Laughter

Children, on an averge, laugh 200 times a day. Adults laugh 15 - 18 times a day.

That is a pretty strong statistic. Laughter is healthy for us. According to the Discovery Health Website, when we laugh, "natural killer cells which destroy tumours and viruses increase, along with Gamma-interferon (a disease-fighting protein), T-cells (important for our immune system) and B-cells (which make disease-fighting antibodies). As well as lowering blood pressure, laughter increases oxygen in the blood, which also encourages healing."

So why don't we just laugh more as adults?? It is good for us. When something is good for us, we can endulge. Like eating healthy foods or getting more exercise. But sometimes we are lazy and just grab the first thing we can for our lunch or skip the gym because we are too tired from work or our long commutes in the traffic.

But laughter . . . it is readily available. We can chat with our office mates and tell a funny story or tickle our children and end up laughing ourselves or watch a television show that is a comedy.

Sounds good, but you can't force a laugh. Then it isn't the same thing. Or can you?

Last night I was watching "Dancing with the Stars" and they were talking about Harry Hamlin. They said that last week he was stiff and needed to loosen up. So they hired a "Laughter Yogi" to work with him and his dance partner.

They show them standing on yoga mats taking turns saying, "ha ha." They went around a few times, changing the delivery of the sound of the "ha" and by the second or third time, they were rolling on the floor hysterically laughing.

That reminded me of the game we used to play as children where we would place our heads on each other's stomachs and go around the circle one at a time saying, Ha." By the third or fourth person we were all laughing so hard we had to abandon the game.

Maybe we should all force a bit of laughter into our lives. It feels so good when you stop laughing.

Sometimes I start to giggle and then laugh when I am with my family. Then know the signs. Sometimes I just can't stop and the tears start to roll down my face and my stomach muscles get sore. But the laughing keeps on going. Anything can set it off again. Sometimes if I think about that situation the next day at work . . . I can start laughing for no reason.

So, go on and get out there and laugh. It is free, easy and healthy for you. Besides, it is just plain fun.

Here is a photo of me laughing at work with one of my colleagues!