14) Positive Psychology

Just as the placebo effect often shows how strongly our beliefs influence our health, the way we view ourselves and the world also has a strong influence on our health, and on all patterns in our lives. Self-help books, seminars, and workshops have long proclaimed this, and in recent years, the amount of academic research into these effects has been exploding. Harvard University’s course on Positive Psychology is now one of the most popular courses on the Harvard campus. The course covers some of the high-leverage things that anyone can do to move in the direction of being happier and healthier in life. Luckily Harvard has chosen to make the course available to the public free over the internet at:

http://isites.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do?keyword=k29669&pageid=icb.page131692

An abbreviated survey of positive psychology techniques and typical results would be a much larger article than this one. Although listed separately above, hypnosis and the placebo effect both actually fall within the realm of positive psychology, and does meditation (which I did not list separately). Positive psychology, like fitness, can be free, and can have lots of benefits besides potentially reducing bruxism.

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