By Adrienne Weeks. Adrienne Weeks. Adrienne Weeks spends her time as a collegiate speech instructor, fitness instructor and stay-at-home mom. She holds a master's degree in communication studies from Texas Tech University. But there are a variety of benefits that laughter can induce. But it has long been touted as the best medicine.
Below are just some of the many benefits of laughing. And they will surely fit the criteria for a clean bill of health. Laughing reduces tension. And not just awkward tension that fills the air when a joke falls flat. But literal physical tension held in the body. The increased movement from laughing forces your muscles to loosen up.
Laughter requires breath. So taking in more air actually increases the amount of oxygen in the blood. Increasing your oxygenation levels helps to reduce stress and boosts your immune system. And it is also said to improve mental clarity and intelligence. We all love those happy little dolphins that swim inside our brains. But really, endorphins are the happy chemicals that give us a sense of high. Endorphins are produced when you exercise the heart.
So an increased heart rate from laughing will also help you feel high and floaty from exercise and joy. An increased heart rate alone helps the body burn more calories.
But this is not to say that laughter is the key to weight loss alone. To burn a single pound, you would need to laugh for twelve hours straight. But a more positive attitude can help you stick to a weight loss and exercise regimen better. Loma Linda University found that laughing can actually raise the level of immunoglobulins in the body. These proteins help boost the immune system. Research from Johns Hopkins Medical School explored the effects of humor in the classroom.
When classroom settings were infused with laughter, students improved their test scores. Talk about free tutoring. It is likely that students are able to absorb more information when they are at ease. So laughing burns not only calories but any stress that might be hindering their learning process. A UCLA research study also found that laughing helps with pain tolerance.
With endorphins running, the body can ease its response to chronic pain and anxiety. So those who were made to laugh in the research study also had an increased pain threshold. Laughter a day keeps the pain at bay. Are you familiar with that lovely hormone cortisol?
You know, the one that prompts you to stress eat and lowers your metabolism while storing fat? Laughing actually allows the body to de-stress naturally. So cortisol levels decline as your metabolism increases. Now you know the benefits of laughter. But how do you make sure that you laugh for at least 15 minutes a day?
Below are some tips for how to incorporate laughter and entertainment into your everyday. Some people hate their laugh. But loving your laugh will encourage you to laugh more. Besides, your laugh is an integral piece of you. Laughing actually does burn calories, boost the immune system, calm your muscles, relax your mind, reduce physical pain and lower blood sugar levels with no negative side effects.
It gives the body a mini-aerobic workout. Laughing out loud causes the chest to rise and fall and the stomach muscles to work harder which can even help tighten them. Laughter reduces the levels of stress hormone cortisol, which lowers the metabolism and stores fat in the midsection. This means, laughter will help improve your metabolism naturally, which in turn, influences your body to burn more calories and lose weight. Researchers have determined that just 15 minutes of laughter a day can help you burn between 10 and 40 calories, depending on your weight and how intense your laughter is.
That extra calories burned each day from laughing is enough to lose up to 4lbs in one year! Also, having a good laugh usually makes most of us have a more positive attitude, ultimately helping us feel better about ourselves, which can keep us motivated and on track to lose those extra pounds.
How can you start laughing more? I recently completed 21 days of a guided meditation exercise. In response to this growing understanding of gratitude and joy, I was encouraged to set my intention for the day. I encourage you to ponder what or who brings joy into your life and with intention begin welcoming more healthy healing laughter into your life.
We at the American College of Healthcare Sciences are committed to providing leadership in natural medicine. Higher metabolism rates are the key to weight loss. Not only does this increase cause the body to immediately burn more calories, but it also generates an extended impact to lead the body to continue using up excess calories even after the fun subsides.
The ACHS and others claim regular giggles can boost immune systems, calm muscles, relieve stress, reduce physical pain and lower blood sugar levels. In effect, it generates a mini aerobic workout that among other things that give stomach muscles a workout and cause the chest to rise and fall. In fact, just anticipating a good laugh can trigger benefits. The American Physiological Society reports that simply anticipating laughter preps the brain to feel happier.
The brain even responds positively to fake laughter, it adds. Other than possibly looking a bit goofy, ACHS maintains there a no negative side effects to laughter. Laughter apparently is a pain balm thanks to its ability to release endorphins, which increases the pain tolerance.
A University of Oxford study reported that watching just 15 minutes of a comedy show increased pain tolerance of participants by about 10 percent. Admittedly, the show has to be truly funny to work. While perhaps hard to image, one research project discovered that women undergoing vitro fertilization were 16 percent more likely to get pregnant when entertained by a clown than those who did not have the clown encounter.
Laughing is good for the heart because it increases oxygen in the blood and boosts heart rates. It can also reduce arterial wall stiffness, which can cause cardiovascular disease.
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