How laughing is good for your health.Written by John Ryan
When thinking about alternative medicine, most people picture plants, crystals, needles, maybe some bugs and leeches, but few realize that jokes, humor and comedy are truly medicines, in their own right. It has long been established that optimists live longer than pessimists, but now there is some hard evidence that people with a better sense of humor also have longer and healthier lives. Your "stay healthy" plan should include a joke and a 20-minute comedy show, to go with broccoli and carrots.There are now various associations and physicians specialized in so-called therapeutic humor, who are still investigating roles of laughter in our lives. Perhaps most obvious of these roles is that related to social life - jokes often allow people to connect and to bond, and sharing a good laughter is a good method to integrate in a team, to get along with coworkers, neighbors and so on. This function is vital from point of view of mental health, since it reduces loneliness and, with it, depression and other problems associated with it. You don't have to be trained in stand-up comedy in order to say something funny, sometimes all you need is a change of perspective or courage to make fun at your own expense. Humor is an invaluable asset in crisis situations, when it helps us calm down and reduce levels of stress (and all negative effects stress has on health). It is often considered that, among patients with very severe diseases, those with an upbeat approach, who are capable of making jokes about their situations, have best chances to defeat illness. So far, there have been no scientific studies to prove this, but patients themselves report feeling better after joining an activity with humorous potential, even if it's just watching a comedy show together with some friends or with other patients. Recent researches suggest that laughter influences more than our mental framework, it actually has a positive effect on physical aspect as well. It has been widely accepted, for some time, that laughter increases pain resistance level, but theory is still not proven. In fact, very few studies have yet been made about relation between comedy and health, but those existing seem to indicate that a good joke may lower blood pressure, improve memory and cognitive functions and boost immune system. Moreover, these results are not short-term only: it seems that a good sense of humor may protect you against heart diseases and alter your biochemical state to a level where organism produces more antibodies. The lack of research in field is due to fact that people have always assumed that laughter is good for your health (along with an apple a day and a breath of fresh air), but little has been done to analyze this in depth.
| | Five Minutes Of Exercise Each Morning Doubles Calories Burned! Written by Tim Webb
Recent studies have shown that if you perform just five minutes of reasonably intense exercise in morning you can potentially burn up to twice as many calories you normally would during day! What this means is that for those people who often claim “I don’t have time!” there really is no excuse now for not doing five to ten minutes of physical training each day. This is in reach of everyone! There is no need for people to run five miles before breakfast. A healthier more focused you is within five minutes reach! Also there are other benefits of doing something physical upon rising in morning. Breathing deeply and moving your body first thing not only allows you to burn more calories throughout day but it also puts you in a better mood as well as obviously going a long way to providing yourself with better health. In short, you will be more inclined to take day by “scruff of neck”, so to speak, and to want to pursue goals and objectives if you are fully awake and energised for day.
|
