« Creative failure admirable | Home | In adversity comes benefit »
New U.S research re-emphasises the need for a daily diet of laughter as it stimulates the flow of blood in the body which makes the blood vessels work more efficiently.
The studies, presented at a meeting of the American College of Cardiology in Orlando, Florida, show how psychological factors can affect a person's health.
Mr Michael Miller, the head of a research team at the University of Maryland, said that laughter benefits the body in a similar way to aerobics but without giving any pains and muscle tension to the body.
Thirty minutes of exercise three times a week, and 15 minutes of laughter on a daily basis is probably good for the vascular system," said Dr. Michael Miller of the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore.
Miller asserted that average blood flow increases by 22% during laughter while it reduces by 35% during mental stress.
Miller and colleagues at the school showed two movies, one humorous, one stressful, to 20 healthy volunteers and tested the function of their blood vessels.
This test shows that after stressful movie clips, the blood flow in the vessels of endothelium was reduced in 14 of the 20 volunteers but blood flow more evenly in 19 of the 20 volunteers when they laughed at funny movie segments.
Have a laugh this weekend!
Posted by Kevin Kelly at
March 11, 2005 09:07 AM