THE SCIENCE OF LAUGHTER
The scientific name for science of laughter is Psychoneuroimmunology. The science of laughter is such an important part of our lives that researchers have spent a lot of time studying the effects of laughter. Laughter has been effective in the recovery of illness. Hospitals have even created rooms for humor and put in cable TV with comedy channels. The researchers found that laughter can lower blood pressure, and helps to reduce stress hormones, and gives a charge to the immune system and many other functions of our body. Laughter also releases our body's natural painkillers and gives us an overall sense of making us feel good. Research shows that laughing fifteen minutes each day could prolong your life. This comes from stimulating the blood flow and helping your heart.
Laughter as one scientist said, has similar health benefits as aerobic exercise but comes without the aches and pains you get from exercise. Researchers have added laughter to help control insulin and blood sugars. They don't believe laughing will stop the need of following a diet and exercise but feel it certainly help. A medical professor and his associates have worked for years to find how moods would affect immune systems and illness. They discovered that laughter played a role in fighting viruses, bacteria, cancer and heart disease. They found that watching funny videos helped the immune system fight viruses and bacteria and reduce stress hormone. It is just amazing to think that science has to study something as simple as laughing.
Laughing has been with us since the beginning of time. One of the first we look for and expect from a baby is for him or her to smile. Scientist would probably tell you that the baby that smiles the quickest was smiled at more. You know and I know that is common knowledge. If a mother and daddy are happy smilers you can expect the baby to be a happy smiler. We have scientist that are always going to be testing and observing. This is a good thing and offers great benefits but we know a lot of things about laughing just from observing other people. We also know that when we are laughing we are happier.
A lot of research on children has been done. They found that laughter helped in their ability to stand pain. They found evidence that laughter was often effective in pain management and healing. This has proven to be very valuable in healing young cancer patients. Laughter seemed to relax the children who were under-going painful procedures or who suffered from pain expectation anxiety.
Research has shown laughter with numerous positive outcomes. There are no known negative side effects to laughter. Have you ever thought that you could possibly laugh away a disease? Did you ever think that when you were stressed out that it might lead to a severe health problem? Laughter has been the best medicine for man since the beginning of time. Just thinking of something funny or amusing can get your hormones flowing. Once you build up the expectation of seeing or hearing a funny event your body will respond.
This will be a healthy response. On the reverse side of this is stress with-out laughter. Stress will keep your immune system from having the ability to fight disease. The body, under stress, cannot resist infections and other disorders. This means that your body responds to your emotions or feelings. Looking at it this way, shows us that laughter is truly a good medicine. When you put this in simple terms, our immunity and laughter share a close relationship, and this relationship helps us to fight off disease.
Daily exercise and good eating habits will help you avoid getting stressed out. This will help you have a healthier body and when you add laughter you are really a winner. You might ask yourself, "Does laughter really improve my health"? Does my life run smoother when I can laugh easier? Why would I want to be stressed out if it affects my health and happiness? If you ask yourself these questions in a serious mood, I think you will find your answer will be serious. That is "serious laughter." Remember if you laugh long, stress less, you will be disease free.
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