Have you heard of the new miracle drug called laughter? Have you thought of all the helpful things you can use laughter for? Now we all know that you can't avoid stress but we can limit the effect it has on us and our bodies. Being an optimist and being able to see positive is the first step in fighting stress. Now we add a big dose of laughter to this and we are on the right track. Laughter activates the chemistry of the will to live. It decreases our stress hormones. Laughter stimulates the brain to enhance learning. It keeps the brain alert therefore we can retain information better. Laughter helps curb the damaging physical effects of stress. Having the ability to laugh at stressful situations could even reduce the risk of heart disease.
It would seem that laughter is a very powerful medicine that can lower our stress level, get rid of our anger and even unite our family in bad times. When we can laugh at ourselves and the situation most likely the problem will not seem to be as earth shaking as we had thought. The good feeling we have after we have laughed can stay with us and give us comfort. Stress is connected with the way we think. It is not the situation that starts the stress, it is the way we think and the meaning we place on the situation.
Laughter can help adjust the meaning so it will not seem so big or bad. If you feel tension coming on just have a good laugh. This is usually followed by a feeling of relaxation. Always try to laugh at situations as this will help improve our disposition. Laughter is a healer. It is very important to our immune system. Recent studies have shown that laughter can successfully lower our blood pressure increase our natural immunities, and burn calories comparable with actual physical exercise.
Laughing each day would be a healthy lifestyle. This comes from stimulating the blood flow and helping your heart. Laughter has similar health benefits as aerobic exercise but comes without the aches and pains.
Laughter is a good medicine that the expectation of laughter was very effective. It showed that a person expecting to watch a funny program or video lowered their stress inducing chemicals and helped release stress relievers. Brain chemistry seems to be changed by laughter; being able to laugh seems to give a person more control over themselves as well as over the situation. Have you ever thought that a good belly laugh could be like a trip to the spa for your upper body? When you laugh your facial muscles stretch, your back and shoulders unknot, even your abdomen and diaphragms contract.
That's a lot of personal attention to get from a laugh, but it will certainly be worth your time and effort. Inside the Immune system laughter helps in the production of natural killer cells and T cells; a major defense mechanism of the immune system. A good laugh will exercise your lungs. This is a big help for those who suffer from chronic respiratory conditions. If you should start laughing and can't seem to stop, you may be producing lots of nitric oxide. This is known as our laughing gas. Laughter is an art. It is amazing how much research has been done, and is being done on laughter. We know that a happy, healthy person laughs more than others. Laughing is by choice. You can choose to laugh or you can choose not to. Laughter is the best medicine available and the fact that it is free makes it even better.
EXERCISE, LAUGHTER,
Have you ever thought of laughter as being an exercise and being good for your health? It is in many more ways than you could possibly imagine. Let's begin by looking at laughter as being aerobic. Laughing will give your diaphragm a workout and increase your body's ability to use oxygen. A good bell laugh is considered an internal jogging. It gives good cardiac conditioning and this is especially important for those who cannot do physical exercises. That same belly laugh will relax your muscles. When you are laughing there are some muscles you are not using so they just relax. If you can give a good belly laugh often it will help your respiratory system. Your lungs will expel more air than they take in so the results are a cleansing effect. Have you been to the Dr. and his treatment for you was "diet and exercise"? Well this is where you will really need laughter.
Laughter will not take the place of diet and exercise but it will certainly make it easier to attain. Can you imagine laughter helping give you normal blood sugars? Researchers are not sure why laughter helps reduce blood sugar. It's possible it may increase the amount of energy used by abdominal muscles or it may affect the system which controls glucose levels in the blood. With diabetes being a common ailment for so many, you can be sure more research will follow and many more belly laughs encouraged. A test was made on diabetics and non diabetics. Their glucose levels were higher after a lecture but they were lower after a comedy show.
Like I said earlier, laughing does not take the place of exercise but can be used as an exercise. Suppose you had a day when it was thundering, lightning and raining cats and dogs. It would be tempting to curl up on the sofa with a book or watch TV. Well that might not be so bad if you got the right book or the right TV program. You will need to spend a little time and find something that will be funny. It will be best if it can give you a large amount of belly laughs. If it is not raining today and you have the time, go ahead and plan for your rainy day by getting your movie and book ready. Who knows you may even want to use them when you return from your walk. Here's another little hint: if you have family or friends include them in your laughter exercise. It certainly won't hurt anybody and could possibly turn into a regular habit. We all know that physical exercise is a must if you are to enjoy good health. We also know that some of us do not particularly like exercise everyday.
That's where laughter comes in as a big helper. Whether we have to exercise, by that I mean walk, jog, ride a bike or lift weights, we can make the time pass quicker with laughter included. There are different ways to include laughter. You can control your thoughts and keep your mind on amusing thoughts. Headphones with good snappy music or an amusing joke teller is always good. If you find yourself needing to be motivated take just a minute and find a mirror. Look at yourself. Do you like what you are seeing? Now try smiling at yourself in the mirror.
That's better isn't it? Now keep that smile on your face, and go find someone else that needs a smile and give it to them. Guess what? You can't give a smile away, it keeps coming back. The value of a laugh is priceless, when you consider what it does and can do for you. A good laugh is good for your mental status as well as your heart and your health in general. It is unbeatable to combine exercise and laughter. They go together like ham and eggs. Boy I just blew that diet didn't I???
HAPPINESS
Do you think you could have happiness without laughter? No way. There is no way to have happiness with no laughter. They go together like two peas in a pod. To be a happy person you would have no trouble finding laughter. Also, most likely if you are happy and laugh you are a healthy person. Healthy people with positive attitudes are more apt to enjoy life. Laughter does your body good, inside and out. Do you want to feel as though you have spent a half day at the spa? Just laugh a good laugh and your abdomen and diaphragm will contract, your facial muscles stretch and your back and shoulders will un-kink.
Laughter is a great exercise. It has been described as taking your insides for a jog. If you would do 100 belly laughs it would be about the same as working out for 15 to 20 minutes a day. Wow! What a trade-off. I’d much rather trade a sweaty, monotonous 20 minutes on the treadmill for a good 30 minute laugh session with my closest friends. Wouldn’t you?
By laughing and sharing our laughs with others is good insurance. We can always count on having others around us if we share our laughter with them. Laughter will make us closer. Laughter breaks the ice, initiates a feeling of warmth, friendship and camaraderie; something that each of us instinctively seem to crave. Smiling and laughing is a wonderful habit to have. Learning to laugh can give us a will to live and increases our ability to fight disease. Laughter is something you cannot buy.
You have to make your own. Making your own laughter pays big dividends. You will be more alert by improving your brain functions. Also, it will ease tension and stress while protecting the heart, lowering blood pressure and in general making you feel good and happy. Have you ever thought about having a "Happy Bank"? This would be where you deposit happy events and laughs you would like to remember. You can make a deposit in your bank anytime you are willing to laugh. Try to add to this bank as often as you can. Then when you need a happy or funny event you can draw from the bank. This is a good memory bank to have and unlike a bank you put money in, it would never overdraw. Being happy and laughing should certainly improve the quality of our life. It is our daily task to find ways to make ourselves and others laugh and to be happy. We need to keep an active relationship between our mind and our body.
To be kept active it must be practiced on a regular routine. Smiling, laughing, and being happy are wonderful habits to have. Using the habit will become so natural we will not even have to think about it. It will be a natural action or reaction. We can teach ourselves to laugh and see humor in any situation.
Dot Cully
http://www.dotsbdp06.bloglanding.com
http://www.bigdaddypays.com/dotsbdp06
