Pleasure
Enjoyable experiences pump up your immune system, confirms Carl Charnetski, PhD, a professor of psychology at Wilkes University, in Pennsylvania, and author of Feeling Good Is Good for You. And the most pleasurable way to protect yourself from colds and the flu is by having regular sex, he found in a recent study. Men and women who made love once or twice a week had 30 percent higher levels of immunoglobulin A (IgA, a mucous membrane antibody that fights respiratory viruses and bacteria) than those who abstained and -- to everyone's surprise -- those who had sex more than three times a week. "Aristotle was right: All things in moderation -- including sex," says Dr. Charnetski. "While it's unclear why too much is harmful, it may be that these people are in obsessive or poor relationships that cause them stress and anxiety, which in turn suppresses IgA." If more sex isn't on your agenda, try listening to relaxing music, playing with pets, or even cultivating an optimistic attitude. Research shows these things increase the antibody, too.
"We've known for a long time that stress is hard on the immune system, but what's new is finding out that pleasure makes it work much better," he says. "Anything enjoyable, from eating chocolate -- or just smelling it -- to making love has the potential to raise IgA. Even anticipating something nice that's going to happen later in the week stimulates your body's defenses against illness. It looks as though pleasure has the opposite cumulative effect that chronic tension does: Over time, injecting frequent small jolts of joy in your life starts you on an upward spiral to better health."
So Bono could save lives one pleasurable expereince at a time.