JUST FOR THE HEALTH OF IT

How does Bin Laden ensure safe sex? He knows which camels kick and stays away from those ones.

Ok, that was a dumb joke, but the point is, you chuckled; or at the very least you smiled. Your blood pressure probably dropped a few points, your stress level went down just a little on the radar and your body just had a relaxing moment in an otherwise drudgery day.

We have all heard the old saying: “laughter is the best medicine” and experts in the medical field know that this is true. Laughter is contagious but it’s not an illness that you’ll want a vaccine or treatment for. In fact, you’ll want to laugh hard and laugh often.

A good belly jiggling laugh can have many health benefits. We all want to stay healthy and happy. Laughing can reduce the stress of every day living, lower your blood pressure; elevate your mood and those around you, and laughter can increase your brain function, making it easier to get through tough times. Humor binds us together. It creates a sense of togetherness and laughing together causes a bond between two people instantly.

Humor and laughter is an emotional medicine that can instantly turn your mood from depressed or angry, to light and care free. Laughing at ones self or ones life can bring new perspective to a situation and possibly make it not seem as problematic as once thought.

Here are some additional things we can do to improve our mood, enjoyment of life and mental health.

• Attempt to laugh at situations rather than moan and groan them – this helps improve our mood and the mood of those around us.
• Use laughter to release pent-up feelings of anger and frustration in socially acceptable ways.
• Laugh as a means of reducing tension because laughter is often followed by a state of relaxation.
• Lower anxiety by visualizing a humorous situation to replace the view of an anxiety-producing situation.
Some situations aren’t made for a laugh, but they don’t need to be overwhelming either. There is a grey area in life where you make the choice of acceptable or not, but always remember that anything can be lightened up with a smile.


There are tons of ways that you can lighten up a situation. One of my daily “laugh” tricks is to place a bouncing ball in the cup holder of my car. As I am driving down the road I watch it bounce and twist and turn around in the cup holder. The goal is to bounce it out without touching it. That may sound really dumb, but go try it! I guarantee that you’ll laugh at yourself for doing something so kiddy, and that’s the point!

Some other fun ways to bring laughter into your life is watching a comedy show, spending less time with overly serious people, seek out funny people and ask people, “What’s the funniest thing that’s ever happened to you?” You’ll be surprised what some of the answers are and you just might find yourself having the hardest laugh of your life.

Laughter truly is the best medicine. Laugh just for the health of it today.