205. Your Joy Toolkit: Build Mental Strength and Resilience With Daily Doses of Joy

Joy is more than just a fleeting emotion—it's a powerful practice that nourishes your mind, body, and soul.

In this inspiring episode of Health Bite, Dr. Adrienne Youdim dives deep into the transformative power of joy, sharing how you can cultivate it daily to build resilience and enhance your overall well-being.

Discover why joy is not a luxury but a necessity, especially during challenging times, and learn actionable strategies to make joy an integral part of your life.

What You'll Learn From This Episode:

• Why joy is an act of advocacy for yourself and others
• The science behind how joy boosts mental and physical health
• How to cultivate joy through small, meaningful daily practices
• The role of joy in building resilience and emotional strength
• How joy strengthens social connections and fosters longevity

"By choosing joy, you are standing up for your right to feel good." — Dr. Adrienne Youdim

Ways that Dr. Adrienne Youdim Can Support You

1. Join the Monthly Free Mind-Body Workshops: Participate in engaging mind-body practices designed to help manage your stress response. Register here.
2. Sign Up for the Newsletter: Stay updated with valuable insights and resources by subscribing to the newsletter. Sign up here.
3. Freebie alert. Register for our monthly free MindBody Workshop and receive a downloadable guide on emotional labeling to help you manage your emotions effectively.

Connect with Dr. Adrienne Youdim

• Website :https://www.dradriennespeaks.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dradrienneyoudim/

