**2. The essential link between healthy lifestyles and positive psychology**

Achieving positive health relies on both physical health habits and positive mindsets and activities. Health practitioners can prescribe these positive psychology interventions along with traditional healthy habits, including a predominantly plant-based diet, physical activity, restorative sleep avoidance of risky substances, and managing stress.

Positive activities represent a pillar of a total healthy lifestyle prescription and also lead to positive emotions, the key driver for healthy behavior changes. Hence, positive psychology has an essential role in helping individuals achieve and sustain healthy behaviors. Moreover, positive psychology-based activities have direct physiologic benefits, such as boosts in the parasympathetic nervous system.

The reinforcing nature between healthy lifestyles and positive emotions produces a powerful effect. As positive emotions are experienced in association with the health behaviors, individuals are more likely to repeat the healthy behaviors in a nonconscious manner. The more we do healthy behaviors, the more likely we are to achieve positive health. A number of studies are reviewed here showing the link between key healthy lifestyle behaviors and boosts in mood, treatment depression, and increased happiness.

Many questions remain about how to apply positive psychology interventions for which the evidence has been built within behavioral health settings into primary care and medical specialty health care settings. The evidence base for these traditional healthcare settings is being built by a few leading researchers, including Judith Moskowitz at Northwestern University in Chicago, Illinois. Her team is looking at the feasibility and impact in settings, such as oncology clinics. Other researchers and practitioners are asking how can health practitioners prescribe these interventions for different populations of patients? What is the appropriate "dosing" and timing of these prescriptions? In the meantime, the healthcare field can be "research-informed" and benefit by acknowledging the role of a positive activities as part of a healthy lifestyle and starting discussions with patients about this element of health that encompasses total well-being and positive health and encouraging patients to explore what positive activities work for them, giving them a sense of vitality.

In addition to promoting quality of life, positive health, and increasing longevity among patients, these activities can boost the well-being of health practitioners. By personally practicing a total healthy lifestyle with positive psychology activities, practitioners can achieve personal well-being and produce a better work-life balance, especially in the context of a workplace environment that prioritizes a culture of wellbeing, practitioners can help prevent burnout, serve as effective role models for their patients, and develop effective and satisfying medical practices.
