Seventy percent of disease processes are directly related to stress, which triggers hormones that suppress the immune system, raise blood pressure and can lead to fatal obstructions in arteries.
Cortisol and adrenaline are activated during times of stress, hostility and rage. Adrenalin bombards the heart, forcing it to beat as if in a constant state of fight or flight. Mental stress can cause inflammatory reactions that lead to fat and cholesterol build-up in the coronary arteries and ultimately to a heart attack.
THE GOOD NEWS
Research has confirmed that intense laughter causes the body to produce dopamine, a natural stress-reducer, which has a vital role in protecting health, provides a general calming and anti-depressing effect and can help reduce potentially more-serious illnesses. Dopamine lowers cortisol, a culprit for fat around our midsection and central organs.
Hearty laughter:
- lowers blood pressure by increasing the diameter of the blood vessel which allows more blood flow.
- boosts the immune system by increasing infection-fighting antibodies and T-cells (natural killer cells that destroy viruses and tumors). Many doctors attribute cancer patient’s longevity to their choice of a positive outlook by looking for the humor in every situation.
- increases respiratory rate and enhances oxygen consumption, stimulating the heart and lungs and aiding muscle relaxation. Dr. Michael Miller, director of the Center of Preventive Cardiology at the University of Maryland Medical Center, recommends laughter as part of a heart healthy program for patients.
- reduces pain. Researchers at Oxford University found that those who laughed at comedies tend to withstand pain longer, while laughing along with others relieved pain better than laughing alone.
Dr. Bernie S. Siegel, M.D wrote in ‘A Book of Miracles: Inspiring True Stories of Healing, Gratitude, and Love’ that survivors who laugh, live longer.
Some effects of laughter are still present the next day.
Laughter is contagious. When we see many people laughing, we end up laughing involuntarily, according to a study at University College of London. Laughter connects us with those who make us laugh by making us feel more comfortable, and thus strengthens relationships. Just try to watch this all the way through without laughing:
Laughter has no side effects, is available for free, wherever you are. Choose to look for the humor in every situation in your daily life…and share your laughter with others.
A merry heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit dries the bones.(Proverbs 17:22)
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Tulsage 2016
Laughter is the best prescription for any ailment and has no side effects. (Borrowed)
See also https://tulsage.wordpress.com/2010/09/18/laughter-proven-to-be-healing/
tulsage
TULSAGE.wordpress.com 
When you laugh out loud, you inhale deeply and your heart and breathing rates increase temporarily; then as these go back to normal, your blood pressure falls, muscles relax, stress levels drop, and your immune function improves.
Everyone craves being needed. Volunteering and laughter are both healing. Combining the two, widows who volunteer find that shared laughter leads to camaraderie. Loving feelings as friendships form it is finally ok to laugh to feel alive again.
As we age, we laugh at ourselves more sweetly.
Laughter makes a difference….
Today, do something nice for someone else. – Foster kids. for widows
We all know about Sowing and reaping
The power of a smile is incredible. It helps you stay optimistic, even in bad times. Share one and see how many you get back….
Saying sweet, kind things (thoughts) helps. Talk positive-Don’t dwell on negative
Hum a favorite tune. The humming will take your mind off of your problem and it is good for your voice. ..a day with Sunshine
A deep down belly laugh is great for your healthy, not just emotionally, but physically. It is good for us, body and soul. Mammals, from primates to rats laugh.
Laughter increases blood flow, improves mood, strengthens the immune system and reduces blood sugar levels.
After 10-20 minutes of laughter, our facial, chest, abdominal and skeletal muscles are exercised. Additionally, serotonin (the feel-good chemical) is released, the lungs are rid of residual air, muscles relax, cortisol (the stress hormone) is reduced and cell metabolism is improved.
Dr. Michael Miller, director of preventive cardiology at the University of Maryland Medical Center, says he envisions a time when physicians recommend 15-20 minute of laughter a day the same way they recommend at least 30 minutes of exercise. Along with eating your vegetables and getting enuogh sleep, laughter is a sound prescription and a wonderful way to enhance health.
Healthy older adults who watched funny videos performed significantly better when it came to memory recall than a control group.
While our immunity to illness is strengthened by laughter, our “immunity” to it is enormously contagious. You can catch laughter from someone else, especially if you know them.
When we laugh we deeply oxygenate our lungs, which is very important especially as we age, since it helps prevent pneumonia, increase memory and focus, and reduce fatigue.
