Healthy Body and Happy Mind:A Biopsychosocial Insight into the Body Mass Index and Happiness Level Interplay among Young Adults

Happiness is an example of a positive construct of mental health that may be promoted by physical health and could increase resilience to emotional disturbances. However, the research on the association between physical health variables and happiness is relatively scarce in Indian context. This study tries to explore this association using body mass index as an indicator of good physical health among young adults. It aims at determining if happiness differs among young adults (males & females) with healthy and unhealthy body mass indices. Results indicate a statistically significant difference in the happiness levels of young adults across the five BMI categories as well as a significant difference between healthy and unhealthy young adults. This hints towards a strong relationship between physiological and psychological factors in determining good health. Another striking result was a significant difference in happiness scores in underweight category with underweight females reporting lower levels of happiness than underweight males. This indicates the interplay of physical, psychological and social factors in contributing towards health and well being of individuals. The results of the study indicate that health is a complex interplay of various components in consonance with the biopsychosocial approach.