Dr Rangan Chatterjee - Happy Mind, Happy Life

Contents

PRAISE FOR

HAPPY MIND, HAPPY LIFE

This is a rare book that I would genuinely recommend to everyone. It will help you live life to the fullest via incredibly simple changes.

Gregory McKeown, New York Times bestselling author of Effortless and Essentialism

Simple, genius, and reassuring.

Chris Evans, host of The Chris Evans Breakfast Show and creator of CarFest

No matter how happy you feel, this book will lift you up and make you stronger.

Fearne Cotton, founder of Happy Place and author of Bigger Than Us

A well-researched, personal, and entirely user-friendly guide for anyone who worries they may have their priorities wrong and who seeks a more contented life.

Matt Haig, New York Times bestselling author of The Midnight Library

This book will change your life for the better.

The Happy Pear, plant-based cooking and lifestyle blog

Rangans latest book gets to the crux of what truly matters. Contentment, peace, and happiness. This is a joy to read and a simple framework that you can put into practice immediately.

Dr. Rupy Aujla, medical doctor and author of The Doctors Kitchen

HAPPY MIND, HAPPY LIFE

10 Simple Ways to Feel Great Every Day

DR RANGAN CHATTERJEE

Photography by Chris Terry

BenBella Books, Inc.

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This book is for informational purposes only. It is not intended to serve as a substitute for professional medical advice. The author and publisher specifically disclaim any and all liability arising directly or indirectly from the use of any information contained in this book. A health-care professional should be consulted regarding your specific medical situation.

Happy Mind, Happy Life copyright 2022 by Rangan Chatterjee Photography copyright 2022 by Chris Terry

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First E-Book Edition: February 2022

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.

ISBN 9781637742112 (trade paperback)

ISBN 9781637742129 (electronic)

Cover design by Sarah Avinger

Cover photo by Chris Terry

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For Vidhaata,

Jainam, and Anoushka

CONTENTS

Id like you to take a few seconds to recall a moment from childhood when you felt truly happy. Imagine it fully: picture the colors, smell the smells, feel the weather on your cheeks and the ground beneath your feet. Where were you? Outside, perhaps? Barefoot on a sunny day, playing with a group of friends, lost in the sheer pleasure of a game. You werent anxious about the future. You werent fretting about the past. You were living entirely in the moment, filled to the brim with the simple joy of being alive. So, what happened? Why arent you that person any longer? Where did all that happiness go?

I know that life can feel tough at times. Many of us feel overwhelmed and close to burnout, with too many things to do and not enough time to do them. But whether you are struggling to keep your head above water or you simply want to feel a little bit happier than you currently are, you have come to the right place. This book will help you improve your health and your happiness. And the good news is that its a lot easier than you think.

HAPPINESS IS MORE THAN IT SEEMS

Ive been a practicing doctor for over twenty years. During that time, Ive always been driven by a desire to fully understand, why is this patient sitting in front of me? Whats happened in their life thats led them to my door? Ive written in my previous books about the critically important role our modern lifestyle plays in the vast majority of cases I see. When people arrive with a set of physical symptoms and I do a bit of investigating, I usually find the upstream causes of their issues are to do with their food choices, a lack of regular movement, poor-quality sleep, or unmanaged stress. Its amazing how often small tweaks in someones lifestyle can have massively beneficial downstream effects on their overall health. For example, helping someone sleep better and teaching them a simple one-minute breathing exercise can have a transformative impact on someone struggling with anxiety. And someone who struggles with debilitating gut symptoms can often feel significantly better by learning how to lower their stress levels and making a few changes to their diet.

But a few years ago I began to wonder if there could be a factor that lies even further upstream than a healthy lifestyle. Could there actually be something thats even more important than food, rest, and exercise? This idea kept niggling away at me. I asked myself, what about the people who are making all the right lifestyle choices and still find themselves having problems with their health? Whats going on with them? Is there something they tend to have in common? And what about those patients who always seem to be walking a tightropewho manage to make helpful lifestyle changes for a few weeks, or even a few months, but then revert back to their previous unhelpful behaviors? And what is it that enables some people to effortlessly make healthy choices whereas others seem to find it painstakingly hard?

Most people would tell you this all comes down to motivation and willpower. Popular belief has it that if we want to get healthy badly enough, well find the inner strength to do so. Success comes from mental strength, and failure comes from mental weakness. I think this is wrong. Our day-to-day habits are not a reflection of our strength or weakness of mind. Theyre a reflection of how we feel about ourselves and the world around us.

This is how it works. When we think negative thoughts and allow the actions of others to influence the way that we feel, we bring stress into our body. And stress is implicated in about 90 percent of what a doctor like me sees on any given day. But when we feel calm, content, and in control of our lives, the opposite is true: we become healthier. Time and time again Ive seen this to be true: when we feel truly and deeply happy in our lives and with our lives, the direct consequences for our health are profound.

HAPPINESS EQUALS HEALTHY

This link between happiness and health has been confirmed by many amazing researchers. When I spoke with the brilliant psychologist Professor Laurie Santos from Yale University she told me, If you look at peoples happiness, you see effects on their health and longevity. In one study, scientists brought people into the lab and measured their general positivity levels. They then shot rhinoviruses, which cause the common cold, up their nostrils. Everyone in the study was exposed to the virus. The question was, who would get sick, the happy people or the unhappy ones? What they found was that three times the number of people got sick in the not-so-positive mood category, Professor Santos told me.