CRACK A SMILE By: Patsy Weiser
Laughter - some of the best medicine we can take, and it doesn’t cost a dime.
Studies have proven the health benefits of a hearty laugh each day. If we could bottle a belly laugh, the result would be a super-drug capable of curing everything from depression to heart disease and cancer. Here are just some of the benefits of laughter.
Laughter increases the body’s flow of beneficial compounds, many of them with disease-preventing properties.
Laughter is an aerobic exercise for the internal organs of our body.
Laughter helps boost the immune system by flooding the brain with disease-fighting cells and proteins.
Laughter increases the body’s ability to utilize oxygen.
Laughter helps control pain, lowers blood pressure, and relieves stress.
It is exciting when science and medical research confirms what God already told us in His Word. In Proverbs 17:22 it says, “A merry heart does good, like medicine. But a broken spirit dries the bones.” (The New King James Version)
We should quit taking ourselves and everyday circumstances so seriously. Granted, we all have troubles and problems. However, if we try really hard, we can usually find some humor in most situations. Children laugh approximately 400 times a day. Adults only laugh about 15 times a day. What happens between childhood and adulthood? We all have choices to make. Will we let that problem get the best of us and steal our joy, or will we take a dose of laughter and reap the benefits?
This article was published in the Nov/Dec 2007 issue of Wild Boar USA magazine.