Is laughter the best medicine? Laughter certainly has enormous amounts of health benefits ranging from positively affecting diabetes, lowering risks of heart attacks, reducing stress, anxiety and depression, improving emotional health, strengthen your immune system and much more!
Do you remember how much you laughed when you were a child? Children on average laugh hundreds of times a day, but as adults we tend to laugh far less, life tends to be more serious and laughter more infrequent.
The idea that laughter may have some positive benefits to our health has spurned on many scientific research projects into the benefits of laughter on our bodies. Over the years, countless experiments have concluded with scientific data that laughter has one of the most astounding benefits for your health.
Experiments have been conducted on such things as type II Diabetes which has become an increasing problem for many people today. A study done in Japan at the Foundation for Advancement of International Science found that laughter helps regulate gene expression to help control type II Diabetes.
Studies also suggest that laughter positively affects rheumatoid arthritis by affecting the level of the condition as well as psychological benefits in controlling stress and stress related conditions. Perhaps the biggest discovery, published by S. Karger AG, Basel, is that laughter is now being proven to alleviate some of the lasting effects of heart attacks such as less medication and fewer repeat attacks with humour therapy of just thirty minutes per day.
In What Other Ways is Laughter the Best Medicine?
–Laughter relaxes the whole body. A good,belly laugh quickly relieves physical tension and reduces stress levels, leaving your body completely relaxed.
–Laughter triggers the release of endorphins –the body’s natural feel-good chemicals. Endorphins promote an overall sense of well-being and can even temporarily relieve pain.
-Laughter boosts the immune system. Laughter decreases stress hormones and actually increases immune cells and infection-fighting antibodies, thus improving your resistance to disease.
–Laughter diffuses the negative effects of anger. Nothing diffuses anger and conflict faster than a shared laugh. Looking at the funny side can put many problems into perspective and enable you to move on from confrontations without holding onto bitterness or resentment.
-Laughter may even help you to live longer. A study in Norway found that people with a strong sense of humor outlived those who don’t laugh as much.
So what are you waiting for? Go ahead and have a good laugh. Point and giggle, do it with pride and do it for your health. It will be contagious and soon everyone around you will be laughing too. Life can sometimes be very serious and tiring and I’m not suggesting that there is always something to laugh about, but if you look around your day to day life and draw some laughter out of what may seem mundane you’ll be making a a very positive step to improving your health.
