**Abstract**

Positive psychology in combination with a healthy lifestyle has the potential to enhance health and well-being at a level beyond that achieved by healthy lifestyle habits alone—a state of health termed positive health by Martin Seligman, the founder of the positive psychology field. This chapter covers how positive psychology interventions and positive emotions with healthy physical habits play a vital role in health. The mechanism is twofold: 1. positive emotions as powerful drivers of behavior change and 2. direct physiologic benefits of positive emotions. Health professionals need to consider how to integrate this science and practice of positive psychology into their patient assessments and recommendations. An overview will be provided about the scientific studies that show the reinforcing, reciprocal relationship between positive psychology activities and physical healthy lifestyles. Strategies to apply in clinical practices outside of behavioral health and research recommendations are reviewed. Future research is needed to transform these research-informed approaches into evidence-based practice and address a major research gap on how different cultures and populations form positive psychology interventions.

**Keywords:** positive psychology, positive health, health care, total well-being, lifestyle medicine, positive psychology interventions

### **1. Introduction**

Positive psychology is the scientific study of human flourishing and the strengths and virtues that enable individuals, communities, and organizations to thrive and stated more broadly. The field studies conditions and processes contribute to optimal functioning [1]. Positive psychology-based interventions impact physical health as well as mental and emotional health, and hence, they align with and advance the objectives of health and medical practitioners, who seek to impact health and quality of life.

The relevance and importance of positive psychology approaches to health care are especially highlighted for practitioners of lifestyle medicine, which uses lifestyle interventions to, not only prevent diseases, but also treat chronic diseases and, in some cases, reverse these conditions. By combining healthy lifestyle and positive psychology in the health care, we can promote positive health—a state of health over and above what can be achieved when we address solely traditional risk factors, such as eating patterns, physical activity, and sleep [2]. In this chapter, we will review how positive psychology approaches and interventions impact health and how they can be incorporated in health care for achieving positive health. Although consensus on terminology is not yet well-established, we'll refer to positive health, flourishing and thriving interchangeably in this chapter as a state of total well-being, including physical, mental, emotional, social, and spiritual health that allows an individual to remain in a healthy state even during traumatic times. This construct is more inclusive than the term happiness, and it highlights the reinforcing, reciprocal nature of positive emotions, healthy lifestyles, and physical health. By contrast, well-being is a broad term used variably in the literature to describe positive physical and emotional states.
