The Science Behind Laughter
There has been a great deal of research carried out to prove that laughter really is the best medicine!
The following are highlights from articles on how laughter helps the mind, body and spirit to heal. You may wish to track down the article and read it in full:
Study Reveals Laughter Really Is The Best Medicine - Pallab Ghosh, BBC News 14.09.2011
People feel less pain after a good laugh, because it may cause the body to release chemicals that act as a natural painkiller, research has suggested.
The researchers at the University of Oxford also think the ability to belly laugh was unique to early humans.
Laughing is 'better than latest technology for leg ulcers' - BBC News 10.03.2011
A good old belly laugh can help heal leg ulcers, experts say.
The Leeds University team said good nursing and the occasional laugh was a better way to get the body healing than using the latest technology.... Lead researcher Professor Andrea Nelson said 'The key to care with this group of patients is to stimulate blood flow back up the legs to the heart. The best way to do that is with compression bandages and support stockings coupled with advice on diet and exercise.
Believe it or not, having a really hearty chuckle can help too. This is because laughing gets the diaphragm moving and this plays a vital part in moving blood around the body.'
Even Fake Laughter is Good Medicine - Richard Morin, Washington Post, April 2003
Psychologists say a minute of forced laughter can help the blues. "Forced laughter is a powerful, readily available and cost-free way for many adults to regularly boost their mood and psychological wellbeing" said Charles Schaefer, Psychology Professor at Fairleigh Dickinson University, New Jersey.
Professor Schaefer also found that self-imposed smiling is a mood enhancer.
He Who Laughs Lives The Longest - London Evening Standard Nov 2011
Being happy in your old age could extend your life, London scientists said today. A five year study of almost 4,000 middle-aged and elderly people found those who felt the most positive lived longest...researchers at University College Hospital London found.
The Laughing Cure by Elizabeth Scott, M.S. 7.10.2009
Research has shown health benefits of laughter ranging from strengthening the immune system to reducing food cravings to increasing ones threshold for pain....
Laugh and The World Can't Help Laughing With You - Jeremy Laurance, The Independent, 13.12.2006
"It seems that it is absolutely true that 'laugh and the world laughs with you', said Sophie Scott of the Intitute of Cognitive Neuroscience at University College London, who led the study published in The Journal of Neuroscience... "The response in the brain, automatically priming us to smile or laugh, provides a way of mirroring the behaviour of others, something which helps us interact socially' she said. "It could play an important role in building strong bonds between individuals."
Children laugh about 150 times a day, adults just 6
Laughter protects the heart and reduces blood pressure.
It takes only 14 muscles to smile but 72 to frown!
Kids smile about 400 times a day, adults just 15.
Endorphins are released just by turning the corners of your mouth upwards!
A belly-laugh brings a rush of endorphins, the body's natural opiates, similar to that triggered by brisk exercise.
A 10 second belly laugh is as good as 3 minutes on the rowing machine!
So What Are You Waiting For?
Go on Give it a Try and Start Laughing for No Reason At All !!!