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10 Reasons to Laugh More Often
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All through history one thing has remained constant, laughter. It’s been said that children laugh more than 300 times a day but adults only laugh a mere 15 times per day. With so much negativity surrounding us nowadays, it’s easy to let ourselves lapse into discouragement, but don’t! There are plenty of good reasons to change that and we are going to list the top 10 right here. So brace yourself, it’s time to laugh as much as possible, for no reason whatsoever.
1. Laughter causes your deepest muscles to relax.
Anyone who has ever laughed so hard that you wet yourself, you know exactly what we are talking about. It was completely involuntary, wasn’t it? That was due to a relaxation of the muscles deep within your core, and that’s OK.
2. Laughter counts as exercise.
You read that right, laughter counts as exercise…well, kind of. One study showed that laughing 100 times is right up there with as much as 10 minutes on a rowing machine or even 15 minutes on an exercise bike. Laughter uses almost all our major muscle groups. So be sure to laugh at all those waiting in line at the gym for their turn on the treadmill.
Find out 5 of the most vital exercises you can do.
3. Laughter Promotes Creativity
It’s also very conducive to learning. Students learn more from teachers who use laughter and humor than those who are dry and use rote learning methods. Laughter is very effective at illustrating important points and helps us to view things from a different perspective.
4. Laughter Increases Our Personal Interactions
Laughing with others increase our rapport with them. Once we have established rapport, this increases compliance. You might find that salespeople are able to sell more products when they can make their customers laugh, and doctors find that their patients are more willing to comply with a new diet if they can make them laugh at their troubles.
5. Laughter Reduces Depression
Laughing causes your body to release those feel good endorphins so you actually start to feel happier. Fake it till you make it, faking laughter actually works just as well so even if you don’t really feel it, laugh anyway, it’s good for you. Read more how to naturally treat depression.
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6. Laughter Lowers Stress Hormones
People who love to laugh have much lower levels of stress hormones like cortisol. As these hormone levels get lower, the body becomes much more relaxed and feels not only physical rest, but an emotional rest as well. See more how to naturally balance your hormones.
7. Laughter Lowers Blood Pressure
By improving blood circulation and dramatically increasing the oxygen level in the blood, laughter is considered by many to be an important function when talking about fighting heart disease. Laugh it up, folks, it does a body good!
8. Laughter Can Keep You Younger Longer
Researchers at Loma Linda University discovered that even just the anticipation of having a good belly laugh produced an increase of an important anti-aging hormone, known as HGH, as much as 87 percent! Imagine how much of an increase you could achieve by actually laughing your head off during a funny movie?
9. Laughter Improves Your Immune System
A study done by the National Cancer Institute showed that laughter not only kept stress hormones in check but that it also aided the immune systems instruments such as T cells, B cells, and lymphocytes work at their best levels.
10. Laughter Can Lower Blood Sugar Levels
As if you needed another reason to laugh, well, here’s another one. Diabetics should really be certain to get in all the laughter they can. 19 diabetic patients who were involved in a study done in 2012 showed that laughter suppressed their blood sugar levels.
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