Stress Management and Anti-aging: Happiness and Anti-aging Medicine—Happy People Live Longer!

There are two aspects to the relationship between health and happiness. One is the idea that being healthy and living a long life makes you happy, with health being the cause. The other is the idea that being happy leads to health and a long life. The latter idea is encapsulated in the title “Happy People Live Longer.” [1] Various epidemiological studies have confirmed that this pathway indeed exists [2, 3]. Anti-aging medicine is not just a theoretical discipline but a new field of medicine that includes “practice based on science.” It requires the will to practice and the passion to continue. Happiness, the title of this section, is also a purpose of life, and it can be thought that people aim for longevity because they are happy. If life is boring, it is better to quit early, but if life is happy, let us enjoy it for a long time. Among smokers, there are those who say, “If life without smoking is boring, it’s not worth living. I’m going to live a short and fun life.” Even in response to calorie restriction, a fundamental part of anti-aging medicine, many people think, “If life without being able to eat delicious food to my heart’s content (because it’s not happy), there’s no point in living.” Happiness and anti-aging medicine can be said to have a close relationship in various aspects. In states of depression or excessive stress, mortality rates increase, and the practice of anti-aging medicine becomes difficult. Conversely, if one is more than ordinarily happy, physical functions improve, and the practice of anti-aging medicine becomes even easier. For a long time, happiness was difficult to study scientifically [4]. This was because it was difficult to measure happiness objectively, making a scientific approach was challenging. However, this trend is changing. Recently, there has been a movement to evaluate happiness using scientific methods. Economists have begun to study happiness and economic activity, and neuroscientists have begun to study the connection between brain activity, emotions, and happiness [5]. Although it is still a developing field, in this section, I would like to discuss anti-aging medicine and happiness. How can people become happy? And can we increase the success rate of anti-aging medicine?