Laughter Is The Best Medicine

There is nothing in the world so irresistibly contagious as laughter and good humour
- Charles Dickens

Laughter makes you feel good. The good feeling that you get when you laugh remains with you even after the laughter subsides. Humour helps you keep a positive, optimistic outlook through difficult situations, disappointments, and loss.

It is infectious. The sound of roaring laughter is far more contagious than any cough, sniffle, or sneeze. When laughter is shared, it binds people together and increases happiness and intimacy. Laughter also triggers healthy physical changes in the body. Humour and laughter strengthen your immune system, boost your energy, diminish pain, and protect you from the damaging effects of stress. Best of all, this priceless medicine is fun, free, and easy to use.

Laughter is strong medicine for mind and body

Laughter is a powerful antidote to stress, pain, and conflict. Nothing works faster or more dependably to bring your mind and body back into balance than a good laugh. Humour lightens your burdens, inspires hopes, connects you to others, and keeps you grounded, focused, and alert.

With so much power to heal and renew, the ability to laugh easily and frequently is a tremendous resource for surmounting problems, enhancing your relationships, and supporting both physical and emotional health.

Your sense of humor is one of the most powerful tools you have to make certain that your daily mood and emotional state support good health.” ~ Paul E. McGhee, Ph.D.

Laughter is good for your health

• Laughter relaxes the whole body. A good, hearty laugh relieves physical tension and stress, leaving your muscles relaxed for up to forty five minutes afterwards.

• Laughter boosts the immune system. Decreases stress hormones and increases immune cells and infection-fighting antibodies, thus improving your resistance to disease.

• Laughter triggers the release of endorphins, the body’s natural feel-good chemicals. Endorphins promote an overall sense of well-being and can even temporarily relieve pain.

• Laughter protects the heart. Improves the function of blood vessels and increases blood flow, which can help protect you against a heart attack and other cardiovascular problems.

Laughter and humour help you stay emotionally healthy

Laughter makes you feel good. The good feeling that you get when you laugh remains with you even after the laughter subsides. Humour helps you keep a positive, optimistic outlook through difficult situations, disappointments, and loss.

More than just a respite from sadness and pain, laughter gives you the courage and strength to find new sources of meaning and hope. Even in the most difficult of times, a laugh–or even simply a smile–can go a long way toward making you feel better. And laughter really is contagious—just hearing laughter primes your brain and readies you to smile and join in the fun.

The link between laughter and mental health

• Laughter dissolves distressing emotions. You cannot feel anxious, angry, or sad when you are laughing.

• Laughter helps you relax and recharge. It reduces stress and increases energy, enabling you to stay focused and accomplish more.

• Humour shifts perspective, allowing you to see situations in a more realistic, less threatening light. A humorous perspective creates psychological distance, which can help you avoid feeling overwhelmed.

The social benefits of humour and laughter

Humour and playful communication strengthen our relationships by triggering positive feelings and fostering emotional connection. When we laugh with one another, a positive bond is created. This bond acts as a strong buffer against stress, disagreements, and disappointment.

Laughing with others is more powerful than laughing alone

Shared laughter is one of the most effective tools for keeping relationships fresh and exciting. All emotional sharing builds strong and lasting relationship bonds, but sharing laughter and play also adds joy, vitality, and resilience. Humour is a powerful and effective way to heal resentments, disagreements, and hurts. Laughter unites people during difficult times.

Incorporating more humour and play into your daily interactions can improve the quality of your love relationships as well as your connections with co-workers, family members, and friends. Using humour and laughter in relationships allows you to:

• Be more spontaneous.

Humour gets you out of your head and away from your troubles.

• Let go of defensiveness.

Laughter helps you forget judgments, criticisms, and doubts.

• Release inhibitions. 

Your fear of holding back and holding on are set aside.

• Express your true feelings.

Deeply felt emotions are allowed to rise to the surface.

With thanks to Sean May to read the complete article go to:

http://www.scienceofimagery.com/laughing-may-be-your-cure/

Thinking Positively For Better Health

Every thought we think is creating our future - Louise Hay 

Thinking positively does more than you think.

Believe it or not, positive thinking may be the answer to some of life’s biggest problems. It may be shocking to you but, thinking positively can even improve the condition of your health, ward off certain diseases and improve your life as a whole. This really is yet another reason why we should always keep positive thoughts in our mind.

Researchers continue to explore the effects of positive thinking and optimism on health. Optimism does not mean that you have a constant grin on your face, but it does mean remaining positive about what is to come. Happiness is an emotion, a feeling. Optimism is a belief about the future. Here are some positive effects that optimism could have on your health.

Increased Life Span

Living longer is something we can all be happier about. A positive outlook can influence more than just your mood. People who are optimistic and more committed to their goals, are more successful in achieving their goals.  They then become more satisfied with their lives, and have better mental and physical health when compared to more pessimistic people.

You will also live longer. A Dutch study, published in JAMA Psychiatry, found that those of a pessimistic disposition were 55% more likely to die during the nine-year follow-up period. The effect was particularly strong in men. A longer life is certainly something to smile about.

