The Health Benefits of Laughter

Research has shown that the health benefits of laughter are far-ranging. While more studies need to be done, studies so far have shown that laughter can help relieve pain, bring greater happiness, and even increase immunity. Positive psychology names the propensity for laughter and sense of humor as one of the 24 main signature strengths one can possess, and laughter yoga clubs are springing up across the country. Read on for more findings about the health benefits of laughter, and see how to incorporate more humor and fun into your life.courtesy:By Elizabeth Scott, M.S



Stress Management Benefits of Laughter:

Hormones: Laughter reduces the level of stress hormones like cortisol, epinephrine (adrenaline), dopamine and growth hormone. It also increases the level of health-enhancing hormones like endorphins, and neurotransmitters. Laughter increases the number of antibody-producing cells and enhances the effectiveness of T cells. All this means a stronger immune system, as well as fewer physical effects of stress.

Physical Release: Have you ever felt like you "have to laugh or I'll cry"? Have you experienced the cleansed feeling after a good laugh? Laughter provides a physical and emotional release.

Internal Workout: A good belly laugh exercises the diaphragm, contracts the abs and even works out the shoulders, leaving muscles more relaxed afterward. It even provides a good workout for the heart.

Distraction: Laughter brings the focus away from anger, guilt, stress and negative emotions in a more beneficial way than other mere distractions.
Perspective: Studies show that our response to stressful events can be altered by whether we view something as a 'threat' or a 'challenge'. Humor can give us a more lighthearted perspective and help us view events as 'challenges', thereby making them less threatening and more positive. (For more on changing your perspective, see this article on cognitive reframing.)

Social Benefits of Laughter: Laughter connects us with others. Just as with smiling and kindness, most people find that laughter is contagious, so if you bring more laughter into your life, you can most likely help others around you to laugh more, and realize these benefits as well. By elevating the mood of those around you, you can reduce their stress levels, and perhaps improve the quality of social interaction you experience with them, reducing your stress level even more!

How To Use Laughter:

Laughter is one of my all-time favorite stress management strategies because it's free, convenient, and beneficial in so many ways. You can get more laughter in your life with the following strategies:

T.V. and Movies: There's no shortage of laughter opportunities from the entertainment, both at the theater and in the aisles of the video stores, as well as at home with T.V. comedies. While wasting your time watching something marginally funny may actually frustrate you, watching truly hilarious movies and shows is an easy way to get laughter into your life whenever you need it.

Laugh With Friends: Going to a movie or comedy club with friends is a great way to get more laughter in your life. The contagious effects of laughter may mean you'll laugh more than you otherwise would have during the show, plus you'll have jokes to reference at later times. Having friends over for a party or game night is also a great setup for laughter and other good feelings. (See this article on laughing more for additional tips on getting more fun and laughter into your life.)

Find Humor In Your Life: Instead of complaining about life's frustrations, try to laugh about them. If something is so frustrating or depressing it's ridiculous, realize that you could 'look back on it and laugh.' Think of how it will sound as a story you could tell to your friends, and then see if you can laugh about it now. With this attitude, you may also find yourself being more lighthearted and silly, giving yourself and those around you more to laugh about. Approach life in a more mirthful way and you'll find you're less stressed about negative events, and you'll achieve the health benefits of laughter. (See this article on maintaining a sense of humor.)

"Fake It Until You Make It": Just as studies show the positive effects of smiling occur whether the smile is fake or real, faked laughter also provides the benefits mentioned above. The body can't distinguish between 'fake' laughter that you just start doing on purpose, and 'real' laughter that comes from true humor--the physical benefits are exactly the same, and the former usually leads to the latter anyway. So smile more, and fake laughter; you'll still achieve positive effects, and the fake merriment may lead to real smiles and laughter.

More on Having Fun: See these additional suggestions on laughing more and having fun in your life.

Popeye was right: spinach really does boost your muscles

Popeye's claim that "I am strong to the finish because I eat all my spinach" is scientifically correct, a study has found.
courtesy:http://www.telegraph.co.uk

Researchers have discovered that eating a bowl of spinach a day makes your muscles "profoundly" more efficient.



They found that eating 300g of the vegetable reduced the amount of oxygen needed to power muscles by as much as five per cent when exercising.

The effect is so powerful it works after just three days.

The secret is not iron but nitrates which are abundant in the vegetable.

These chemicals make the mitochondria – the "engine rooms" of every cell – more efficient, they found.

"It is like a fuel additive for your muscles – it makes them run much more smoothly and efficiently," said the lead author Dr Eddie Weitzberg of the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden.

Dr Wietzberg, who reported his findings in the journal Cell Metabolism, fed people pure nitrate supplements – the equivalent to the amount in a plate of spinach – every day for three days.

At the beginning and end of the experiment they were made to pedal strenuously on an exercise bike while their oxygen intake was measured via a tube to the mouth

It was found that the difference in energy in take was between three and five per cent – a significant figure.

Spinach is well known as the superfood that gave Popeye the Sailor Man his bulging muscles.

The famous cartoon character, who dates back to the 1930s, pops open a can of spinach whenever he needs to get out of trouble.

Originally it was thought that the iron content of spinach made it a power-food.

Now scientists have learned that nitrates are the true energy-boosting ingredient in the vegetable.

