By Kay Leaman, Health Architect, HealthyDay HealthyLife
LAUGH: To express certain emotions, especially mirth or delight, by a series of spontaneous, usually unarticulated sounds often accompanied by corresponding facial and bodily movements.
People bring laughter into their lives in various ways. From watching comedy, to animal videos, telling jokes, listening to songs, reading, etc. The newest trend is laughing yoga. If you haven’t tried it, I recommend you consider it. You can grab a Youtube video or find a class.
My mom had a large and wicked sense of humor. Our home experienced a plethora of jokes and comedy television shows. If we fell, mom would say ‘Are you ok?” and then proceed with laughter. It helped and hurt all at the same time. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve learned to appreciate good humor. It lessens the load and reminds me that life is better and a bit easier when laughter is taken regularly.
What happens during a laughing spell? Your brain releases endorphins (feel good chemicals), reducing stress and bringing on feelings of happiness and well-being. It causes us to take deeper breaths, bringing increased oxygen to the brain, heart, lungs and muscles.
A good laugh offers the short-term effects of lightening our mental load (stress) and abating anger. (It’s hard to be angry when you’re laughing.) It also stimulates many organs by enhancing our intake of oxygen-rich air.
Hearty laughter fires up and cools down the stress response, raising and lowering our heart rate and blood pressure. It brings on a good relaxing feeling, soothes tension and stimulates circulations and muscle relaxation.
Long term benefits include:
An improved immune system due to the increase of immune cells and antibodies. Negative thoughts manifest chemical reactions that can affect body by raising stress & lowering immunity. Positive thoughts release neuropeptides that help to fight stress & potentially more serious illnesses.
Relieves pain – Laughter can produce its own pain killers.
Improved mood – We experience less stress, depression and anxiety and our self-esteem improves.
Greater personal satisfaction makes it easier to cope with difficult situations and connect with other people.
Protects the heart by improving function of blood vessels and increases flow.
If you can laugh 10-15 minutes per day, you can burn up to 40 calories, equaling a loss of 3-4 lbs./year. Maybe I should create a laughter diet. hehehe:-)
Research shows that children laugh about 400 times a day, whereas adults, on average, laugh only about 15 times. I wonder what our yearly checkups would look like if we worked on maintaining our childlike laughter. We can start by learning to laugh at ourselves again. A study in Norway found people with a strong sense of humor outlived those who didn’t laugh as much. The difference was particularly notable for those battling cancer.
Are you someone who doesn’t laugh very often? Did you know that humor can be learned? Attend laughing yoga regularly or get around jovial people, read a funny book, etc. and discover the benefits of laughter.
It’s never too late to start a new habit. Make laughter a habit worth laughing over. Here’s to Health!
HealthyDay HealthyLife, succeed.hdhl@gmail.com
