Wednesday, March 02, 2005
the best medicine
Not to make this into a health blog, but I got this little article from a mailing list I'm on (a groovy fun site called Our Lady of Weightloss...check it out!) and I thought a lot of you would be interested in reading it. It's about the health benefits of laughter:
"Kids laugh on average, 400 times a day, while adults get in just 15 chuckles.
Laughing 100 times is the equivalent to a 10 minute workout on the rowing machine
or 15 minutes on an exercise bike!
Laughter is made up of a series of short vowel-like sounds repeated every 210 milliseconds (one thousandth of a second). Laughter almost always occurs during a pause at the end of a phrase or at the end of the sentence. You can either laugh in the "ho-ho-ho" style or the "ha-ha-ha" style but you can't mix the two. Humor and laughter are two different things and up to 80% of laughter is not in response to a joke! Women laugh 126% more often than men (Are you surprised?). And there is evidence that laughter is medically beneficial.
Suffering from a collagen disease, Norman Cousins checked into a hotel room and watched one funny movie after another. He laughed! Mr. Cousins found that ten minutes of really big laughs gave him two pain-free hours of sleep. And he also found that laughter, in time, cured his disease. How amazing is that? (Very!)
Laughter makes us feel good both physiologically and psychologically.
Is it believed that LAUGHTER ~
* Reduces levels of certain stress hormones.
* Boosts the immune system by stimulating the thymus gland.
* May lead to hiccupping but will dislodge mucus plugs from the respiratory tract! (How attractive!)
* Gives you a full body workout (works the diaphragm and abdominal, respiratory, facial and back muscles).
* Ever feel exhausted after the giggles? You just had an aerobic workout. (My kind of exercise!)
* Gets those positive endorphins pumping! Laughter invokes feelings of happiness and joy!
* Promotes creative thoughts.
* Stimulates both sides of the brain.
* Creates bonding with your fellow human. Robert Provine, a neuroscientist at the University of Maryland, has studied laughter for more than a decade. Provine found that we laugh 30 times more often in social situations than when hanging solo. Nothing better than a shared laugh!
Laughter is contagious. Spread it wide and far! "
On that note, let me know if you have anything that will make us all laugh! Be it a link or joke or amusing anecdote. Or you could let Tim know...as he is a new contributor to this little blog!
"Kids laugh on average, 400 times a day, while adults get in just 15 chuckles.
Laughing 100 times is the equivalent to a 10 minute workout on the rowing machine
or 15 minutes on an exercise bike!
Laughter is made up of a series of short vowel-like sounds repeated every 210 milliseconds (one thousandth of a second). Laughter almost always occurs during a pause at the end of a phrase or at the end of the sentence. You can either laugh in the "ho-ho-ho" style or the "ha-ha-ha" style but you can't mix the two. Humor and laughter are two different things and up to 80% of laughter is not in response to a joke! Women laugh 126% more often than men (Are you surprised?). And there is evidence that laughter is medically beneficial.
Suffering from a collagen disease, Norman Cousins checked into a hotel room and watched one funny movie after another. He laughed! Mr. Cousins found that ten minutes of really big laughs gave him two pain-free hours of sleep. And he also found that laughter, in time, cured his disease. How amazing is that? (Very!)
Laughter makes us feel good both physiologically and psychologically.
Is it believed that LAUGHTER ~
* Reduces levels of certain stress hormones.
* Boosts the immune system by stimulating the thymus gland.
* May lead to hiccupping but will dislodge mucus plugs from the respiratory tract! (How attractive!)
* Gives you a full body workout (works the diaphragm and abdominal, respiratory, facial and back muscles).
* Ever feel exhausted after the giggles? You just had an aerobic workout. (My kind of exercise!)
* Gets those positive endorphins pumping! Laughter invokes feelings of happiness and joy!
* Promotes creative thoughts.
* Stimulates both sides of the brain.
* Creates bonding with your fellow human. Robert Provine, a neuroscientist at the University of Maryland, has studied laughter for more than a decade. Provine found that we laugh 30 times more often in social situations than when hanging solo. Nothing better than a shared laugh!
Laughter is contagious. Spread it wide and far! "
On that note, let me know if you have anything that will make us all laugh! Be it a link or joke or amusing anecdote. Or you could let Tim know...as he is a new contributor to this little blog!
# posted by ironstef @ 11:42 AM 
