There is solid scientific research that shows laughter improves the following medical conditions. It lowers blood pressure, improves circulation, reduces stress hormones, increases muscle flexion, strengthens cardiovascular functions, and oxygenates the body and boost the respiratory system. Laughing boosts the immune function. It does this by raising Gammainterferon, or otherwise called disease-fighting proteins, T-cells, which fight infection, and B-cells that produce antibodies that destroy disease. Laughter also releases endorphins, which are the body’s natural painkillers.
Effects of Laughter is Studied at Loma Linda University
In an article by The Natural News Laughter May 22, 2009 by Cindie Leonard, Loma Linda University conducted a study that involved 16 healthy male volunteers. The 16 men were divvied into two groups. During the test, the researchers drew blood and they did it again three more times after the tests. One group, (the experiment group) was told that they would watch humorous videos. The other group, the control group, was not. The results between these two groups were astounding. The experiment group showed a decrease in cortisol, epinephrine and dopac. These are all stress hormones. They showed an increase in chemicals that alleviates depression, (beta-endorphins) and the human growth hormone that boosts immunity. This research study reveals: The physiological effects of watching an hour of comedy can last from 12 to 24 hours in different people.
According to CBS Sunday Morning on October 14, 2007, photographer Joel Sartore told about his grandmother. She lived to be 91-years-pld and firmly believed that is what kept her young and alive.
Barb Fisher, a certified laughter yoga teacher reports that kids laugh about 400 times a day. Compare that to adults who laugh only about 15 times a day. It’s no wonder that when we reach adulthood, we are reaching for the pills and are sick for more days than we care to admit.
Dr Michael Miller, director of the center for Preventive Cardiology at the University of Maryland Medical Center doesn’t know why laughter protects the heart. Mental stress impairs endothelium. The endothelium is the protective barrier lining of blood vessels. Laughter releases the correct chemicals to counteract the imbalances.
Two Well-known People That Prove Laughter Cures Even Cancer
There are countless examples of people who used laughter to cure themselves, but two of the most known are about Norman Cousins and Dodi Osteen. The doctors diagnosed Norman Cousins with a life-threatening illness. He found what his doctors suggested to be totally lacking so he decided to check into a hotel. Form that moment, he watched only funny movies, and television shows. Form Charlie Chaplin to Candid Camera he laughed and laughed until his sides hurt. Miraculously his illness disappeared. Norman wrote a book called “Anatomy of an Illness>” in an effort to help others going through the same ordeal.
In 1981, Dodi Osteen, mother to Joel Osteen well known television minister had been diagnosed with terminal cancer. She had been in the hospital for 21 days while the doctors ran every test they could think of on her. In the end, the results were the same, she had metastatic cancer of the liver and was given only a few weeks to live.. The doctors told her to go home and prepare to die because they could do nothing to save her life. This woman of faith refused that verdict and like Norman Cousins, she went home and watched comedies on television. For most of the day, she would watch cartoons and laugh and laugh. Years later, she is still healthy and active in the running of Lakewood church.
Two very different people but both did the same medicinal theory when there was nothing the doctors could do. They literally laughed their way to health. Even Joel Osteen recognized the health benefits of laughter. He always opens his sermons with a joke to get those chemicals moving and producing in the body.
Laughter is the free medicine that is fun to do and has no limits on the amounts to take. A person can never take too much and no harmful side effects. What a great way to improve a person’s health.
