Laughter Is The Best Medicine: 10 Health Benefits Of Laughter | Healthy Living slideshows | Well Being center

Lowers Blood Pressure

If you have high blood pressure and constantly laugh about it, you will probably get it to lower down, eventually! No, that was just a joke! However, it is true that laughter can actually improve your blood pressure, and this was demonstrated by a research made by scientists at the Osaka University in Japan. The aim was to find out whether laughter or music had any effect on blood pressure, and the researchers were positively surprised! Blood pressure readings were taken immediately after laughter sessions, and the pressures were low of 7 mmHg. And after 3 months, the pressures decreased by 5 mmHg. So, from what it seems, you can definitely laugh your way out of hypertension!

Sources & Links

Important notification about information and brand names used in this slideshow!
Photo courtesy of Wonderlane by Flickr : www.flickr.com/photos/wonderlane/5778664902/
www.care2.com/greenliving/8-health-benefits-of-laughter.html
http://www.helpguide.org/life/humor_laughter_health.htm
http://www.webmd.com/balance/features/give-your-body-boost-with-laughter
http://stress.about.com/od/stresshealth/a/laughter.html
http://www.webmd.com/hypertension-high-blood-pressure/news/20110325/music-and-laughter-may-help-lower-blood-pressure

Reduces Stress Hormones

This is also hypothesized as one of the mechanisms through which laughter reduces blood pressure. In people who laugh a lot (like those keen of well seasoned jokes), the serum levels of some hormones involved in stress response are significantly decreased. This include cortisol, dopac (the major blood metabolite of dopamine), epinephrine, and growth hormone. And as those hormone levels decrease, the body becomes more and more relaxed, which explains that "feel good" sensation one experiences after a good laughter. Additionally, laughing releases hormones called "endorphins", which are considered as "pleasure hormones" that provide a feeling of emotional lightness after a great joke.

Sources & Links

Important notification about information and brand names used in this slideshow!
Photo courtesy of Mark Grapengater by Flickr : www.flickr.com/photos/mgrap/512697201/

Protects The Heart

As laughter lowers the level of stress hormones, decreases blood pressure and improves blood flow, all these effects concurrently work toward improving cardiac function. And it doesn't stop there: laughter has also been proven to prevent (or at least slow down) the formation of atherosclerotic plaques (number 1 cause of heart attacks in the USA). In fact, the nitric oxide that is released after a mirthful laughing experience can help tot decrease the level of endothelial inflammation, thus limiting platelets aggregation and potential plaque formation in the blood vessels lining. That is one more reason to have funny friends!

Sources & Links

Important notification about information and brand names used in this slideshow!
Photo courtesy of Southbanksteve by Wikimedia Commons : commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Only_the_serious_know_how_to_truly_laugh.jpg

Boosts The Immune System

Ever wondered why happy people live the longest? That's probably one of the reasons why! Laughter helps in boosting your immune system, and this through two key mechanisms. First, it decreases your stress level, and the more stressed we are, the more prone to diseases we become. Secondly, a good laughter can actually increase the number of your immune cells, specifically antibody-secreting cells (plasma cells). Antibodies are chemical substances that help us in fighting bacterial infections. In addition, laughter is thought to increase the effectiveness of T-cells. So yes, you can laugh your way out of infections too!

Sources & Links

Important notification about information and brand names used in this slideshow!
Photo courtesy of TheArches by Flickr : www.flickr.com/photos/thearches/5907960975/
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laughter#Human_laugh_structure_and_anatomy

Improves blood flow

Alongside with lowering your blood pressure, laughter also improves your blood flow. In fact, this particularly effect of laughter on the body was demonstrated by a research made by scientists from the University of Maryland. One group of people were exposed to comedies, whereas the other group was shown dramas. After the experiment, blood vessels changes were analyzed in both groups. The blood vessels of those who were shown drama were more tensed and constricted, and those who were shown comedies had vessels that were more dilated and relaxed. This could possibly be explained by the fact that when we laugh, some chemicals (similar in structure to beta-endorphins) are released, that stimulate the release of nitric oxide from t he endothelial lining of blood vessels, thereby causing dilation of the vessels.

