Did you know that being happy is good for your health?
Experts now say that laughter lowers stress hormones and boosts the immune system.
To boost your happiness and your health, try these tips from years of psychological and neurological research!
- Put on a happy face - People who smile, even when they don't feel especially happy, can make part of the "happy zone" in the brain's left hemisphere surge with electrical activity.
- Try a dose of comedy - Every time you laugh, you increase the number and activity of your immune-system cells, especially the T cells, which fight off invading viruses according to Dr. Lee Berk, D.P.H. at the Center of Neuroimmunology School of Medicine at Loma Linda University in California. Just 10 minutes to an hour of laughter significantly reduces the stress hormone cortisol. Even one good belly laugh increases blood circulation, exercises abdominal muscles, boosts the heart rate, and reduces blood pressure!
- Move your body and your mind - Even a game of cards can light up the happy zone in your brain. The biggest benefits come from playing any sport, but even a game of golf, ping-pong, or gardening does the trick.
- Perk up your "blue" genes - Each of us is born with an internal "happiness meter" that works much like a thermostat. About half of that sunny disposition is due to your genes. The flip side is NOT genetic and is influenced by life experiences!
The best part about the pursuit of happiness is that it has a snowball effect. If you smile and feel good about yourself, you'll end up having more pleasant interactions with everyone.
Check out the following chuckle statistics!
- An adult laughs an average of 15 times a day, while a preschooler laughs an average of 14 times a day!
- The happiest people, notes psychologist David G. Myers author of the Pursuit of Happiness, share 4 traits: high self-esteem, a sense of personal control, optimism, and an extroverted nature.
- Just 100 laughs will boost your heart rate - and give you an aerobic workout - equal to that of a 10 minute session on a rowing machine, says William F. Fry, a professor at Stanford University School of Medicine, who performed the calculations on himself.
How will you incorporate more laughter into your life?
Barbara Courville is an LPC-S that has been with Samaritan Counseling Center for 13 years and before that she was an educator with 34 years of experience. 25 of those years was as a high school counselor. She attended Texas University and Lamar University. She credits her parents for giving her a structured, loving, and caring childhood. Her mother was a very caring a devoted mother who taught her to care for others as she cared for her. Barbara has 2 Pekingese that she loves to love on and take care of, as well as gardening and being with family. She loves the music of the 50's and 60's and turns to them for pep and vigor. The Lord is there to guide her in all she does and she is learning to be more obedient.