Biological Measures of Well-Being

Biological Measures of Well-Being is organized into four distinct sections that together examine the interlink between physical and emotional well-being. The first section introduces the reader to the correlation among well-being with the environment, economic status, and biological measures. The second section outlines the blood and body fluids as biological correlates of well-being. The third section reviews physiology and imaging as biological correlates of well-being. The fourth discusses the genetic correlations of well-being. Written by international experts in the field, this book will be the single source researchers and clinicians will need to understand well-being and its interlink with biological measures.

Section 1: Introductory chapters, correlates and setting the scene 1. Biopsychosocial aspects of mental health: A focus on the school environment 2. Mental well-being and the use of social media 3. Well-being and quality of life among youth with a mental health 4. The medical professions and their mental and physical well-being 5. The bidirectional relationship of poor physical well-being and stress Section 2: Body fluids as biological correlates of well-being 6. Low-density lipoprotein (LDL) in serum and measures of well-being 7. Cortisol, well-being and the older person 8. Endocannabinoid system, inflammation, and mental well-being 9. Beta-endorphin and negative traits of well-being 10. Positive psychological well-being and inflammatory biomarkers IL-6 and CRP: A narrative review 11. Well-being and circulating serotonin Section 3: Physiology and imaging as biological correlates of well-being 12. Use of electroencephalography (EEG) to investigate quality of life domains: Applications to epilepsy 13. Non-invasive measures of acute mental stress 14. Neuroscience of meditation for holistic well-being 15. Physiological responses to acute and cumulative dance exposures 16. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and well-being 17. Neural processing of odors and measures of well-being Section 4: Genetic correlates of well-being 18. Meditation and the regulation of immune response genes 19. Genes, polymorphisms and linkage with muscle strength and quality of life 20. GWAS in occupational health: Unraveling gene-environment interactions, from discovery to the ethical frontiers of precision health 21. Single nucleotide variants and their association with subjective well-being Section 5: Resources 22. Recommended resources for the biological measures of well-being