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Research in the Brain Imaging
Laboratory is beginning to identify some of the key components
of happiness and wellbeing. New findings now clearly suggest
that happiness and well-being should not be considered as the
simple absence of disease but rather as the presence of a
distinct profile of emotional reactivity and emotion regulation
that is characterized by a pattern of unique neurobiological
substrates. Moreover, these patterns of brain function appear to
influence peripheral biology in ways that may be consequential
for health.
 We
have data from a recent study of participants in the Wisconsin
Longitudinal Study, a unique study of approximately 10,000
individuals who graduated from Wisconsin high schools in 1957.
These individuals have been followed ever since and we have had
the opportunity to study brain function and bodily processes in
a subset of these individuals. We found that those individuals
who report very high levels of psychological well-being show
increased baseline activation in the left prefrontal cortex.
Moreover, these individuals also showed a much larger rise in
antibody levels in response to influenza vaccine. This latter
finding indicates that the brain profile associated with very
high levels of well-being may modulate peripheral biological
functioning in ways that affect physical health.
In very recent studies, we have tried to better understand the
mechanisms that may give rise to these differences. In further
studies with individuals from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study,
we have found that individuals who show very effective
regulation of negative emotion also show a more adaptive pattern
of cortisol release. Cortisol is a stress hormone that is
naturally higher in the morning and reaches a low point just
before bedtime in the evening. The individuals who show the
highest levels of well-being and most effective emotion
regulation are those who also show the lowest levels of cortisol
at bedtime. The ability to automatically regulate this stress
hormone may play a critical role in mediating the health
consequences associated with high levels of happiness and
well-being. How can we enhance our happiness? New research in
the Brain Imaging Laboratory is showing that meditation can
change brain function in ways that enhance patterns of activity
that underlie happiness. Ongoing studies with long-term
meditation practitioners as well as studies with individuals who
are just learning meditation converge to show that the brain
function patterns associated with happiness and well-being are
not fixed; rather, they can be changed through training.
Moreover, recent findings indicate that among individuals just
learning meditation, immune response to the flu shot is
significantly enhanced after just 8 weeks of training.
The opportunity: We have a unique opportunity at the
Brain Imaging Laboratory to become the leading Center in the
world for the study of the biology of happiness and ways to
enhance it. |
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