem inclined to have mental health issues. Freeman and California-Berkeley psychology professor Sheri Johnson decided to take a deeper look at the issue.
“For your husband, your illness may have made him acutely aware of not just your mortality, but also his own.”
A cancer diagnosis brings a wealth of psychological challenges. In fact, adults living with cancer have a six-time higher risk for psychological disability than those not living with cancer.
Experts I spoke with for this story pointed to a couple of reasons professional athletes are particularly susceptible to mental health issues.
Research shows exercise can ease things like panic attacks or mood and sleep disorders, and a recent study in the journal Lancet Psychiatry found that popular team sports may have a slight edge over the other forms of physical activity.
More athletes are reporting mental health issues such as anxiety, depression, psychiatric conditions and eating disorders.
Studies of polar researchers, astronauts, and others in isolation shed light on possible effects of social distancing, including increased forgetfulness, depression and heart attacks.