Green leafy vegetables of all kinds are rich in the chemical which until recently was not thought to have any nutritional value.

"We know that diets rich in fruits and vegetables can help prevent cardiovascular disease and diabetes, but the active nutrients haven't been clear," said Dr Weitzberg.

"It is a profound and significant effect. It just shows that Popeye was right."

Previously Prof Weitzberg and colleague Professor Jon Lundberg showed that dietary nitrate increases levels of nitric oxide in the body with the help of friendly bacteria.

Nitric oxide is an important molecule which opens up blood vessels, lowers blood pressure, and improves circulation.

Mitochondria, like all engines, lose a lot of energy through heat loss.

The nitrate seems to stop this waste and make the cell – and so the muscle – run more efficiently.

How To Concentrate

People who are able to concentrate completely on the task at hand are great achievers--brilliant professionals, big business people, executives, leaders in the world of finance, science, invention, literature, education—-it doesn't matter what kind of work. The point is that when these people pitch hay, they pitch hay; when they write a book, they write a book; when they manage a sales campaign, they manage a sales campaign. They focus on that one thing they do at that one time, and nothing else, and every ounce they have goes into it. But behind of all this has been a lot of mental discipline, a lot of habit-forming, a lot of brain-building. Let's consider some of the steps they've climbed.



Steps

* Relax: It may seem paradoxical that the first step to better concentration refers to relaxation, but there are many intense intellects who fail in their concentration because they never relax. Failure to let go between efforts is their chief stumbling block. They keep them-selves tense, nervous, "keyed-up" all the time, even when there is no need for it, thereby wasting nervous energy. They find it very difficult to "let go" or to relieve the high-tension by a little natural, wholesome relaxation. But we must learn to let go, to relax completely, before each period of intense concentration. Here is the working principle: Relaxation precedes perfect concentration. All great mental achievement has been preceded by periods of absolute rest or relaxation! During this time, the mind stores up fresh energy and establishes a reserve to draw upon during the hours of intense concentration demanded by the big task that lies ahead. Different people take their relaxation best in different ways, but, whether in complete rest, of play or wholesome laughter, it must come before any sustained effort of concentration. Nature itself requires cycles of growth and rest. Take your breathing spell before the battle.

* Free the mind: Nothing is of greater aid to concentration. In fact, unless you are able to do this, concentration is impossible. When harassed by the three devils, hurry, worry, and fear, the mind never has a fair chance to center on anything. But in your period of relaxation, you have an excellent opportunity to free the mind. Now is your chance to eliminate all mental handicaps and get ready for the race. Not only hurry, worry, and fear must be thrown overboard, but anything and everything that troubles you and disturbs your serenity and your peace of mind. Out they go! You should not indulge in day-dreaming, either, or mental drifting. Practice meditation. Clear the mental horizon; give yourself a clean slate to write on when your hour of concentration comes. And when it comes, if you have relaxed and cleared your mind, you will be possessed of that rare thing: mental poise.

* Find the right conditions: It's true that a trained mind can concentrate under any conditions—-in the roar of crowded cities or the busy hum of traffic, in the midst of telephone calls or a thousand and one other interruptions. But these people are already masters of concentration, and this article is addressing those who have not yet learned how to concentrate. Therefore, it's only a matter of common sense to make conditions as favorable as possible. Some of our greatest creative thinkers absolutely insist on right conditions and the right kind of a place in which to produce their masterpieces. True, good books have been written in mail, great poems written in the trenches, masterly speeches conceived on an express train. But in every case there was a degree of concentration strong enough to rise triumphant above the environment. Otherwise, keep the following conditions in mind:


Seek a quiet place free from all distractions (and noise is a terrible distractor), a place free from all interruptions which may break your train of thought (and a telephone is a terrible interrupter), a place where you can be alone, free from all outside influences (and a friend who "must drop in" is a terrible outside influence), and a place of pleasing environment, beautiful or otherwise, where the atmosphere is right for you. Preferences differ with the individual; it's all in the mind. One may do his or her best work seated in a luxurious chair in a beautiful and artistic study--another may reach his or her highest plane of creative thinking while sitting under a lone pine tree on the crest of a hill. Choose your own place for concentration. Use ear plugs, occupational ear defenders or even both!Solitude has always been, in all the history of mental achievement, a requisite for great work.
Solitude calls forth the mood of receptivity. Only then do we get the best. Great things are worked out in silence. Then come the flashes of inspiration—the new visions. History reflects the statement that to bear solitude well is a mark of greatness. And today, right in this practical present, thousands of our most successful business men have learned this secret...That by getting alone, they can gain new efficiency, and think out better plans for managing their daily affairs.

* Make a daily schedule: Your daily schedule helps to focus the mind, holding it steadily to one thing at a time and in the right order. Following a logical sequence tends to eliminate confusion. It's been demonstrated in efficiency tests over and over again that time and energy are lost not so much on the operation itself as in passing from one operation to another. So in our mental operations, failure to move smoothly from one thing to another results in confusion. And when confusion comes, concentration goes. A definite daily schedule is a wonderful aid in keeping the mind on the right track. It often proves to be the salvation of those who have been unable to concentrate. Try it.

courtest:wikihow