It’s an old saying but there’s truth in it.
Losing weight can be serious business, but that doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy a laugh while giving it our best shot. A few weeks ago, my granddaughter played a comical “Miss Marble,” an aged private detective with ATTITUDE, in a hilarious high school play. My face muscles actually ached from smiling and laughing so hard! Laughing gives our body a mini-aerobic workout.
It boosts our immune system strength, relaxes our muscles, calms our mind, reduces our perception of physical pain, improves our cardiovascular strength, lowers blood sugar levels, lessens the risk of anxiety and depression, and all this with absolutely no negative side effects.
Laughter reduces the levels of that troublesome stress hormone, cortisol, which lowers our metabolism and makes us store fat around our midsection. (Worry can cause an increase in cortisol, so let’s all stop worrying about the things we can’t change anyway.) Laughter is, in fact, exercise. When we laugh out loud, our chest rises and falls and our stomach muscles work harder, tightening them. We could actually laugh our way to “six pack” abs!
Does laughter burn calories? Yes, in fact, it does! A study done at Vanderbilt University in 2005 concluded that laughter increases our heart rate between 10 and 20 percent, and that 15 minutes of laughter could result in burning around 40 calories a day. Although burning 40 calories each day might not seem like much, it’s those little changes to our daily routine that make the big differences and can help us lose up to 4 pounds in one year. A couple of meetings ago, our good friend Joyce Kalweit paid us a surprise visit and read us a hilarious poem. We all laughed out loud and some of us even had to wipe away tears of laughter. You just never know how much fun one of our meetings will be. At TOPS we look for ways to stay motivated and on track, and having a good laugh usually makes most of us feel better about ourselves, and that can keep us all motivated and on track.
One of the biggest benefits of laughter is that it is completely free and available to absolutely everyone. Wherever we are, we have all the tools we need to have a good laugh that will help our mind and body. How can we start laughing more? Even a fake or forced laugh can turn real, leading to health benefits. Did you ever try laughter yoga? Maybe give it a try. Or read a funny book, watch a comedy on TV, even Google hilarious pictures like Han Chengli’s photograph, “Inner Mongolian Child” and you won’t have to try at all. Or visit YouTube.com (Search “nickxar”) and see pranks my esteemed housemate quite enjoys, but me, I’m not so keen on. When was the last time you had a good laugh? You might be surprised by how great it helps you feel!
In the words of Audrey Hepburn, “I honestly think it's the thing I like most, to laugh. It cures a multitude of ills.” Please join us at TOPS, where our friendly members will laugh and joke along with you. We’d love to see you at our meetings, where we often play games and enjoy other fun ways of encouraging one another. We meet every Wednesday morning at the Community Centre, from 9:00 to 10:00. We’re a low-cost, international self-help program that welcomes everyone. Check out our website at www.tops.org. (Our first visit is free.) If you want to join us, please call .
Submitted by Amber Harvey
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