As we ease back to the dreaded normal—and yes, today’s reality tends to be on the dreadful side—we find ourselves facing a post-holiday season that rears its ugly head. The moment the celebrations cool down and our calendars start to replace reunions with meetings and deadlines, it’s easy to plunge into the pool of downward spiral.
Just a reminder though, we need to keep our immune system on the upbeat, hopeful side even after the festivities are over.
Heart.org says that mood influences our health. We know this by now but sometimes it takes a little extra effort. As the article highlights, “Studies show negative emotions – including anger, hostility, and pessimism – are linked to a higher risk of heart disease and lower chance of recovery from events such as heart attacks, as well as poorer cognitive health. Conversely, a growing body of research shows feelings such as happiness, optimism, gratitude, a sense of purpose, well-being or satisfaction in life lead to better heart and brain health.”
On the other hand, “Mindfulness, humor and other mental coping skills can help people stay healthier by reducing the amount of cortisol running through their bodies, she said. In women, this implies it can protect the production of estradiol, a type of estrogen that can be important for preserving good brain health.”
Since we can’t binge-watch anymore because we’re expected to report to work or return to class, let’s try to turn to songs for a quick fix, or to instantly switch on happier hormones.
Here are five songs you can turn to while on your way to work or during a quick break because you can’t risk having lunch with people outside your physical bubble now.
“I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Love Me).” While we can’t dance with people, just try listening and mouthing this Whitney Houston showstopper. You can’t even start singing opening lyrics without smiling or raising a playful eyebrow or two. Just try it: Clock strikes upon the hour and the sun begins to fade / Still enough time to figure out how to chase my blues away / I’ve done alright up ‘til now / It’s the light of day that shows me how / And when the night falls loneliness calls.” It’s not even the lyrics but the beat of this 1987 classic and how WH sings it. Hard to stay sad the moment you reach the chorus or when Whitney asks, “Don’t you wanna dance?”
“Girls Just Want To Have Fun.” Before “I Wanna Dance…” this was the kick-your-shoes/let-your-hair-down anthem of the ’80s. Although it’s difficult to let your hair down back in the day with all the spray net they used to hold it up, this Cyndi Lauper 1983 breakthrough hit revival (yup, Robert Hazard wrote and performed this originally in 1979) hits the upbeat spot. We don’t need to wait for, “When the working day is done oh girls just wanna have fun.” We can switch up our mood meter with a quick listen to the song anytime—even when we want to drown out a boring Zoom meeting.
“Walking On Sunshine.” Can a song be happier? Katrina & The Waves had a pretty, solid argument on how this track automatically flips your mood. Putting two of the most important positive things in the world: happiness and being in love and turning it into a song and of course, you feel the sun on your feet! “And don’t it feel good indeed!”
“Shake It Off.” Nothing spells that tongue-in-cheek, ‘who cares’ attitude than hearing Taylor Swift’s “Shake It Off.” It’s all in the lyrics: ‘Cause the players gonna play, play, play, play, play / And the haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate / Baby, I’m just gonna shake, shake, shake, shake, shake / I shake it off, I shake it off (Whoo-hoo-hoo) / Heartbreakers gonna break, break, break, break, break / And the fakers gonna fake, fake, fake, fake, fake / Baby, I’m just gonna shake, shake, shake, shake, shake shake it off, I shake it off (Whoo-hoo-hoo) / I never miss a beat / I’m lightning on my feet / And that’s what they don’t see, mm, mm / That’s what they don’t see, mm, mm / I’m dancing on my own (Dancing on my own) / I make the moves up as I go (Moves up as I go) / And that’s what they don’t know, mm, mm / That’s what they don’t know, mm, mm. Even the mm’s are happy m’s!
“Here Comes The Sun.” To wrap things up, we awaken to a classic that provides the most instant of hopes no matter where you are or what you’re going through. The Beatles could have had just the tandem of John Lennon and Paul McCartney there doing the songwriting and the band will be more than enough. The songs will remain up there even after other artists from later generations have had their share of the wild superstardom. But to have a George Harrison in the same songwriting machine of a band is something else. The fact that Harrison also wrote the opposite of “Here Comes The Sun” in “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” clearly states that he knew happiness and hope and how to precisely capture them in a song. It helps that the song casually throws visuals in stringing in the words: “smiles returning to the faces” or “I feel that ice is slowly melting.” But when The Beatles sings, “And I say it’s all right,” you know that deep down inside you, things will be all right.
Have a blessed and safe New Year, everyone!