Vahid Sari-Sarraf - Iran

Don’t worry, be active

‘Our culture highly values happiness; for instance our traditional New Year (Nowruz) is a day when people open the gate of their hearts to happiness’, says Vahid Sari-Sarraf, who focuses his research on a specific source of happiness: the effect of sports and exercising on our immune system. His wife, in turn, researches the relationship between happiness and decision-making in sports. And yes, they have called one of their two children Shadi, which means ‘happy’ in Persian language.

According to the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) ‘sports is a medicine’. They are right. Effects of positive human emotions, especially happiness, on immune system have received very little attention so far. Whereas, it is well-established that inflammation and other immune responses could change how we feel, conversely, well-being also affects our immune system. Some studies demonstrate that immunity is modified by ones emotions, personality, and social status as well as by other life style variables like sleep, nutrition status, obesity, environmental, physiological and psychological stressors or exercise training.

Moreover sports provide a sense of social satisfaction for each person, particularly for those with disabilities, by offering the opportunity to join clubs and teams. Exercise training, sports and physical activity are also of particular interest as choosing them is often a matter of volunteerism. Feeling blue? Working out is an answer. Physical activity improves mental health. We can power up our life with sports, tuning up body and mind.

Personality traits

Research on Iranian athletes demonstrated that they have more extrovert personalities and are happier compared to non-athletes. The neurotic traits of athletes are at a lower level than non-athletes. The emerging consequences of research suggests that, there is no significant difference between the team and individual sport participants on happiness.

What do we know about the relation between exercising and personality traits? People usually seek situations that are related to their personality traits and motivation. For example, extraverts spend the most of their times in social events, and in physical pursuits which are commonly very enjoyable. They remember happy events better due to a happy mood. Extraversion has been most consistently related to happiness. As Emmons and Diener already proved in 1985: it correlates with positive affect and satisfaction. Interesting that, this relationship is so strong that extraversion could predict happiness 17 years later, as shown by Costa, McCrae and Norris.

Self-esteem

Our studies with school and academic students show that happiness is related to stable extraversion and easy sociability, combined with a natural and pleasant interaction with other community members. Self-esteem is strongly correlated with subjective well-being Similarly, instability and neuroticism are connected to unhappiness.

However, physical distancing that protects against the transmission of COVID-19, may negatively impact reduced physical activities and well-being of the population. We learn in corona virus diseases pandemic era that exercise training could make us physically and psychologically fit against even masked disease treatments. Physical exercises, even during the pandemic, have shown to be effective in enhancing happiness, even in difficult situations.

Reflection

Exercise training is a key to a healthier and happier you. Regular participation in favorable sports and exercise training in a suitable intensity, as a pleasant activity, could improve our immunity, personality and happiness. Therefore, preparing the conditions for physical activity, doing exercise training and sport for the general public is an important and economic strategy in order to ensure physical and mental health.

Advice

1. Take a leisurely walk. Walking gives your body an endorphin boost, which helps to reduce stress and anxiety. Even moderate exercises improve your immune system.
2. Start warm up with stretching, since it not only helps to reduce muscle tension, it can help to improve your circulation, increase flexibility, and reduce stress. Spend at least 5 minutes each day stretching to improve your overall wellbeing.
3. Focus on what are you eating and drinking and provide the requirement macro (Carbohydrates, Lipids and Proteins) and micro nutrients (e.g. Ca, Na, K and so on). Hydrate yourself.
4. Do exercise training and be active at least for 150 min per week according to World Health Organization (WHO) recommendation. Do not exaggerate.
5. Play a sport. Pick a sport that you enjoy and make it a regular part of your routine. Swimming and aerobics are a great way to improve your fitness and wellbeing.
6. Join a sports team. Participating in team sports can help to boost your confidence, reduce stress, and form strong social connections.

Vahid Sari-Sarraf is Professor at the University of Tabriz in Iran and does research in Applied Sport and Exercise Physiology, such as the effect of resistance training on neural conditions or the impact of simulated soccer exercises on emotional and affective states. He is the first investigator in his country for the Australian Center on Quality of Life. His wife, Dr. Pavaneh Alavi-Namvar, is working at related domains in the Department of Physical Education at the Azad University.