Greater Resistance To The Common Cold 

Whether it is the result of meditation or singing, having an upbeat outlook will help you fight off illness.

Studies have found there is a direct link between brain, behaviour, and immunity. They found that when a student displayed optimistic thinking, he or she also showed greater cell-mediated immunity. A pessimistic outlook, on the other hand, had an actual negative effect on the response of immune cells.

That means that negativity may make you more vulnerable to illness. So when you encounter co-workers with a cold or your children catch the flu, try not to stress over it.

Lower Cholesteral

High cholesterol is an issue for a large portion of Americans. Yes, diet and exercise are a great way to lower your cholesterol, but did you know that by simply being optimistic, you can lower your cholesterol?

A 2013 study from the Harvard School of Public Health published in The American Journal of Cardiology found that middle-aged participants who scored as optimistic on a test have higher levels of “good” cholesterol. Now that is good news!

Try reading, taking a walk, or a yoga session — you will feel better and your mind will be in a better place to fight negativity, in turn putting a positive spin on those cholesterol numbers.

Positive thinking is expecting, talking and visualising with certainty what you want to achieve as an accomplished fact.

With thanks to Sean May http://www.scienceofimagery.com/thinking-positively-for-better-health/

Make The Law Of Attraction Work For You

Your thoughts are the architects of your destiny - David O Mckay

You have heard about the Law Of Attraction! You may have even read or watched “The Secret,” but you still feel like you are missing something when harnessing the power of the Law Of Attraction…

Do not worry, it takes many people years before they ever harness  5% of what is possible with the Law Of Attraction.

Here are tips to help you make the Law Of Attraction work for you.

Step 1 Take A Look At Your Beliefs - Change Them When Necessary

We live through our beliefs. When we use affirmations, the whole goal behind it is to overwrite old beliefs.

Here is an example.

When stating the affirmation, “I’m happy, healthy and wealthy.” It is trying to overwrite the old belief that you may not be the healthiest or have the money or success that you really want.

So, you have a belief that is not in alignment with that statement or you would all ready have created it and be experiencing it.

The great thing is that you know exactly what your beliefs currently are by just looking at your current situation.

Step 2 Have Fun

If you are experiencing anything that you do not want to, it is time to dive into your beliefs and start changing them.

This is probably one of the biggest breakthroughs people experience.

When we start learning about the Law Of Attraction, we are searching for answers to all the things that we are experiencing at the time, that we do not want to.

So, you can imagine when people start on the path of the Law of Attraction, they are not laughing and having fun as they are using different exercises and learning new skills.

However, that is one of the main reasons why it takes them so long to start seeing results.

Now, you may be asking how can you have fun or laugh when using the Law Of Attraction.

It starts with noticing if you are very serious or not enjoying the process. If you ever find this is the case, try this one simple exercise: Smile until you feel your mood change.

Once you feel your mood change, go back to what you were doing before.

Everything should flow a lot more easily at that point.

To take it an extra step: Deliberately laugh until you are genuinely laughing and smiling.

By doing this physical action, it can produce inner changes that can help release and tension or stress that is holding you from making breakthroughs.

This may sound a little silly but try it out the next time you feel yourself getting serious and see what happens.

Step 3 Be Crystal Clear In What You Want To Create

We all want to be “Happy, Healthy, and Wealthy” right?

But what does that really look like?

If you do not have a clear picture of what you really want, the universe will not either and you will not be able to create what you really want.

So, try to think about and create the clearest picture in your mind about what you really want and what it looks like, to the minutest detail.

Step 4 Create What You Really Want - Not What You Think You Want

This might be a little confusing at first…

Society, family and friends can have a huge influence on us. We have been told we should do this or that:

“Go to school.”

“Get a good job.”

“Buy a house.”

“Start a family.”

I am sure you have heard a statement like this from someone close to you.

However, whether it is one of the statements above or a different one that you have heard in your life, is it always in line with the goals you really want to set for yourself?!

Probably not, because we all experienced this on many different levels and have created and achieved many goals that we had absolutely no passion for.

We can go through life seemingly living the way we should be, yet it always seems like something is missing.

That is because we do not take the time to ask ourselves if the things we are doing is bringing us toward something we really care about and want to create, or if we are just following something someone told us or something that we think we should be doing.

“By listening to your heart and intuition, it will lead you down the path that leads to your true calling.”

Step 5 Be Grateful For All Of Your Creations

It is one of the simplest tools at our disposal, yet often overlooked.

Being grateful can change your outlook on your current situation and open up new doors to what you want to create.

If you think about it this way, if you are not grateful for all of your creations, why would the universe give what you want.

More importantly, if you do create what you want, and are not grateful for the whole process and journey, then you are not able to truly appreciate your creation.

So, take a little time each day to be grateful for everything you have experienced and are currently experiencing.

Then be grateful for all your future creations

With thanks to Sean May http://www.scienceofimagery.com/5-steps-to-make-the-law-of-attraction-work-for-you/

Are You Getting Enough Sleep To Succeed Or Fail?

