LAUGHTER--INTERNAL JOGGING

True or False:
1. Laughter can rescue you from almost any embarrassing situation.

2. A sense of humor will help you deal with the pressures of daily life.

3. Laughter is beneficial to sick people.

Answers:
1. True. Behavioral scientists at Michigan State University and Florida State University found that humor can serve as a face-saving device as well as a way to avoid losing one's composure when an embarrassing situation occurs.

2. True. Researchers at the University of California examined the role of laughter as a stress reducer. A six-week study showed that people under stress who were taught the physiological and psychological benefits of laughter learned to handle the stress better. Another study at the University of Waterloo proved that having a sense of humor reduces the harmful effects of stressful experiences.

3. True. A recently developed hypothesis states that laughter stimulates the brain to produce hormones called catecholamines such as epinephrine, norepinephrine, and dopamine. These hormones may then trigger the release of endorphins, natural opiates that can reduce pain or discomfort from such ailments as arthritis or chronic allergy.

More Good News:

The very act of laughter is good exercise. In an average laugh, the diaphragm, thorax, abdomen, heart, lungs, and possibly even the liver get a brief workout. Laughing can clear foreign matter from the respiratory system and speed up circulation and heart rate. If the laugh is especially vigorous, it flexes muscles in the face, arms, and legs. humor also relieves boredom, tension, guilt, depression, headaches, and backaches.

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The Bible says a merry heart does good like a medicine.

Do you want a sure-fire way to catch people off-guard? Then keep a smile on your face. You will get all kinds of responses such as "What are you smiling at?" "Why are you so happy?" It will drive the pessimist wild. It will melt the mood of the sullen. You will receive smiles in return. If you haven't smiled for a while, practice in the mirror. That'll be good for a few laughs!

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Things to think about, about laughter:

1) Laughter is the shortest distance between two people

2) Laughing 100 times a day is equivalent to 10 minutes of exercise on a rowing machine

3) The average 4-year-old engages in laughter 400 times a day

4) The average adult laughs only 15 times a day.

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So laugh more. At things around you. And at yourself. It's healthy. It's internal jogging.