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"The best doctors in the world are Dr. Diet, Dr.
Quiet and Dr. Merryman."
- Jonathan Swift
We all know that the simple act of laughing can make us
feel better. Humor injected at the oppropriate time can
make a dull and down moment a fun and exciting one. However,
often neglected, is how beneficial humor and laughter
can be for our health. Here is just a partial list of
those benefits.
- Reduces Pain Peception
- Stress Level Reduction
- Anti-depressant
- Enahnces your immunity
- Cardiovascular workout!
Pain Reduction
We can outline three possible ways in which laughter and humor can help
reduce the perception of pain.
1. Shifts our attention. Our perception of our pain increases the more
we pay attention to it. Humor can be used to distract our attention away
from our pain.
2. Reduces muscle tension. When we feel pain our natural reaction is
to tense muscles around the painful region of our body, worsening the
feeling of pain. In addition, we can sometimes find ourselves in pain
due to tension itself, such as when we have tension headaches. Laughter
can cause the loss of tension in the skeletal muscles and thereby reduces
and sometimes relieves pain when tension exists.
3. May help create endorphins. According to The Laughter Presciption by
Dr. Laurence J. Peter and Bill Dana, studies show that laughter may help
produce the bodies natural pain killers known as endorphons:
"Mirth and laughter stimulate the brain to produce catecholamine...which
prepares us to respond physically for either fight or flight.
The arousal hormone in turn stimulates release of endorphins--our
natural painkillers. As the level of endorphins in the brain
increases, the perception of pain decreases. Laughter, then,
causes our bodies to produce our own painkillers. It has also
been evidenced that the increased level of catecholamines in
the blood can reduce inflammation."
Stress Reduction
Stress is impossible to escape from. Actually, everytime we have to adapt
to new siutations (or believe we do) or anytime we feel stongly about
anything we experience some level of stress. If we were not to feel
stress, we may not be living at all. However, much of our stress
is self imposed, coming from our anxieties and by nonproductive worrying.
Having a humorous outlook can help diffuse our anxieties and can
give us a broader world view in which we are less likely to worry
about trivial things. In addition, as we mentioned previously the
act of laughing reduces tension providing us with muscle relaxation.
Anti-Depressant
Humor can help with depression in a couple of ways. First, having something
to laugh at can distract somebody from their feelings of dissappointment,
guilt and lack of self-worth. A reprieve from these feelings may lead
to an openess to a positive self image. Second, having a humorous perspective
implies having the ability to step back from one's immediate perception
of the world and see the world through a wider lense. By cultivating
this humorous outlook, one may be able to see themselves more objectively
and outside their normal negative thought patterns.
Inhances Your Immunity
In their book The Healthy Body Healthy Mind Handbook Dr.
David Sobel M.D. and Dr. Robert Ornstein PhD note the following
research study results:
1. Watching funny tapes of Richard Pryor Live temporarily boosted levels
of antibodies in saliva which help fight off infections such as colds.
2. People who reported using humor often as a means of dealing with stress
consistently had higher baseline levels of these antibodies.
3. People who supposedly have a "strong" sense of humor do
not have the expected drop in immune function following exposure to stress.
Cardiovascular Workout!
When we laugh our heart rate and blood pressure temporarily
rise, we breath faster, oxygen surges throughout our bloodstream,
and several muscles get exercised. Our face, shoulders, diaphragm,
abodomen, and other muscles are involved when we give out a good
outburst of laughter. Laughter is even referred to as "inner
jogging" as it can burn up as many calories per hour as
a brisk walk.
So the moral in all of this?
Laugh hard and laugh often. Your health depends on it!
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References:
The Laughter Prescription -
Dr. Laurence J. Peter and Bill Dana
Healthy Mind Healthy Body Handbook - Dr David Sobel M.D.
and Dr. Robert Orstein PhD.
Laugh After Laugh: The Healing Power of Humor - Dr. Raymond
A. Moody, Jr., M.D.
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