Nicola Elliott, founder of Wellness brand, Neom, knows more than most about woo-woo fads and the next big trend in mood and mindfulness, but, having navigated the industry for the past 18 years, she’s found that it can be simple, but small acts that can make all the difference to how we feel. She’s compiled the science and the experience along the way to know what works, too. In her new book, The Four Ways To Wellbeing, she explores how sleep, stress, energy and mood can all impact us day to day. We’re taking a closer look at the latter with extracts from her chapter on Mood.
“Mood has vastly wide interpretations but I want to explain how boosting your mood and overall happiness can have an impact on your wellbeing, why it’s so important for your overall health, and what you can do to improve it on a day-to-day basis,” says Nicola. “Happiness means different things to different people, but there is plenty of interesting evidence that says we have a lot more agency over our happiness than we might think. While some people might just be born happier than others, science has given us the hope and the evidence that we have the ability to change our mood state.”
What does science say about happiness?
“Neuroplasticity is a hot topic; it refers to the brain’s ability to change and grow throughout our lives. Our brains are made up of neural pathways, which send signals from one part of our brain to the other. Rather than being biologically fixed, neural pathways are more like patterns that have been learned over time,” says Nicola. “I think it’s helpful to think of the brain like a map: some routes are more trodden than others. When we think of something, our neural pathways are ‘fired and wired’ to form a certain response in our brain. The next time we think of that same thing, the same pattern lights up again and again. The result is that our brains become fixed to that certain pattern, whether it’s good or bad,” she adds.
“Positive neuroplasticity occurs as a result of new learnings, experiences and memory formations, which causes new neural pathways to strengthen. This can be anything from starting a new form of exercise or hobby, learning a language, taking up a creative pursuit like writing or even going travelling,” Nicola says. “With the right training or therapy, it can be possible for us to unlearn unhelpful thought patterns or automatic stress responses and carve out new response routes that make us more robust, positive and resilient.”
What can we do to live happier lives?
Below, Nicola guides us through five practices that can lead to increased happiness, here's what she's discovered…
“People are generally happier with their lives if they hold positive nostalgic views of the past says Meik Wiking, founder of the Happiness Research Institute in Copenhagen. Many of the most potent positive memories are associated with new or novel experiences, such as our first kiss, first love, the first time we went travelling or got our first car. Unsurprisingly, most of our memories are between the age of fifteen and thirty, while the Happiness Research Institute found that nearly a quarter of people’s memories were of novel or extraordinary experiences. We can still have new experiences as we get older, but by harnessing the power of firsts, we’re more likely to pay the feel-good factor forward (as well as enjoying ourselves at the time). Try adding in some ‘firsts’ on a regular basis – even something as small as going on a new walk – and see if it has an impact on your mood.”
“Performing small acts of kindness produces endorphins, also known as the ‘helper’s high’. Studies say this activates the reward centre in our brain, which means we’re more likely to do it again, ingraining those positive actions. People who help others report lower levels of stress, while a 2013 study found a link between volunteering and reduced blood pressure. Doing good at work also makes us happier. The University of Wisconsin study found that individuals in their mid-thirties who rated helping others in their work as important reported they were happier with their life when surveyed thirty years later. Helping others isn’t just a one-off act. It can have a cumulative effect on our happiness, and therefore our wellbeing. Professor Laurie Santos ran Yale’s most subscribed course The Science of Well-Being. ‘Research shows that we are happiest when we’re doing for other people,’ she says. ‘The research so far shows that the actions that we do for other people can have relatively long-standing happiness effects. They’re the kind of things that can boost your wellbeing, even when you think back on them.’ Texting a friend when you remember they’ve had a tough meeting or on a special anniversary can count.”
“The saying goes we are what we eat, but we’re also an accumulation of the people we surround ourselves with. Choosing uplifting company appears to be the one defining payback when it comes to long-term happiness. What’s more, happiness appears to be contagious. An influential US study looking at 5,000 people over a twenty-year period found that the happiness of an individual was associated with the happiness of people up to three degrees removed from their immediate social network. In other words, you’re more likely to be happy if your friend’s friend is happy. While researchers concluded that physical proximity played a significant factor (as in meeting up in real life rather than just being Facebook friends), it seems that happiness can belong to a larger group of people rather than just being an individual experience. Think of it a bit like a happiness economy: choosing to surround yourself with positive people isn’t just good for you and the people you directly interact with, it can also pay your happiness forward. If happiness is infectious, does the same apply to unhappiness? Yes, according to research from Oxford and Birmingham universities. A small-scale study of seventy-nine teenagers found that respondents matched their mood when interacting with gloomier individuals, with researchers concluding that bad moods were more contagious than good ones. It would appear that you can catch a bad mood at any age. Studies show that rude people tend to cluster in groups, while emotional contagion can spread through workplaces.”
“Something that doesn’t work out isn’t an ending. It just means taking a different route and more often than not – you end up with an even better solution. For me, this was building a company but it will be different for you. It could be learning a new skill, starting a side hustle, changing jobs or just looking at new ways to solve problems. Developing in different areas of your life will increase your confidence and capabilities and in turn, your happiness. What new thing can you start today, or what different approach can you take to something? We could be dealing with a disappointment that feels really hard and painful at the time, but we can ask ourselves if this thing that is worrying or upsetting me now, will it still feel as painful and a big of a deal in a year or ten years’ time? It probably won’t.”
**The Four Ways To Wellbeing: Better Sleep, Less Stress, More Energy, Mood Boost by Nicola Elliott is out now and available to buy here. ** If you're struggling with your mental health and your low mood is persistent, make an appointment with your GP or call the SANEline helpline on 0300 304 7000.
