Sat, 20 March 2010
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You're having a laugh... it means you will probably live longer according to research by HumourCare.Have you laughed today? Good thing if you have because most people take life too seriously.
But those who laugh are healthier because laughing helps them loosen up. Though it causes the pulse initially to quicken, its slows down considerably, so that blood pressure sinks.
"The skeletal muscles relax and the overall result is better circulation to the muscles," said psychologist Michael Titze, chairman of an association called HumourCare in Tuttlingen, Germany, and a researcher of laughter.
Laughing also helps to break down stress hormones and build up hormones associated with happiness. And laughing helps to increase the immune defences in the bloodstream, including those that help the body protect itself from cancer and heart disease. The antibody-containing immunoglobulin in the saliva, which inhibits germ attacks on respiratory organs, also rises.
"Laughing, among other things, tenses the muscles in the eye and activates positive emotions in the brain," said Titze, adding that laughter is an expression of pure deliverance and total tension release. "Through laughter we abandon self control."
The therapist therefore advocates looking for things that trigger laughter in daily life and activating the laugh reflex.
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