Very closely. Here's my reasoning: First, they are linked for obvious, physical reasons. When you're depressed, it affects when, how much, and what you eat. It also affects how much activity you participate in (indeed, there are some studies trying to find a link between activity level and chronic depression). These have such obvious effects on your health that I don't see the need to explain any further. Secondly, they're linked for less obvious reasons. If you look at it from a purely chemical point of view, happiness is caused by a release of chemicals the full effect of which we don't understand. The same is true of all other emotions. As has been well documented and is quite well known, anger raises the blood pressure, heart rate, etc. which can have both severe, immediate short-term effects and dangerous long-term effects. Finally, as has been well documented, a belief that a medicine is going to make an individual feel better often does so - whether the medicine really works or not is questionable. That is why we have double blind studies - if neither I nor the person administering the medicine knows whether it is a medicine or the placebo, it helps rule out that factor. It's also been documented that those with severe depression heal and recover from illness much more slowly than those who are upbeat and happy about their lives. So, are emotions and health linked? Yes. How closely? They walk hand-in-hand down the road of your life.

Yes, very, they are an integral part of maintaing proper brain chemistry and make up of the secretions within the cerebrospinal fluids, which also directly affects all functions of both sensory nerves and motor nerves, as well as autonomic functions. Different emotions and different intensities of emotions will cause variations in what is excreted from the various glands in and around the brain, and in what amounts.

there is nothing to belive it is trutth that they are cross linked, a very close , if somebody keeps smiling a lways i dont think that he will suffere from any seasonal viral diseases

Very much indeed.. Like when you are in love, just look at yourself.. You change 100%

Yes for sure, when I find out I have a cold or the flu, I get sick about it!

One affects the other all the time. It is like a pendulum clock. In order for it to work properly it has to swing the same distance on both sides. When one side gets disrupted it disrupts the other side.

I believe that being an optimist and positive is critical to one's physical, mental and emotional health. I would go so far as to say without it, your quality of life is diminished and you do not survive life-or-death illness at all. So yes..the mind is a strong ally. As the mind goes, so goes the body! :)

my grandma died of a broken heart so I say yes

Yes I do, I think they are pretty closely linked. It has been my experience that people in very poor physical health become depressed and despondent. Personally, when I am in good physical health -regular exercise, good diet, lots of vitamins- I feel terrific. When I don't keep up on that stuff I become depressed, moody, lackadaisical, and generally in a bad mood. If I can feel that poorly just from not working out or eating well, I can imagine that someone with a debilitating disease or serious health problems would feel the same things, only much more severely.

Every emotion is a chemical reaction in the body. So every emotion is, literally, physical. Different chemicals cause different things to happen in the body. By the same token, if you aren't physically healthy it is more likely that you will suffer from unhealthy emotions. For instance: lack of b-vitamins can cause depression and anxiety. Magnesium deficiency is directly linked to anxiety and tension. A healthy body depends on healthy emotions and healthy emotions depend on a healthy body - they are inseperable. So support yourself emotionally by avoiding things that bring you down and pursuing things that make you joyous. And eat well and exercise and supplement if you need to so you have the physical health to support your emotional state.

They are so close it is funny! Hapiness brings good health; sadness and depression cause illness!