Laughter, ‘The Best Medicine’ Lowers Cholesterol & More!

April 28th, 2010 - 2:28 am ICT by Angela Kaye Mason  

Apr 27 (THAINDIAN NEWS) A new study which has just been released states that laughter may be just as effective as exercise, as far as it’s health benefits. It can not only spread joy in a domino effect, but lifts mood, enhances immunity, lowers blood pressure, and lowers bad cholesterol.

A number of volunteers were asked to watch a 20 minute program of comedies, while they were monitored, and their blood levels were taken. The blood samples showed a vivid drop in stress hormones, as well as blood pressure, and cholesterol levels. Laughter also stimulated the appetite, similar to the way exercise would. So laughing can be a way to reduce not only stress, but heart disease, and diabetes as well. This is especially good news to older people who cannot get the exercise they need, says the scientists.

The study was led by Dr. Lee Berk, who is from Loma Linda University in California. Dr. Lee stated that the emotions and behavior has a physical impact on the body. “The body’s response to repetitive laughter is similar to the effect of repetitive exercise. As the old biblical wisdom states, it may indeed be true that laughter is a good medicine,” he was quoted by the British media as saying.

These scientist have been studying the effect of laughter on the human body for two decades, and said that the endorphins which are released during a laughing fit are similar to the ones released during exercise. These findings were presented at the ‘Experimental Biology’ conference.

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