How Humor Heals

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How Humor Heals One way that humor can help to heal is that it literally changes our outlook on life. As we laugh, we have trouble seeing life's difficulties the same way. Suddenly, our problems don't seem quite as bad. Humor allows one to distance him/herself from a painful physical or medical situation while also acknowledging that he or she is in such a situation. This change in perspective is a powerful healing force. Distancing yourself from a distressing situation allows you to view certain circumstances from a more objective perspective, and this can help you extract powerful emotions that focus on your pain or sorrow. In doing this, you do not reject the painful circumstances surrounding you, but acknowledge the reality of your situation - the good with the bad. Recent mental health studies have shown that laughter can stimulate areas of the brain that release endorphins, helping us to see our situation more clearly. The benefits of humor, though, aren't all mental. Humor triggers laughter. According to physiological studies, the laughter, in turn, stimulates our cardiovascular systems by increasing the rate at which the heart beats and contracting the muscles. In fact, one study suggested that laughing one hundred times per day is the equivalent of spending ten minutes on a rowing machine. One study went so far as to suggest that the benefits of laughter reach far beyond our body system. "Laughter reduces levels of certain stress hormones which suppress the immune system, increase the number of blood platelets - which can cause obstructions in arteries, and raise blood pressure," said one researcher. "When we're laughing, natural killer cells that destroy cancer cells increase, as does the level of Gamma-interferon - a disease-fighting protein, T-cells - a major part of the immune system, and B-cells - which make disease-destroying

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