Happiness, Tears , and Pain

Which day of the week are you the happiest? Is it during a week day - Monday through Friday? Or is it a Saturday or Sunday that you are the most happiest? Researchers John F. Helliwell and Shun Wang found interesting results in a survey they conducted of nearly half a million people from January 2008 through June 2009. Their findings suggested that people reported more positive emotions and fewer negative ones on weekends. They interpreted the results to mean that more positive emotions were the result of being able to spend more time with family and friends (1.7 hours) daily on average. Well, what about being away from work?

They also found that full-time workers faced a greater happiness drop on week days than part-time workers. Further, the part-timers were also happier overall.  What a surprise?  Another variable studied was related to whether their supervisors acted as” bosses” or “partners.” In other words, happiness seems to be related to weekends compared with weekdays, being a part timer, and the type of boss you have. Can you relate to these findings? Pay attention to your happiness and decide if changes are necessary.

Another study by Lauren M. Bylsma and three other colleagues researched whether or not a good cry makes women feel better? Some believe that a good cry makes females feel better and some believe that crying has adaptive benefits. In their research, they measured 1004 crying episodes of 97 Dutch women. These women were studied over 73 days and filled out daily surveys about their mood and their crying. Mood in crying days tended to be worse than on a non-crying day. However negative moods didn’t just show up for the crying episodes they also followed the episodes for roughly 2 days.

The women whose moods were less dark seem to benefit from crying. Crying in the presence of a single person was also more helpful than crying alone. Crying in front of a group was worse. Paying attention to crying behavior might be beneficial to you.However, there is no guarantee that crying is good for you. These two articles are found in the Wall Street Journal dated July 16-17, 2011.

On another note, Tony and I ran one of his “favorite” 10 mile loops. On this particular run, we have to climb the infamous Maine bar trail. For those of you that do not know about this particular trail, I shall mention only a few of the highlights. It is rocky, steep, and a difficult climb roughly 1 mile in length. If you’re mountain goat you would like it. If you’re human you more than likely would not like it. Tony can’t stand this part of the trail even though he told me before that he likes pain. When I pointed out to him about liking pain he told me “don’t believe everything I say”. Apparently, he likes some pain more than others. I’ll ask him to elaborate on that subject and we will see what he says.
From Tony: OK Frank took what I said to literally. No I don't particularly like pain I do enjoy a tough trail at times. I must say we do laugh alot on our runs talking about this stuff.

The highlight of this run, for me, was keeping track of my heart rate. Today, my heart rate reached 135 which is lower than it was a few weeks ago during this climb. The last 2 to 3 weeks I have been using my heart rate monitor to see if I can improve my speed and endurance. Today, I am encouraged by the results. I’ll keep you posted.

A Face book friend told me about a story that he wrote about a runner wanting to win the New York Marathon.  For those of you that are interested, check out the following: www.facebook.com/fueldabook   Tell me what you think.