New research has found that paying greater attention to internal bodily sensations can increase our appreciation of our own body.
The study, led by Jennifer Todd of Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) and published in the journal Body Image, focused on gastric interoception, which are the feelings of hunger or fullness that originate in the gut.
The researchers carried out an experiment involving 191 adults in the UK and Malaysia fasting and then consuming water. The study found that a greater change in the intensity of feelings in the gut after consuming water was associated with significantly higher levels of appreciation of the body and appreciation of the body’s functionality for adults in both the UK and Malaysia.
Laughter Acts as A Stress Buffer – And Even Smiling Helps
It is estimated that people typically laugh 18 times a day – generally during interactions with other people and depending on the degree of pleasure they experience. Now, researchers from the Division of Clinical Psychology and Epidemiology at the University of Basel have recently conducted a study on the relationship between stressful events and laughter in terms of perceived stress in everyday life.
On completion, the first result of the observational study was expected based on the specialist literature: in phases in which the subjects laughed frequently, stressful events were associated with more minor symptoms of subjective stress. However, the second finding was unexpected. When it came to the interplay between stressful events and intensity of laughter, there was no statistical correlation with stress symptoms.
Simply put, people who laugh frequently in their everyday lives may be better equipped to deal with stressful events — although this does not seem to apply to the intensity of laughter. These findings were reported in the journal PLOS ONE.
Self-indulgence Leads to Happiness
We all set ourselves long-term goals from time to time, such as finally getting into shape, eating less sugar or learning a foreign language. Research has devoted much time to finding out how we can reach these goals more effectively. The prevailing view is that self-control helps us prioritize long-term goals over momentary pleasure and that if you are good at self-control, this will usually result in a happier and more successful life.
However, according to new research from the University of Zurich and Radboud University in the Netherlands, people’s capacity to experience pleasure or enjoyment contributes at least as much to a happy and satisfied life as successful self-control. The researchers therefore argue for a greater appreciation of hedonism in psychology.
