Laughter Is The BEST Medicine

The Unexpected Effect of Funny Movies
Watching comedy films is as good for your heart as a workout on the treadmill and may even help you live longer.
How?
Laughter boosts the flow of blood, according to a new study from the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore. In fact, enjoying a good comedy has the same effect on the heart as aerobic exercise or starting a course of heart treatment drugs called statins, report Reuters and the BBC News.The study: Twenty healthy young adults were recruited to watch 15- to 30-minute clips of funny and sad films that were shown 48 hours apart. Using several noninvasive techniques, the researchers measured the participants' blood flow in the brachial artery of their arms before and after they watched clips from the humorous "Something About Mary" and the distressing "Saving Private Ryan." The volunteers did not drink alcohol, take vitamins or engage in aerobic exercise the evening before the experiment as these can impact blood flow. The results: On average, blood vessel dilation was more than 50 percent better after watching a comedy, compared with watching a depressing film. "The extent of the impact of watching a sad film was of the same magnitude as remembering episodes of anger and doing mental arithmetic, while the impact of watching a funny film was equivalent to a bout of aerobic exercise or starting on statin treatment," lead study author Dr. Michael Miller told the BBC News. Still, he cautioned that watching funny movies should never take the place of regular exercise. Instead, try this: Watch a funny movie while you're jogging on the treadmill for twice the benefit!Why does laughing boost blood circulation so much? The researchers say it's not clear, but it's possible that laughing counters the effects that stress hormones can have on the blood vessel function, reports Reuters. Laughing seems to widen the arteries, making it easier for blood to flow through them. Also, laugher may cause the body to boost the production of nitric oxide, a chemical that helps to dilate the blood vessels.
The study findings were published in the medical journal Heart.