More Benefits of Laughing

Some gelotology (study of laughing) findings have shown laughter produces some of the same positive effects as exercise. In fact, laughing intensely for an hour can burn as many calories as lifting weights for 30 minutes.
Researchers had 300 volunteers watch clips from either a stressful movie “Saving Private Ryan” or a comedy “There’s Something About Mary”. In addition to the difference in audible laughs, results showed a 30 to 40 percent increase in diameter of the heart’s blood vessels during funny scenes compared to tense ones. Those changes to blood vessel dilation are similar to what happens during exercise

Laughing exercises several muscles in the body, including the abdomen, back, shoulders, and 15 facial muscles. In another recent study at Oxford University, scientists tested the correlation between laughter and decreased pain threshold on a group of volunteer subjects.  Researchers demonstrated that pain thresholds of volunteers would increase after watching comedic videos, but not after viewing boring documentaries.

Laughter is a powerful antidote to stress, pain, and conflict. Nothing works faster or more dependably to bring your mind and body back into balance than a good laugh. Humor lightens your burdens, inspires hopes, connects you to others, and keeps you grounded, focused, and alert. It also helps to release anger and be more forgiving.

The ability to laugh easily and frequently is a tremendous resource for surmounting problems, enhancing relationships, and supporting both physical and emotional health.

One of the benefits of laughter is that it can help you tone abs. When laughing, the stomach muscles expand and contract, similar to when you intentionally exercise your abs.

Laughter is also a great cardio workout, especially for those who are incapable of doing other physical activity due to injury or illness. It gets your heart pumping and burns a similar amount of calories per hour as walking at a slow to moderate pace.

Endorphins are the body’s natural painkillers. Laughing releases endorphins, which can help ease chronic pain and make you feel better.

Laughter can increase your overall sense of well-being. Doctors have found that people who have a positive outlook on life tend to fight diseases better than people who tend to be more negative. Laugh and live longer. . . and happier.

Six Benefits of Laughter

Laughter increases a sense of well being and doctors find that people who have a positive outlook on life tend to fight diseases better than negative people. Laugh a little or laugh a lot, it is all good.

1. Laughing lowers blood pressure, which reduces risk of strokes and heart attacks.
2. It reduces stress hormone levels and cuts the anxiety and stress impacting your body.
3. It tones your abs by expanding and contracting stomach muscles.
4. It improves cardiac health and burns a similar amount of calories per hour as walking at a slow to moderate pace.
5. It boosts T cells to help you fight off sickness.
6. Laughing triggers the release of endorphins, which can help ease chronic pain and make you feel good all over.

More About Laughter

Here is more good news to smile about this year. A recent study found that groups that either watched or participated in comedy felt less pain than their peers, who watched a documentary. People who laughed more had an even higher pain threshold than those who only had a few giggles. Chuckling with others also increased laughter's positive impact. People are 30 times more likely to laugh in a group than alone.

Laughing triggers endorphins, neurotransmitters produced by the pituitary gland and hypothalamus, which spark a feeling of comfort similar to what occurs when someone takes an opiate. Love, excitement, spicy foods, orgasms, exercise, and pain all cause the brain to produce endorphins, which also provide an analgesic effect.

Wordology, Duchenne Smile

While conducting research on the physiology of facial expressions in the mid-19th century, Guillaume-Benjamin-Amand Duchenne (de Boulogne) identified two distinct types of smiles. The eponymous Duchenne smile involves contraction of both the zygomatic major muscle, which raises the corners of the mouth and the orbicularis oculi muscle, which raises the cheeks and forms crow's feet around the eyes.

A non-Duchenne, or politician smile involves only the zygomatic major muscle. Research with adults initially indicated that joy was indexed by generic smiling, involving just the raising of the lip corners by the zygomatic major. More recent research suggests that smiling in which the muscle around the eye contracts, raising the cheeks high (Duchenne smiling), is uniquely associated with positive emotion.

There are also two types of laughter, Duchenne and non-Duchenne. Duchenne laughter is the type of natural chuckle that people experience when they see or hear something funny, which is often contagious. This giggling involves the contractions of the orbicularis oculi muscle and adds more pain relief than non-Duchenne laughter, which is emotionless and context-driven. Duchenne laughter might be so effective because it involves muscle activity much like exercise, which releases endorphins. The capacity to sustain laughter for periods of several minutes at a time may exaggerate the opioid effects.

Sex Cures Headaches

Endorphins released into our bloodstream when we have sex not only give us pleasure, but also act as painkillers. Useful information for the next time your partner uses a headache as a reason to say no.