Laughter Really is the Best Medicine

    You've all heard the saying "Laughter is the best medicine" - well, it's a proven medical fact that whilst it may not be the best medicine, it's importance simply cannot be underestimated. There are many studies and treatment facilities that have demonstrated the effect of humour on the body, on morale and on quality of life. And luckily you can't build up "immunity" to these natural reactions.

The affect of laughter on the body is immediate. Laughing actually lowers blood pressure, reduces stress hormones and increases muscle flexion. It's also thought to affect the immune system in two ways: by increasing the concentration of circulating antibodies in the blood stream, and by increasing the concentration of circulating white blood cells in the immune reaction to combat foreign proteins. These changes make you more resistant to developing infection. It doesn't mean you won't get the infection, but it increases your resistance.

Laughter also triggers the release of endorphins, the body's natural painkillers, and produces a general sense of well-being. Medicos believe that 100 to 200 laughs a day are the equivalent of about ten minutes of rowing or jogging. You can liken it to having your foot on your own body's accelerator. It's said to be "part of the arsenal helping to fight disease."

In the US, laughter is used as a pain management technique for terminally ill cancer patients. Patients who regularly employ laughter therapy are found to be more tolerant of pain than those who don't. No matter how serious a situation, in most cases, a dose of laughter could help ease the pain, tension, general uncertainty and suffering. Also, laughter is contagious. When you hear other people laugh, you'll laugh too.

So what do you do if you feel the need to laugh? Call a reliably funny friend, read a funny book or email, or, better still, watch the most amusing and ridiculous comedy movie available. The funnier, the better……… Better still, build up your own laugher library, and then when you need a break, just retreat to your library for a "boost".

Luckily, humour is a universal language. It's a contagious emotion and a natural diversion. When everything else in life is amiss, humour is the one thing we do have control over. And, best of all, laughter is contagious, free and has no negative side effects. A day without laughter is a day wasted.

But if you can't bring yourself to laugh, then smile. Smiling releases some of the same feel good endorphins as laughter. And did you know that it takes 72 muscles to frown and only 14 to smile? And best of all, smiling is contagious. If you smile at someone, they're likely to smile back at you! So go on, try it!

Smiling is infectious, you catch it like the flu, when someone smiled at me today, I started smiling too.

I passed around the corner, and someone saw my grin - when he smiled I realized, I'd passed it on to him .

I thought about that smile, then I realized its worth, a single smile, just like mine, could travel round the earth.

So, if you feel a smile begin, don't leave it undetected - let's start an epidemic quick and get the world infected !

~ author unknown ~