Health Effects of Laughter
November14
I’m suffering from a little case of Blogger-apathy. I think it’s this grueling pace of daily blogging. I was having a hard time working up any topics of interest when my search led me to this article on Dr. Christiane Northrup’s website: Who Says You Can’t Have Too Much Fun? Laughing for the health of it and I noticed this statement:
“Have you ever watched any little kids? Aren’t they having fun? That’s because the average child laughs about 400 times a day,” Dr. Northrup says. “But here’s the startling second half of this equation: The average adult laughs only about 40 times a day.
As someone who was always known for her laughter (and sometimes even got in trouble for it), I have a new appreciation for the fact that I haven’t lost that youthful sense of humor! Here are some of the health benefits to humor:
Scientific American.com cited a study by the University of Maryland that tested the blood flow in both men and women after they watched various video clips from both humorous and stress-inducing movies. Results showed that laughter had a positive impact on cardiovascular health by actually increasing blood flow in the body. According to the American Institute of Stress, laughter can lessen our pain and improve our immune systems.
Get out and laugh today for your health 
This is an important reminder. Misery so often trumps laughter. My partner’s strange and wonderful humor often pulled me out of the darkness of struggling with a chronic pain condition. Here’s a post I wrote that talks about humor and how it can help couples dealing with illness.
http://insicknessinhealth.blogspot.com/2007/10/chronic-ilness-and-emotions-what.html
Yes, both my husband and I having a good sense of humor has been a big part of our copying with life’s stresses. Sometimes a good cry helps too, but I always come back to laughter.