By Dr C. S. Foo

IF I were to write a book on true health, the first chapter would certainly be on true happiness. Health and wealth are closely interwoven.

What about happiness? How can one be happy if health is compromised and vice versa?

Waking up with a persistent headache, trudging along the day with colonic spasms in tow, completely overwhelmed by fatigue before the shift is over. Worse is swallowing those darned pills just to get by. How can there be joy if one can hardly spend quality time with loved ones, and despite breaking the back at one, or sometimes two jobs, end up with no money at the end of the month?

Therefore health, happiness, and wealth can never be separated; they are like butterflies dancing with the bees.

In an impromptu survey, 26 middle-aged patients (13 males and 13 females) in a suburban environment were interviewed on how they would rate their status of stress and happiness based on a scale of zero to 10. Stress scores above five were taken to be significantly disturbed, and happiness scores above five were considered realistically content with life.

Overall, 70% of respondents were stressed but 80% were happy with their lives. Females were more stressed than males (75% versus 55% ) but females were generally more content than males (87% versus 77%).

The above findings reaffirms the fact that stress and happiness are two separate issues. One can be highly stressed and still find happiness.

Women apparently have more issues as they often lament the multiple burdens they shoulder, namely career, household, children, spousal tension, financial, and last but not least, the in-laws. Yet, they seem to be the happier gender.

Certainly there are a host of reasons why men are less content. Job stagnation and an increasingly widening river of debts were the chief reasons reported.

In a 2002 Australian study (published in the American Journal of Health Promotion), 9,981 participants were asked if they were happy and satisfied - 63% reported that they were content. This group was followed up three years later and it was found that they were 1.6 times healthier than the group who were unhappy.