As the saying goes “laughter is the best medicine”. This may appear to be actually true when it comes to protecting the heart especially. According to a recent study conducted by cardiologists at the University of Maryland Medical Centre in Baltimore, people with heart disease are found to be 40 percent less likely to laugh in a variety of situations compared to people of the same age without heart disease.
From the study, it is researched that mental stress plays a huge part. Mental stress is said to impair the endothelium which causes a series of inflammatory reactions. This in turn, leads to fat and cholesterol build-up in the coronary arteries and eventually causes a heart attack.
Although it is unclear as to how laughing can protect the heart directly, here are some of the probable reasons:
1. For instance, when you have a good hearty laugh, your heart rate and blood pressure rise and then dip below normal when you stop laughing. In other words, your heart is getting a workout similar to an aerobic exercise.
2. Laughing benefits your respiratory system as well. After a really good laugh, you frequently have to take in a big breath of air which fills your heart with oxygen.
3. Laughing also decreases the level of stress hormones called cortisol which brings us back to the point on mental stress as mentioned above.
So, how about placing some comics on your bedside from now? A little laughter each day is no doubt the best food and nutrition for both our mental and physical health.
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