Sleep Is The Best Meditation - Dalai Lama

Would you like to have more energy, improve your memory, reduce your appetite, and improve your life or athletic performance? One simple change can help you to do all these things: Get more sleep.

Athletes, for example, spend a considerable amount of time and money trying to find the right sports drink, nutrition bar, or protein powder that could give them the extra edge during a competition. But an extra hour of sleep each night might be a better way to improve athletic performance than any product on the market! Getting enough good sleep can help to boost your speed, accuracy, and reaction time.  

How does sleep affect you?

Not only can too little sleep make you feel tired the next day, but it can also have a big impact about what is going on inside of your body. Sleep is the time for your body to complete all the phases that are needed to repair your muscles and release hormones that regulate your growth and appetite. If we do not get enough sleep, we do not have enough time to recover. Here are the specific ways that sleep deprivation can ruin your life:

• Decreased energy – when you are sleep deprived, your body’s ability to store glycogen diminishes. Your body converts glycogen to glucose (a type of sugar), which your muscles use as a primary source of fuel during exercise. Glycogen is particularly important for giving your body the energy that it needs for endurance events, so if you do not get enough sleep, you will probably feel less energetic than usual whether you are competing in a road race or juggling tasks at work.

• Poor reflexes – getting an insufficient amount of sleep can slow your reaction time. One study showed declines in split-second decision-making following poor sleep, and showed that subjects who were well rested had increased accuracy on tasks that required quick decisions.

• Hormone changes – some research suggests that sleep deprivation increases levels of cortisol, a stress hormone that can impede healing, increase the risk of injuries, and worsen memory. Additionally, it decreases levels of growth hormone that helps repair the body, which could prevent an athlete from recovering adequately from heavy training and further increase the risk of injury.

How much sleep do you need?

According to the National Sleep Foundation, the amount of sleep that you need depends on your age, lifestyle, and health. Generally, most adults need 7-9 hours of sleep each night, but athletes might actually require more because all the stress and practices require more recovery time. Pay attention to how you are feeling in order to effectively gauge if you are getting enough sleep. Most people feel drowsy during the early afternoon, but if you find yourself consistently falling asleep during the day, you might be sleep deprived. 

While it is important to get enough sleep, keep in mind that not all sleep is created equal. Sleep occurs in a series of repeating stages that are actually very different from each other, but all play an important role in helping you feel well rested. The stages are transition to sleep, light sleep, deep sleep, and REM sleep. You sleep in cycles during the night, moving back and forth between deep sleep and REM sleep.

However, if you are still having trouble waking up in the morning and staying awake throughout the day despite giving yourself plenty of time for sleep, you might not be spending enough time in the different stages. Deep sleep and REM sleep play especially important roles in self-repair.  In deep sleep, blood flow to your muscles increases, which helps to restore energy and to repair tissue.  Consolidation of different types of memories occurs in both deep sleep and in REM sleep.

How does nutrition play a role in sleep?

Nutrition and sleep directly affect each other. Studies suggest that  magnesium plays a role in sleep. Magnesium is considered to be an “anti-stress” mineral because it works to calm the nerves and relax the muscles, which in turn can help people fall asleep. If your level is below optimal, good sources of magnesium can be found in  leafy green vegetables, whole grain cereals, nuts, and seafood. 

Your eating and sleeping habits can interact in other ways. Overeating, for example, increases your risk for weight gain and sleep apnea, a condition that is characterised by abnormal pauses in breathing during sleep. For some people, eating fatty or spicy foods at night can increase the risk for conditions that may disrupt sleep, such as acid reflux, heartburn, gas, and cramping. When you sleep poorly, you feel more hunger and tend to eat more. Getting more good sleep will reduce your appetite

How can you improve your sleep?

Getting enough sleep may be challenging, especially if you are juggling between exercise, work, and family obligations. Here are some ways to sleep better:

• Keep a regular schedule - go to bed and wake up at the same time each day
• Get regular aerobic exercise, but avoid intense exercise within 4 hours of bedtime
• Keep your bedroom cool, dark, and quiet, and use it mainly for sleep 
• Set – and stick to – a time to shutdown your computer, email and television at night
• Reduce your caffeine and alcohol intake. These substances are known for disrupting your sleep!
• When you travel, it is important to give yourself enough time to acclimatise, especially if you are traveling for an athletic competition or are traveling across time zones. If you can, try to get to the event a few days earlier so your body has time to get back on a normal schedule.
• Avoid sleep medications unless a doctor prescribes them. Over the counter sleep aids can actually disrupt the quality of your sleep and may make you feel groggy the next day. Instead of taking medications, try some deep breathing techniques or do something that relaxes you before going to bed..

Remember, adequate sleep is an essential part of living a healthy life and of achieving your goals!

Witj thanks to Perrin Braun  http://blog.insidetracker.com/the-science-of-sleep-the-benefits-of-getting-your-beauty-rest#