You would be hard-pressed to find someone who doesn’t love to laugh, as Uncle Albert famously sang in "Mary Poppins."
When we hear laughter, our brain automatically associates it with carefree interactions. Although more research is needed to prove that those who laugh more easily and often are happy, it just makes sense that the more we laugh, the more joy we feel.
And, that joy doesn’t have to be fleeting. Laughing seems to have lasting benefits even in the health and fitness worlds.
At its heartiest, laughing is a full-body exercise. It burns calories (10-40 calories burned in 10 minutes of laughter), increases your heart rate, and works various muscles from your face to your abdominals.
It also encourages the release of feel-good chemicals like dopamine yes, the same pleasure sensors in the brain that are activated when we eat chocolate and also become activated when we find something funny. Stress is also on the list of most common public health issues in the world, and can be reduced with the help of laughing.
Studies have shown laughter may increase the activity of the specialized cells in the immune system that destroy some cancer cells and viruses.
In another study when laughter was elicited, pain thresholds rose significantly. Laughing seems to stimulate the release of endorphins, which we feel good and chemicals interact with brain receptors to reduce the perception of pain.
Recent studies have also found a connection between laughter-released endorphins and heart health. When endorphins and their by-products bind to the lining of blood vessels, they activate the release of nitric oxide. Nitric oxide, in turn, lowers blood pressure, prevents clot formation, and reduces inflammation.
Cortisol is known to damage neurons in the brain and those damaged neurons affect our memory retention. Laughing reduces the stress hormone Cortisol. Therefore, laughter indirectly enhances our ability to remember. Do you know? how hunger hormones work in the body.
Oh, and one more little diddy. A woman laughs 127% more when talking to a man than when a man does when he is listening to a woman!
So, ladies… LAUGH! IT’S GOOD FOR YOUR OVERALL HEALTH AND WELL-BEING.
When we hear laughter, our brain automatically associates it with carefree interactions. Although more research is needed to prove that those who laugh more easily and often are happy, it just makes sense that the more we laugh, the more joy we feel.
And, that joy doesn’t have to be fleeting. Laughing seems to have lasting benefits even in the health and fitness worlds.
At its heartiest, laughing is a full-body exercise. It burns calories (10-40 calories burned in 10 minutes of laughter), increases your heart rate, and works various muscles from your face to your abdominals.
It also encourages the release of feel-good chemicals like dopamine yes, the same pleasure sensors in the brain that are activated when we eat chocolate and also become activated when we find something funny. Stress is also on the list of most common public health issues in the world, and can be reduced with the help of laughing.
Studies have shown laughter may increase the activity of the specialized cells in the immune system that destroy some cancer cells and viruses.
In another study when laughter was elicited, pain thresholds rose significantly. Laughing seems to stimulate the release of endorphins, which we feel good and chemicals interact with brain receptors to reduce the perception of pain.
Recent studies have also found a connection between laughter-released endorphins and heart health. When endorphins and their by-products bind to the lining of blood vessels, they activate the release of nitric oxide. Nitric oxide, in turn, lowers blood pressure, prevents clot formation, and reduces inflammation.
Cortisol is known to damage neurons in the brain and those damaged neurons affect our memory retention. Laughing reduces the stress hormone Cortisol. Therefore, laughter indirectly enhances our ability to remember. Do you know? how hunger hormones work in the body.
Oh, and one more little diddy. A woman laughs 127% more when talking to a man than when a man does when he is listening to a woman!
So, ladies… LAUGH! IT’S GOOD FOR YOUR OVERALL HEALTH AND WELL-BEING.
