When I go musing all alone, Thinking of divers things fore-known, When I build castles in the air, Void of sorrow and void of fear, Pleasing myself with phantasms sweet, Methinks the time runs very fleet. All my joys to this are folly, Naught so sweet as Melancholy. - “A dialogue between pleasure and pain” (Burton, 1857).
A complex network of behavioural, psychological and physiological mechanisms drives the health of individuals, and sociostructural factors will either facilitate or impede desired health outcomes within community ecosystems. The GENIAL [**g**enomics-**e**nvironment-vagus **n**erve-social **i**nteraction-**a**llostatic regulation-**l**ongevity] model is proposed, and important mediators and moderators are characterized along a pathway to wellbeing and longevity.