Laughing and Your Health, part 4

There's actually something out there called laughter Yoga. People sitting around laughing about nothing. I was speaking at a health care event, and a doctor came up to me after my keynote. She was from India, and she said in India they have laughter clubs in the parks. On the way to work, people stop in and just laugh. She said she's a doctor, so she wasn't so sure about it, but her friends dragged her there, and she said ya know, it made me feel better. So who knows. Maybe it works.

This week I'm talking about the health benefits of laughter. Yesterday I mentioned that some studies have shown that laughing increases our blood flow, causes deeper breathing, helps lower choloesteral, and raises your body's endorphins which are the body's natural pain killer.

A University of Maryland study found that people with heart disease were 40 percent less likely to laugh in a variety of situations compared to  people of the same age without heart disease. Probably because they're facing that angeo plasty surgery.

And other studies have found that you get all the benefits of laughing whether you're laughing out loud, just anticipating laughing, slienlty laughing – that's for you accountants,  or laughing when there's nothing to laugh about . . .laughter yoga!

So find things to laugh about every day . . . it's good for your health.

This is Jan, take care and enjoy your journey.