When we laugh our bodies release a cocktail of hormones & chemicals that have astonishing positive effects on the systems running our bodies. Stress is reduced, blood pressure drops, depression is lifted, your immune system is boosted & more. Western science is just starting to discover the great effects of laughter. It is currently being used in some progressive cancer treatment centers but clearly not enough in everyday America. Laughter is the best pill on the planet! Mixing laughter with living is one reason the rest of the world has a much better health picture than Americans.

The laughter movement started with Dr. Madan Kataria in India in 1995 and now there are over 2000 laughter clubs all over the world. Who would have thought that happiness could bread healthfulness? This is another case where we don’t need science to prove the obvious.

Fake or genuine, laughter gets the blood pumping, the lungs breathing more deeply and the brain synapses firing. It dampens stress hormones (the same hormones associated with tumors) as it feeds the immune system. It even works the abdominal muscles and is a lot more fun than doing crunches at the gym.

A regular 20-minute laughter session can have a profound impact on our health and well-being. Laughter is gentle exercise. It fills your lungs and body with oxygen. It clears your breathing passages down to the deepest recesses of your lung lobes and exercises your lungs. This is really important for people who don't get regular aerobic exercise.

Even though artificially producing laughter has great physiological benefits nothing works better than the real thing. Positive emotion can cure sickness! Do whatever you can to explore the positive. I’d start by clicking on www.youtube.com, looking up some comedy and then sharing it with your friends and family. If they aren’t laughing with you find some new friends to laugh with. Happiness is that important!

Yours in health and happiness,

Dr.M