How Much Do You Laugh???
Posted on June 02, 2011 by Alex Saldana, One of Thousands of Life Coaches on Noomii.
Laughing, above all other acts, will improve your life dramatically! Read some of the benefits here.
Stress and anxiety are more and more common both at work and at home… and a frequent concern for many life coaching clients.
Many people have accidentally discovered that simple practices, like consciously adding more laughter to your day, can lead to a happier, less-stressful life. And more and more scientific studies are showing evidence that this effect is very real.
Here are 10 reasons why laughter or humor can make your life healthier and happier.
1. Relaxes muscles – When you laugh hard, the muscles that aren’t involved in the laughing relax as a natural response of the nervous system. When you finish laughing, the diaphragm, which is the muscle that does the laughing, also relaxes.
2. Reduces stress hormones – Laughter is shown to reduce levels of epinephrine (or adrenaline), cortisol, dopac and growth hormone in the body. All these hormones are related to the fight-or-flight reaction that causes stress.
3. Boosts immune system – Laughter and feelings of joy have been shown to boost levels of immunoglobulins that are responsible for fighting illnesses and infections. Laughter also increases the number of neuropeptides that facilitate communication between cells and the nervous system. Since viruses infect cells through the same receptor sites on cells that the nervous system uses to communicate, an increase in neuropeptides at those sites effectively increases the cell’s ability to block viruses.
4. Provides cardiac exercise – According to WebMD.com, laughing heartily 100 times a day provides the same cardio benefits as exercising for 20 minutes.
5. Lowers blood pressure – A study at the University of Maryland showed that laughing dramatically improved the lining of patients’ blood vessels, improved dilation of the vessels and improved blood flow by as much as 22 percent.
6. Cleanses the lungs – The deep breathing of laughter tends to empty more air out of your lungs than is taken in. This has a cleansing effect on the lungs.
7. Improves cancer survivability – Laughing increases the number and activity of Natural Killer cells, which directly attack tumor cells. Although laughter is not considered a replacement for medical treatments, it is known to largely increase the success rates of such treatments.
8. Reduces pain – Whether it is because laughter releases endorphins, relaxes muscles or distracts a person from his or her pain is not known yet, but it is well documented that laughter reduces pain.
9. Lowers stress – Laughing causes the body to relax from its flight-or-fight response to stressful situations.
10. Reduced anger and anxiety – How can you be angry or anxious when you’re laughing? It’s both a chemical and emotional reaction.
Now it’s your turn! My goal for my next newsletter is to come up with 10 GREAT ideas that get yourself to laugh everyday. I want my next newsletter to be YOUR input as to how we can help each other. We all want to be heard, and here’s your chance, give me a few ideas of what makes you laugh and get yourself into my next newsletter.
Until then, Live With Purpose!
Alex Saldana
Breakthrough Coaching LLC
(303)552-4804
saldana0@gmail.com
www.breakthroughcoachingllc.com
