Be On The Laugh Track - "The human race has only one really effective weapon and that is laughter."
Mark Twain Our experience of laughter makes us feel so good, oftentimes relaxed, and once in a while, cleansed. Scientists can now tell you the chemicals your body creates while laughing which are responsible for those feelings. They can measure the increase in your cardio functioning and the workout your muscles receive while you laugh. Blood levels of stress hormones are measured and show a significant decrease; cortisol, epinephrine, dopac and growth hormone which cause damage to cells when quantities are too high, or sustained for too long. Beta-endorphins, the good painkillers, increase significantly during a good belly laugh.
It is so often true that when we need it the most we seem to be unable to find our sense of humor. Choosing to view our difficulties with a humorous viewpoint doesn’t make them go away, but can reduce our physical and mental suffering. The more we fret about our troubles the greater the negative effects on our bodies, especially our heart and arteries. Choosing to laugh – faking it until you actually feel the joy of it – appears to create all the same physical and chemical benefits as spontaneous laughter.
We all know that worrying never makes a problem smaller. What may be a new idea is that laughing may diminish a problem - open up our minds to alternative perspectives and thereby introduce creative solutions. But what do you do when nothing seems funny? It turns out there are many laugh clubs, laugh training programs, laugh yoga classes, laughter medicine groups and even World Laughter Day, the first Sunday of May. If you have forgotten how to have a good laugh there’s lots of help. One website, in particular, LaughterRemedy.com has helpful information.
Observe the number of times you laugh today and fake even more for good health. Try for a good belly laugh – it’s free and there are no negative side effects.
“The art of medicine consists of keeping the patient amused while nature heals the disease.” Voltaire
Be On The Laugh Track
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