There is no happiness set point

July 21st, 2009 John Hill Posted in Happiness, depression |

Research suggests that there is individual “set point” or “set range” for how happy someone can be. I don’t think that is the case. During my life I have had long periods of “medium low happiness” that I thought was my maximum happiness. Later when I got rid of my health issues my set point changed. I’ve also had periods of dull depression that I could have mistaken for normal state if I hadn’t been happier before.

This makes me think about people who have ALWAYS had some issue that has caused their brain to function less than optimally. They can’t know that they are less happy than they could be! Only after becoming happier they can see that they really had a problem.

Personally I can very easily get back to my anxious and depressed state. Just eating grain and dairy for couple of weeks does the trick. There are no big external symptoms (sure, I get very minor acne, but that’s about it). Inside I surely feel the difference! I just wonder how many eat foods that really don’t work for them. For me it took about 10 years to discover that I can’t eat grain (I don’t have celiac disease or allergies, both confirmed by doctors) or dairy (I don’t have lactose intolerance or milk protein allergy, again confirmed by doctors).

This 10 years is measured from the time I become aware that I had a problem (depression, CFS). I was around 22 then. I had been shy and anxious during my teenage years (as many others). I assumed it was normal, but I have started to think that maybe my whole life would have been different if I had known what I now know about diet. Who knows how long I had issues related to food…

I believe I would be dead by now if a doctor hadn’t suggested me vitamin, trace mineral, fish oil supplements. That saved my life, but it took several years after that before I was ready to say confidently that I am fully healthy. Without stumbling on paleo diet I could have been eating supplements for rest of my life and feel only 70% alive (without ever knowing it).

How do I know that I am now as healthy as I can be? I don’t, but the calmness I feel when I relax is so close to perfect that I am fairly certain I don’t at least have anxiety