A Laugh a Day

I love to laugh, and I smile widely when I think about meeting a baby for the first time and how everyone reacts when the baby smiles or laughs.

Laughter is our most basic emotional response, but we aren’t taught to laugh or even to smile; they’re as natural to us as breathing.

What happens when we laugh? Laughter releases endorphins, neurotrans-mitters that have effects similar to those of such drugs as morphine, which are responsible for feelings of euphoria. Laughter is more than just a sound —it’s a whole-body experience. Within our immune system, laughter increases the amount of T cells, which are the body’s natural defense against viruses, cancer cells, and other disease-causing cells.

Laughter boosts the immune system, so it would be safe to assume that laughter makes us healthier. Some researchers suggest that laughing one hundred times gives you the same workout as fifteen minutes on an exercise bike.

Laughing works the cardiovascular system and lowers blood pressure, so it’s like a cardio workout. It also increases memory and cognitive functioning.

Laughter is clinically proven to make you look younger.

As many as fifteen facial muscles work together to help you smile and laugh. This increases the blood flow around the face, bringing the circulation into even the smallest of capillaries which, in turn, helps to make you look younger and healthier.

Be contagious. Laughing lifts not only our spirits but also the spirits of those around us. Happy people lift the spirit of those around them.

Remember, a smile or laugh shared is a smile or laugh doubled.

What a difference we could make if we would share a laugh a day or give someone a reason to laugh. “Freely [we] have received, freely give” (Matthew 10:8, KJV).

A laugh a day just might help keep the doctor away.

Sylvia A. Franklin