Laughing is good: all the benefits of laughter!
It is no secret that having a serene and positive attitude helps the body to stay healthy, removing stress and related problems, but it seems that laughing is a real cure-all for our body from several points of view.
Already waking up in a good mood and starting on the right foot will help us put ourselves in the right mood to welcome all the good things life can offer us, looking at things from a more serene and fun perspective. In the video that follows, you can find some effective trick to wake up in the morning with a load of energy and positivity.
Not only does laughter guarantee good humor and positivity, influencing the psychological state of the person, but it seems to be a natural medicine capable of preventing diseases and guaranteeing the proper functioning of the organism.
If laughing is good, then we should try to get used to introducing this pleasant habit more often in our daily routine, even in an unnatural and spontaneous way, through the yoga of the smile, as we will see shortly.
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Laughing, according to accredited scientific studies conducted several times over time, would act as a real natural medicine, this because it would be able to promote significant changes in the physiological mechanisms of body and mind. After all, it is no coincidence that Patch Adams, the famous doctor disguised as a clown, brought smile therapy to hospital wards, still today a practice used and considered part of therapy, especially for children.
But what happens in our body when we laugh? Every time we do this, hormones and neurotransmitters are activated in our brain that have the power to positively influence many aspects of our psychophysical state. This can happen whether the laughter is genuine and authentic, and therefore originated from the most primitive structures of the brain, such as the thalamus and the amygdala, or whether it is induced and forced, an activity generally controlled by the prefrontal cortex. As mentioned previously, in fact, there are laughter yoga can help us in this sense: these are physical exercises of self-induced laughter, capable of triggering in the body a production of molecules capable of instilling physical well-being and a general antidepressant effect. .
So let's now see the 10 benefits that laughing can give to our physical and mental well-being.
1. Natural antidepressant
Laughing promotes the increase in the production of serotonin and endorphins, substances capable of raising the mood. This makes it a true natural antidepressant capable of positively influencing the general psychophysical state of the person.
2. Helps fight stress
This pleasant activity acts on stress hormones, helping to lower it in a natural and effective way. This is confirmed by the scientific research of Dr. Lee S. Berk, immunologist at Loma Linda University's School of Allied Health and Medicine, who by studying laughter and its effects on the brain, discovered that it has the power to regulate cortisol levels (also called " stress hormone ") and epinephrine, hormones responsible for" lowering and raising stress.
Cortisol is responsible, among other things, for cellular inflammation and the accumulation of abdominal fat, so by lowering it, laughing also allows us to act on the immune system and keep us fit; not only that, laughter also lowers blood sugar and " adrenaline, the latter harmful to heart health.
3. Strengthens the immune system
As we have just seen, stress is one of the main enemies of the body, this is because cortisol, if present at high levels, causes cellular inflammation and attacks the immune system, weakening it.
Healthy laughter can help to turn off this mechanism, as, in addition to promoting the release of endorphins, the so-called molecules of happiness, it also increases the formation of enkephalins, neurotransmitters with analgesic action and stimulants of the immune system.
4. Raise your blood pressure
Laughing also helps to increase blood pressure by preventing the onset of cardiovascular problems. This activity helps to dilate the arteries by up to 50%, an important detail for fortifying heart health, as demonstrated by a study conducted by Dr. Mickael Miller. Director of the Center for Preventive Cardiology at the University of Maryland Medical Center.
5. Lower your blood sugar level
It is also capable of lowering blood sugar levels. In particular, a scientific study conducted by Loma Linda University in California analyzed a group of patients, who were made to watch clips of humorous films for a year for 30 minutes a day. At the end of the research there was a notable increase in good cholesterol and a 60% decrease in C reactive proteins, associated with type 2 diabetes.
6. Acts on the respiratory system
When you laugh, the whole body relaxes in general, and in this way it also affects the diaphragm, in turn connected with the parasympathetic nervous system. While laughing, in fact, a greater amount of oxygen is introduced, which strengthens the respiratory system more.
7. Helps digestion
This benefit is strictly connected to the previous point: if you breathe better and you do it with diaphragmatic rather than thoracic breathing, you introduce more air into the body, oxygenate the tissues, relax the muscles and also help the internal organs, especially the intestine and the pelvic floor, essential for the proper functioning of the urinary tract and the gynecological area.
When you laugh, the rib cage contracts by 20% and the diaphragm performs a natural massage on the underlying organs, thus promoting digestion and counteracting constipation, as it facilitates intestinal transit. Not only that, this activity also has significant benefits in relieving irritable bowel syndrome.
It is also a real cure-all for those who have contractures in the pelvic area or suffer from chronic pelvic pain: this is because, as already mentioned, by breathing better and introducing more air, all tissues are oxygenated and therefore any contractures are loosened. It can be said that it brings relief to those suffering from chronic pain, because it promotes a general relaxation of organs, muscles and tissues.
8. Increase the pain threshold
By increasing the production of endorphins, which are neurotransmitters present in the brain that help us feel good, it can only have a beneficial influence on the perception of pain, raising the threshold.
9. Allows you to burn calories
As it turns out, laughing also helps keep us fit! It has been shown that healthy laughter can be comparable to physical exercise: in fact, we can burn up to 120 calories per hour. In short, not bad when you consider that it happens by standing still and having fun too ...
10. Also performs an anti-aging function
Laughing oxygenates the skin and makes it more toned, compact and radiant. In fact, according to a study by Loma Linda University, laughing would produce a greater amount of HGH, an important anti-aging hormone. In short, you have fun, you contribute to disease prevention, you burn calories and you also have perfect skin ... do you need more reasons to laugh?
