Laugh Your Way To Health

It’s that time again. Time to let the lighter side of life lift you into the stratosphere and leave you suspended. Laughing is an aerobic workout for your well-being.

Human beings are unique in that they are the only species capable of laughter.

According to a study German Psychologist, Dr. Michael Titze, in the 1950's people use to laugh an average of 18 minutes a day. Today, that's down to 4 - 6 minutes a day. That’s 4 to 6 minutes. What has happened that we don’t laugh like we used to do?

Laughter is a powerful potent. We can literally laugh our way to good health. During laughter, our stress levels are reduced and our blood pressure is lowered by increasing the vascular blood flow and the oxygenation of the blood.

Did you know that scientists estimate that laughing 100 times is equivalent to a 10-minute workout on a rowing machine, or to 15 minutes on a stationary exercise bike?

Laughing exercises the diaphragm, the abdominal, respiratory, facial, leg, and back muscles. Muscles relax during and after a good laughing session.

Laughing increases our oxygen intake. When we laugh, we gulp in air and because the cardiovascular system is already dilated, the oxygen moves a lot faster to already relaxed muscles.

Laughter has many mental benefits as well as physical benefits. In a study published in the Journal of Holistic Nursing, patients were told one-liners after surgery and before painful medication was administered. Those exposed to humor perceived less pain when compared to patients who didn't get a dose of humor as part of their therapy.

Those who didn’t laugh initially probably did when they finally got their medical bill - now if that doesn’t make us laugh, I don’t know what will? Seriously. ;D

Laughing also balances the brain. During normal beta activity, the left and right sides of your brain look different under a PET (Positron Emission Tomography) scan. When you laugh, both sides look almost identical.

Laughing releases the body's natural opiates and pain reliever; beta-endorphins.

Have you ever noticed the expression on a person face when they laugh? Their head and facial muscles move. Those same muscles are connected to the thymus gland, which in turn is responsible for the immune system. Thus, the more a person laughs, the better his/her immune system.

You might say that laughing is a ‘grin-grin’ situation that can give a person deeper ‘grin-sights’ and make them very ‘grin-tuitive.’ Wait, I’m on a roll. What do you call it when you laugh at yourself? Grin-stant gratification.

Before I laugh my way out of this post, here a some more facts about laughter.

15 minutes of laughter equals the benefit of 2 hours sleep.

Laughing for 15 seconds adds 2 days to your life span.

The Chinese laugh more than any other culture in the world.

A University of Chicago studies show a great sense of humor can add an additional 8 years to your life?

A Stanford University studies show a good belly laugh can give you health boosting benefits equal to 10 minutes on a rowing machine and burns off 3 1/2 calories.

Preschool children laugh or smile 400 times a day, however, that number drops to only 15 times a day by the time people reach age 35?

Fortune 500 companies such as IBM, AT&T, Lockheed, Aircraft, Kodak, Ford Motor Company, General Electric, Southwest Airlines, Bank of America and many others have adopted "humor" into their workplaces as a tool to increase morale and improve the bottom line.

Happy laughing!