Sources & Links

Important notification about information and brand names used in this slideshow!
Photo courtesy of Tinou Bao by Flickr : www.flickr.com/photos/tinou/334840625/

Relaxes The Whole Body

The relaxing properties of laughter are well apprehended by the human race. This is why some people might jump on their favorite comedy on a Friday night, after work: it relaxes us, and helps us to free ourselves from stress. The endorphins released by our brains after a good laughter are the miracle chemicals we need to be thankful for. They act at different levels: from our brains to relieve stress, improve the mood and give us a sense of pleasure; to our blood vessels to relax them, facilitate blood flow and improve overall physiological vascularization.

Sources & Links

Important notification about information and brand names used in this slideshow!
Photo courtesy of Wiros by Flickr : www.flickr.com/photos/wiros/5828198306/

Improves sleep

The main mechanism through which laughter can help improving sleep is by inhibiting pain, and this is particularly useful in people with chronic inflammatory diseases. The endorphins that are released from our brain when we laugh act as endogenous opioids (our body's own pain killers) and can help in numbing the pain that we feel, physically that is! For people in emotional distress or depression, it has been formulated that laughter helps them forget about their pain by "diverging" their mind towards something more positive. In elderly people, laughing also harbors some positive effects. Based on a study performed at the Department of Family Medicine, Kyungpook National University Hospital, Daegu, Korea, laughter therapy has positive effects on insomnia as well as on improving the quality of sleep. The mechanism in this case is not well elucidated, but let us still laugh of joy until we find out!

Sources & Links

Important notification about information and brand names used in this slideshow!
Photo courtesy of Wonderlane by Flickr : www.flickr.com/photos/wonderlane/3049512628/
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21241447

Connects Us With Other People

And finally, laughter is the best tool to connect with others. We tend to be more attracted to people who make us happy, who bring us joy or bring out the best in us. Just consider spending a day with a grumpy person, and a day with a happy one; who are you more likely to go back to the next day? Laughing creates a wave of positive energy among us, and just like kindness and smiling, the joy it provides is contagious and has the potential of transforming the lives of people around us. Laughter is the only free natural gift that you can give, and will always get in return, because you can never run out of joy.

Sources & Links

Important notification about information and brand names used in this slideshow!
Photo courtesy of Wonderlane by Flickr : www.flickr.com/photos/wonderlane/5351261749/

Lowers Blood Sugar Levels

Laughter even provides direct health benefits for diabetics. Interestingly, a study performed on 19 diabetic subjects demonstrated that blood sugar levels were much lower after watching a comedy than after some intensive mental exercise (a tedious lecture, for example). This can possibly be explained by the fact that just like exercise, laughter can burn calories! When your muscles are active, they consume much more glucose than when they are at rest. Laughter might not help you burn enough calories to allow you to ditch the treadmill, but considerably enough to make you feel good about yourself. It is said that 10-15 minutes of good laughter can burn up to 50 calories.

Sources & Links

Important notification about information and brand names used in this slideshow!
Photo courtesy of Hilde Skjølberg by Flickr : www.flickr.com/photos/hebe/2557221955/
www.webmd.com/balance/features/give-your-body-boost-with-laughter

Another Form Of Physical Exercise

Who said jogging, swimming or dancing were the only few ways of getting your body in shape? You can laugh too, as an addition to physical exercise! Of course, if you try to lose weight and stay fit, laughing is not the best way to do so. However, this does not cancel out the positive physical effects of laughter on our body. In fact, laughing exercises your diaphragm, your shoulders and even your abs! Oh yes, we are talking about those "6 packs"! Ever wondered why your tummy tends to hurt after a good laugh? Well, that is because laughing helped you toning your abdominal muscles, making them more firm (at least temporarily).