MICDS
LAUGHTER MEDICINE
IS
THE
BEST
11/24/09
Volume 1, Issue 1
(6)
BENEFITS
SPECIAL POINTS OF INTEREST: How Laughter is Beneficial to Overall Health Why we Laugh Differences In People and What they Find Funny Interesting and Surprising Facts About Laughing and Humor
INSIDE ISSUE:
THIS
Benefits of Laughter
1
Why Do We Laugh?
2
What Do We Find
3
Adults vs. Kids
4
Physiology of Laugh-
5
Fun Facts of Laugh-
6
ter
OF
LAUGHTER
Many people do not realize it, but laughter can be very beneficial to all aspects of someone’s health. Therefore, it is essential to have a good sense of humor these days, with all of the stress over the economy. Laughing has many effects on the mental health of someone. For example, it relieves stress and improves the mood of someone. This is one of the main reasons of why people who are studying for an upcoming exam are better off laughing, so that some of their building stress can be relieved. It is easier to take an exam while one is well-relaxed, because focusing on the task at hand becomes essential in succeeding.
WHY
DO
WE
Another thing that laughing can help with mentally is that it allows you to relax and recharge, getting ready for the next day.(6) Laughing also plays a major role in physical health. It boosts the immunity, which helps keep one healthy and without sickness or illness. (6) A good sense of humor can also temporarily decrease pain that one has, and it relaxes muscles. (6) Laughing before a big game can help, because muscles tend to get tense before something important, and laughing would aid in the relaxing of these muscles. Perhaps the most important thing that laughing can bring to physical health is the pre-
vention of heart disease. (6) Heart disease is a leading cause of death in America, and so it is important to take all steps possible to protect your heart. There have been cases where nurses have been talked to who believe that the patient who they were caring for only survived because of a good sense of humor. Talk to your friends and educate them about the benefits of humor, as they are very important.
LAUGH?
Sure, it may be important that we laugh daily, but why do we laugh? Well, we do not laugh consciously. (3) This explains why it is so hard to fake laugh, and why it is hard to control when we laugh. Little is known about the specific controls that the brain uses to make
us laugh, although we do know that it requires many things to happen, and that we have many thoughts and sensations involved with laughing. Every time we laugh, muscles from all over the body are used, even the arms and legs. We also do know that
laughter is contagious, and that people laugh at the sound of other people laughing. (3) We can also only laugh during pauses, and not while speaking. (3) Scientists believed that laughing evolved from the panting noise that monkeys and apes make when they are being tickled, and that we picked this trait up.