1andonly's blog

Health benefits of laughter
By Debra Antico



Have you ever felt better after a good laugh? That’s partly because laughter has medical benefits that have been proven by patients as well as medical professionals. It relieves and reverses everything from chronic pain to cancer. It increases the number of natural killer cells that attack vital infected cells and some types of cancer tumor cells.

Laughter increases gamma interferon which tells various components of the immune system to “turn on.”

Those exposed to humor had lower epinephrine then those who had not. Laughter is also aerobic and increases the bodies ability to use oxygen.

Laughter can also aide in the treatment after surgery in conjunction of medication BUT should in no way replace it.

There are several benefits of laughter which are :

A It’s free

B There’s no known side effects

Still not convinced?

Belly laughing results in muscle relaxation and those that are not involved in the laughing relax and those that are involve soon relax after you’ve stopped laughing.

Laughter reduces hormone levels associated with stress.

Humor also allows a person to forget the aches and pains from such things as arthritis, cancer, cramps and other ailments .

Woman seem to benefit more then men in the prevention of hypertension but men don’t stop laughing it helps you too!

Last but not least, belly laughing empties your lungs of air resulting in a cleansing effect; Similar to deep breathing. Especially beneficial for those who suffer from emphysema and or other respatory ailments.

Medical benefit research~

Despite the development of new fangled imaging machines like MRI’s and DET’s scans, neuroscientists still have little idea what’s happening in our brain when we laugh. Certainly the brain stem plays a role .What is most significant about this wave is that it carpets our entire cerebral cortex rather then focusing on one spot.

According to one study by psychologists Herbert Lefcourt Ph.D of the University of Waterloo, and Rod Martian, Ph.D at the University of Western Ontario, “Stressed out folks with a strong sense of humor became less depressed and anxious then those whose sense of humor is less well developed.

Researchers at west Chester University of Pennsylvania found that students who used humor as a coping mechanism were more likely to be in a positive mood.

According to John Morreall P.H.D present of HUMORWORKS seminars in Tampa Florida says “After you laugh you go into a relaxed state. Your blood pressure and heart rate drop below. So your profoundly relaxed. Laughter also indirectly stimulates endorphins the brains natural painkillers.

Richman believes that psychologically connecting us to other. Laughter counteracts feelings of alienation a major factor in depression and suicide”