The health benefits of laughter are not dependent on jokes or humor; simulated laughter will do the trick. However, simulated laughter often leads to the real thing, especially if you are around other people. If you make yourself laugh and are looking at somebody else who is laughing, that simulated laughter turns into genuine laughter. Simulated laughter may feel awkward at first (even for the instructor) but the benefits are worth pushing past the awkwardness. Try it more that once as the second try will feel rejuvenated and by the third you will laugh with abandon. Laughter rejuvenates the soul.
Build laughter into your day. Watch youtube video or I Love Lucy reruns or visit with a good friend with a great sense of humor.
People who lack a sense of humor tend to take life and themselves too seriously. This puts people off. A smile has been described a a curve that sets everything straight. A hearty laugh goes a giant step beyond that.
In sales, laughter, judiciously injected, is contagious. Get your prospects and customers laughing, and you’ll find yourself laughing all the way to the bank.
Pleasurable Health Hacks That Actually Work BY TERESA DUMAIN says
Cracking Up with Friends Increases Pain Tolerance Genuine, feel-it-in-your-gut laughter triggers the release of mood-boosting endorphins, which leads to a higher tolerance for pain. Researchers at Oxford University put frozen wine-chiller sleeves around volunteers’ arms both before and after having them watch funny sitcoms, stand-up comedy routines, or serious documentaries. Those who laughed could withstand pain longer, and laughing along with others relieved pain bet ter than did chuckling alone.
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Always laugh when you can. It’s cheap medicine- Lord Byron
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A University of Maryland School of Medicine study showed that laughing on a regular basis is good for your heart. Laughter leads to relaxation of the lining of the blood vessels (the endothelium), improving blood flow, according to cardiologist Michael Miller, who led the study. It may also directly affect production of protective chemicals like nitric oxide, which relaxes blood vessels and reduces the chances of blood clots forming. Everyone should bet in at least one good euphoria-producing laugh each day. Taking time out for a good laugh will lighten your mood and create a diversion fro what can often become an overwhelming sense of angst and stress. Best of all: laughter is contagious.
Laughter burns calories and just makes you happier on a daily basis. Laughing 100 times is equal to 10 minutes on a rowing machine.
It can give your immune system a temporary boost, ease pain, relax arteries and offer your torso a mini workout.
In a study of people in their late 60s and early 70’s memory improved and stress levels dropped for those who watch 20 minutes of the TV show America’s Funniest Home Videos.
Waddle like a penguin as you make laughing sounds.
Clap along as you chant ho-ho-ha-ha-ha. Get your spouse, kids or a friend in on it. The exercise is designed to elicit some of the physical benefits of spontaneous laughter–whether you’re in the mood or not.
Doctors, psychologists and executive counselors advise it. A sense of humor will help you deal with the grim realities of life in a less stressful state of mind.
Laughter relieves as much tension as crying.Look for the funny things in life all around you.
The Healing Power of Humor
Humor therapy can be as effective as some drugs in managing agitation in dementia patients. That’s according to research at the University of New South Wales in Australia. The study examined the effectiveness of professional humor therapists, called Elder Clowns, who work with nursing home staff trained in the practice, called Laughter Bosses. They performed weekly humor sessions with individuals and groups of patients, using methods based on improv comedy — much like Clown Doctors, who work in children’s hospitals to lift the mood of the patients and increase interaction.
Another published study conducted at the Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine in Suita, Japan, found that the positive effects of humor can last for weeks after a therapy session.
As dementia patients lose cognitive function, they lose the ability to laugh and smile, especially as a tool of social communication. But some types of laughter are preserved. As the Japanese study explains, some dementia patients will smile or laugh after sleeping well or having a good meal. They also respond with laughter or smiles when they reach a goal or their accomplishment is recognized.
But those with dementia can feel offended by humor, too. Alzheimer’s patients may have a heightened sensitivity to jokes, since they know that they have trouble understanding some things. While you can aim playful put-downs at your friends, a person with Alzheimer’s will likely find such humor humiliating or stigmatizing. — Andrea Cwieka
https://www.aarp.org/caregiving/health/info-2018/humor-alzheimers-dementia-caregiving.html
A new study shows that we are more likely to donate after laughing heartily! Scientists suspect that a good laugh induces a natural high. So for your next fundraiser hire a comic and watch your donations soar.
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Take time to laugh, for it is the music of the soul.
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We have the same God-given ability to laugh as we do to cry. Even when we’re organized and ready to feel pain, we are saved by something humorous that livens our dark thoughts.
Good deep laughter that springs forth with spontaneity can lift the saddest heart and mend a broken one. The very sound of it sends a message around the world that life is still workable and still worth more than we thought. It is then that hope is still a practical emotion and joy is most probable. It is well known that we can’t meet all of life’s situations laughing wildly –but we also know that there is a time to laugh and a time to cry–and sometimes the line in between is might thin. -Joyce Hifler.