Emodiversity – it’s good for your health

“Emodiversity is a practically important and previously unidentified metric for assessing the health of the human emotional ecosystem.”

So states a report, published in 2014 in the Journal of Experimental Psychology. Titled: Emodiversity and the Emotional Ecosystem, the statistical analyses and conclusions are the result of six scientists, working on two continents, studying 37,000 participants. The conclusion? Emodiversity is a previously unidentified metric and seems to be a good predictor of mental and physical health.

Using language and science that is familiar to biologists, the authors propose that (in layman’s terms), the more feels we feel, the wider the swing along our emotional pendulum, the more efficiently our bodies can adjust, adapt, recover and recalibrate to whatever life throws our way.

The authors define 18 emotions taken from a Modified Version of the French Translation of the Differential Emotion Scale. There is a lot of technical jargon in the paper, but here’s what I can glean: the authors define eighteen emotions are listed as either positive or negative.

Analysing the results of a large sample group (37,000 participants!), representing a variety of culture groups, ethnicities, ages and personality types, the authors conclude that there are health benefits to living an emotionally rich and diverse life.

Greater emodiversity, whether computed for positive emotion, negative emotions, or mixed emotions was consistently linked to lower depression rates and fewer doctors’ visits. The study results remained robust when controlled for age, gender and personality type. Emodiversity is beneficial to the human experience.

In the same way a monoculture in nature is vulnerable to disease and infection, so too is our personal health and well-being compromised when we keep our emotional needles stuck in a zone that is too narrow. By mixing positives in with the negatives, we will reduce stresses to the system.  Just like nature – a complex and diverse emotional ecosystem is more resilient and robust.

Emodiversity is also an interesting way to consider gratitude.

My suggestion? As the richness of life brings hassles and headaches your way, revisit your Gratitudes. With training and acceptance, patience and insight, you can trace the strands of your gratitude in ways that connect your negative emotions to more positive ones. If you are feeling sad, where is hope and contentment? If you are feeling disgusted, where might you find joy or amusement?

Gratitude – is it an emotion, a mood or a mindset? While the experts may not agree, I think is all three. Personally, once my amygdala has rushed to the rescue to keep me safe; once my flight or fight muscles have a chance to flush and relax; once a cup of tea is on the table and steaming, and my journal and pen are in my hand… Gratitude helps my every emo-recalibration. It’s called savouring and reflection.