Laughter Is Still The Best Medicine!

The old saying that laughter is the best medicine appears to be true when it comes to protecting your heart.

A University of Maryland study says watching comedy boosts blood flow to the heart in the same way aerobic exercise does. “We do not yet know why this is so, but we know that mental stress is associated with impairment of the endothelium which is the protective barrier that lines our blood vessels," says Michael Miller, M.D., F.A.C.C., director of the Center for Preventive Cardiology at the University of Maryland Medical Center.

This can cause a series of inflammatory reactions that lead to cholesterol and fat build-up in the coronary arteries and in the end to a heart attack

Blood flow rates dropped after participants watched distressing movie scenes - and "increased" in nearly 100 percent of people after watching a comedy.

When volunteers watched a movie that caused mental stress there was a reduction in the diameter of the blood vessel which would reduce in some reduced blood flow.

It also released chemicals that may increase blood clot formation and that may have adverse affects that may promote hardening of the arteries.

The study seems simple but it mimics what researchers have long suspected that there is a link between depression and the development of heart disease.

If you have heart disease and you're depressed your outcome of survival in fact can be affected.

So along with regular excercise, experts prescribe 15 minutes of laughter a day wherever you can find it.

Sources: Keep Laughing And Live Longer, Laughter Is The Best Medicine

So, here is your daily prescription of laughter. Watch a few of these videos and call me in the morning!

 

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LAUGHING BABY 

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