Study Laughter may be best medicine

Study Laughter may be best medicine, Can a daily dose of laughter keep heart attacks at bay? Well, it seems it might. So says Dr. Michael Miller, Director of the Center for Preventative Cardiology at the University of Maryland Medical Center. The study was the first to indicate that laughter may play a role in helping prevent heart disease, and found that people with heart disease were 40% less likely to laugh in various situations when compared to people of the same age but without heart disease. Perhaps the old adage that laughter is the best medicine might actually be true.


Dr. Miller stated that the reason why laughter protects the heart is not yet known. However, what is known is that mental stress is associated with impairment of the protective barriers lining the blood vessels. This impairment causes a series of inflammatory reactions that lead to fat and cholesterol buildup in the coronary arteries, which in turn can lead to heart attacks.

In the course of the study, researchers gathered 300 people of which 150 had either suffered a heart attack or had previously undergone coronary bypass surgery, and the other half did not have any heart disease. Multiple-choice questionnaires were formulated to determine the sense of humor of the group. What the study found, was that people with heart disease responded less humorously to everyday life situations. They experienced less laughter, even when humorous or positive situations presented themselves. In fact, they displayed more anger and hostility. Those without heart disease were able to appreciate humor more readily and did not display as much anger or hostility as the previous group.

There are five different types of laughter and each one is different in its own right. Etiquette laughter is the type of laughter you reserve for your boss. You may think he is a total fool, however you laugh at all of his jokes simply because it is expected of you. Nervous laughter occurs in a stressful situation. In this instance, laughter occurs in an attempt to reduce stress and to calm down a potentially hostile situation. Have you ever experienced a situation where something terrible happened to your friend, yet you could not stop yourself from laughing? No matter how hard you tried, and despite your friend's increased anger, you just could not stop laughing. This is referred to as pigeon laughter.

Silent laughter can be very beneficial because it involves the same type of heavy breathing that comes with belly laughter. One would never say so because this type of laughter is one that is used in open plan offices and is perfected so that we can look at humorous websites while not alerting our supervisors to our indiscretions. Perhaps what is considered the most honest type of laughter and the most beneficial is the belly laughter. This type of laughter can only happen if you have come across something so humorous but you cannot help but to laugh. You would literally be rolling on the floor.

While there are various kinds of laughter, one thing is common in all, and that is they all have benefits for long-term health or for getting out of a sticky situation.

One book that I found very interesting and highly recommend is the best selling book, "The 9 Steps to Keep the Doctor Away", which is written by Dr rashid Buttar. Here you will learn how to bring your body back to optimum health by relieving your bodies of toxins. Once you have achieved this, Dr. Buttar will then show you how to maintain your body and keep it working at optimal levels. The power of laughter is one component in this plan, but its importance and more importantly, the importance of positive attitude is central in the healing process.

Source: ezinearticles