What is so funny?

April fools (April 1^st) is widely recognized and celebrated as a day where many people play all kinds of jokes and foolishness. According to my research the earliest recorded association between April 1st and foolishness can be found in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales (1392). This tells me people have been laughing for a very long time! Other research and studies I have found state that humor/laughing can prevent stress, depression and even boost your immune system. 

I hope some of you were able to read our Optimal Health University handout this month on how laughing can improve  your health.  It had different studies about the effect of laughing on your overall health. In one “study”, they took a total of 109 people over the age of 65 years - One group of 48 individuals took part in a laughter therapy group four times over one month - the remaining 61 served as a control group.  Before and after the “study” these people were assessed for depression, cognitive function, quality of life and sleep quality. Findings showed that those in the laughter therapy group enjoyed significant improvement, compared with the ones in the control group. (I would have like to been in the laughing therapy group).

Now this is obvious to most people, but really thinks about all the people in your life that don’t laugh. They are probably depressed, they probably don’t sleep very well, and I can guarantee they have other health issues. Now for the good part, think of all the people that laugh all the time. Yes, they are happy and probably sleep well.   

Getting on to my favorite research from OHU. They stated that the American College of Cardiology found that laughing for 15 minutes substantially bolters the dilation of blood vessels, “which reduces the risk of range of conditions, including migraine, high blood pressure and atherosclerosis (condition in which an artery wall thickens as the result of a build-up of fatty materials).  They also included a study of 20 volunteers, 19 showed a 22% increase in circulation after watching 15 minutes of humorous film clips. The flipside, as they said, was that the same volunteers were shown 15 minutes of stress-inducing clips and 14 suffered a 35% restriction in circulation. I guess this means I will be watching more comedy then suspense films from now on.

So going back to April fools – have fun and make someone laugh!

If you want a copy of our Optimal Health University handout on Laughter please stop by the office or send us an email requesting it at Team@RoadToVitality.com