Transcript

So today, I want to talk about something that feels particularly relevant, important, and necessary. Today, we're talking about joy. And I thought of the idea for this episode yesterday when I spent the day with my dad. When I went to pick him up, he seemed kind of meh. And to be honest, I was kind of meh. And then I was like, you know what? We are not doing meh today. We are doing joy. Right then, Tom Petty came up on my Spotify. Not joy music for many, but summer music does give me joy. So I blasted the volume, pulled back the one touch on my Jeep, which gives me so much joy, and we sped down to the beach. And you know what? We felt so much joy in that moment, so much so that I still feel it now. We often think of joy as this fleeting emotion or a reward that's saved for a particularly good or extravagant time. But I want to challenge that notion because joy is so much more than a fleeting feeling. And actually, I feel like it's a practice. It's a source of strength, something that we can cultivate as a way to advocate for ourselves and for others. And I'd go so far as this, to say that when life gets heavy or overwhelming or uncertain, as it feels for so many people right now, joy is actually a necessity. So on today's episode, we're going to explore how joy serves us on every level, mind, body, and soul. We'll look at how joy is contagious, how it connects us to others, and how it helps create meaning and purpose, particularly in those challenging moments. Finally, I'm going to share some tips for cultivating joy, no matter your circumstances. Joy is within your reach. It's not something you have to earn or wait for, but something you can choose and cultivate. So let's dig in. Welcome back to Health Byte, the podcast where I offer small, actionable bites to greater physical and mental and emotional health and wellbeing. I'm your host, Dr. Adrienne Yadim. I'm a triple board certified internist, obesity medicine, and physician nutrition specialist. And I have learned in working with patients and clients for nearly 20 years, that good nutrition is not just about the food that you eat, but all the ways in which we can nourish ourselves physically, mentally, and emotionally. Together, we will explore the intersection of science, nutrition, health and wellbeing, and the pursuit of living well. These quick bites will leave you feeling motivated, empowered, and inspired. And I just love this stuff. So thank you for being here. And thank you for joining me on this journey. So I want to begin with this idea that joy is an act of advocacy, both for yourself and for the world around you. Especially when life feels heavy, it's easy to get in a rut. It's easy to get stuck in the muck. We tell ourselves that it's not the right time for joy. Maybe we even feel guilty to feel joy or engage in activities that give us joy, especially when we know others are suffering. Maybe right now when we know that there's suffering going on in the world around us. But in truth, joy is a form of resistance against personal despair and this despair in the world. By choosing joy, you are standing up for your right to feel good. And when you do so, you build resistance, rather, resilience. You build resilience towards feeling joy. And you give others permission to do the same, which brings me to the second point. And that is when you choose joy, you help those around you do the same. For starters, we know that joy is contagious. We can't help but feel it when it's being experienced, or even better yet, when it is exuding around us. Think about it. Think about the last time you were in a room when someone came in with so much joy that they just lit up the room. You can't help but feel drawn into that sense. And in fact, the science backs this up. The science backs up the notion that joy is contagious. For example, research shows that our emotions are socially transmitted. One example of this is when someone smiles at you, it activates These special neurons or brain cells in the brain that are called mirror neurons, they are prompted to mirror the action or activity of the person before you. So when someone smiles at you, you are prompted by these mirror neurons to smile back. And whether you realize it or not, joy spreads in the same way. But when you act in your joy, you're also modeling that for other people. You are giving others permission to feel and be that joy. And again, this is particularly true and particularly important in times of uncertainty and hardship. But in addition to that, you are modeling resilience. You are showing that you can be both joyful while perhaps also being in distress in certain aspects of your life. We can and should be both. And we can and should show both. And when you model this for others, you're sharing that it's okay. In fact, it's necessary to embrace good moments, even when times are hard. That's particularly important for those of you who are parents, leaders, teachers, or in any area in which others look to for guidance. And I would guess to say that everyone is looked to in some form or fashion for guidance. So be that spark of joy for others. And I want to ask you this, how can you be that spark that spreads joy? It can be as simple as sending a kind message or a text, sharing a joke, sharing a smile, or even taking the top off on your Jeep when you sing your way to the beach. Small acts of joy are powerful. Now I want to explore the relationship between joy and our health. We often think of health, especially in our society and culture, as the absence of disease. But as we often discuss on this podcast, true health is about flourishing. mind, body, and soul. And joy plays a critical role in that. When we experience joy, our body literally undergoes a cascade of positive changes and hormonal activation that directly supports our physical, mental, and emotional health and well-being. Those feel-good hormones They are neurotransmitters like dopamine, serotonin, endorphins, chemicals that promote feelings of happiness, well-being. These natural feel-good chemicals don't just improve our mood, but they have a direct impact on our physical functions and our sympathetic state on our nervous system. So we've talked before about chronic stress and how it leads to elevated levels of cortisol. as well as a heightened sympathetic state, which increases our blood pressure, our heart rate. It also suppresses the immune system. Chronic stress leads to inflammation and can contribute to cardiovascular conditions like hypertension and even diabetes over the long run. Joy literally counteracts this by reducing cortisol levels and shifting your body from a fight or flight stress state to a more balanced state of ease and equanimity. Think about how you feel after sharing a laugh with a friend or a loved one. That sense of lightness, it's not just in your head. It's your entire body relaxing, your heart rate slowing, your immune system getting stronger, And so joy is important to our health, specifically our cardiovascular health. Regular experiences of joy can lower blood pressure, improve our circulation, and even reduce the risk of heart disease. In fact, one study from the American Journal of Cardiology found that people with a greater sense of happiness and joy and life satisfaction had a significantly lower risk of coronary heart disease. Joy, in essence, becomes a heart-healthy habit. And finally, there's a growing body of evidence that shows that joy and positive emotions are associated with longer lifespans. Yes, literally leading to longevity. There's a famous study called the Nun Study, which found that nuns who express more positive emotions in their autobiographies and in journaling on average lived, get this, seven to 10 years longer than those who did it. This speaks volumes to the profound and cumulative impact that joy has on our health over our lifespan. And then of course, the benefits to our mental health as we already started to discuss. It's a powerful tool for building mental strength and resilience. Because really, joy helps us shift our perspective. It helps us see our challenges through a more optimistic lens, and therefore builds resilience. Also, when you're in a state of joy, your brain becomes more flexible, creative, and solution-oriented. And this is not just me making things up. This is actually due in part to the release of dopamine, which enhances learning and problem solving abilities. It also shifts attention and focus to the frontal lobe, which is the part of the brain that we utilize to come up with effective and powerful solutions. Joy also counteracts depression and anxiety. So we know that practices like mindfulness, which help you notice or savor joyful moments, have been shown to reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression. Again, these practices increases the activity in that part of the brain, the prefrontal cortex, that's also associated with positive emotions, and again, with decision-making. And then finally, like our mirror neurons showed us, Joy helps us strengthen social connections, like my experience yesterday with my dad showed me. Joy is inherently social. It draws us closer to others and strengthens our relationships. And connection, as we know, is one of the most protective factors, not only for mental health and well-being, but also physical health. And in fact, a study just came out last week a meta-analysis of, I think, 600,000 individuals, which is huge, showing that connection and lack of loneliness reduce the risk of dementia. So this is really powerful stuff. I want you to think about how much closer you feel with someone after sharing a joyful experience, whether it's a laugh, a heartfelt conversation, or even a fun car ride. These connections provide us with the emotional support that is so critical during challenging times. And then finally, joy helps boost our emotional resilience. Think of it as like an emotional buffer. So people who experience more moments of joy It's not that they don't experience setbacks or despair, but they tend to recover from these setbacks more quickly. And again, I want to reiterate, this is not about avoiding pain or pretending like everything is okay. This is not about toxic positivity, but it's about creating this like reservoir almost. um of positive emotions that you can draw from that can sustain you during your difficult periods i want you to think of it as not here or there but as and despair or distress and joy these two buckets these two reservoirs can happen and can be sustained at the same time and that is the way that we build resilience and create these buffers against the harder and more difficult periods in our life. There's actually a term for this. Psychologists call it the broaden and build theory. Joy broadens your perspective in the short term and builds those sources, those resources like hope and optimism and social support that you can draw from in the long term. So in essence, joy is both preventive and restorative and supports us physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. So I'm going to ask you to make a commitment. I want you to make a commitment to tap into the health benefits of joy and try and make it a daily practice. Remember, it doesn't have to be this grand gesture. It can be as simple as taking a moment to savor your morning coffee or a hug with your husband, partner, child or friend. It can be a moment where you share a laugh with someone you love over the phone. It can be watching the sunset and feeling gratitude for its beauty. Each small moment of joy adds up, creating a reservoir, and also creating a ripple effect that supports not only your health and well-being, but the health and well-being of the people around you. And I bet you know someone who could use this episode right now. So I want you to take a moment and send it and spread the joy. I'm wishing you a joyful week, mind, body and soul. And I look forward to seeing you all here again next time on health by.