Laughter is the Best Medecine



When you witness a jolly man laughing, a real hearty laugh, hands on belly, red faced with tears in his eyes. It brings a smile to your face, or even a laugh, and you may not notice it at the time, but this smile has completely changed your outlook on life, atleast for a little while.

Maybe it made it so that the pile of homework awaiting you at home didn't seem so intimidating. Or, maybe it made you forget the unwanted day's work ahead of you. No matter the situation, the benefits of laughter are more than what meets the eye.

Laughter has many far-reaching benefits. It can improve all areas of your life; the physical, the mental, and the social areas of your life can all benefit from a healthy dose of humor.

"I believe that if people can get more laughter in their lives, they are a lot better off," says Steve Wilson, MA, CSP, a psychologist and laugh therapist. "They might be healthier too."

Laughter is great for the body, a good belly laugh relieves tension and stress from your muscles, leaving them relaxed for up to 45 minutes. It boosts your immune system by decreasing stress horomones and increasing infection-fighting antibodies. Laughter even protects your heart; it improves the function of you blood cells and blood flow, which can decreases your risk of a heart attack

Laughing makes you feel good! That feeling that you get after getting your jollies off sticks with you. It gives you a different perspective so that you can look at situations more realistically, because humor creates a pychological distance between you and the situation making you feel less overwhelmed.

Humor melts away upsetting emotions. It's hard to feel angry, anxious, or sad when you have a genuine grin on your face.

Laughter is contagious, it's true! Just hearing other people laughing can bring a smile to your face; that's because we are naturally attracted to positive emotions. Group laughter is one of the best tools to strengthen relationships and build group, or one-on-one, bonding. And it can unite people in times of difficulty, after all, laughing with others is more powerful than laughing alone.

The gift of laughter is something that you are born with, it is an innate part of life. Babies begin smiling in the first month of life and are able to laugh out loud well within the first year. Even if you don't consider yourself a naturally funny person, it's not too late, you can learn to laugh at any stage of life.

The best way to learn how to laugh is to smile as often as possible; a smile is the beginning of laughter. Start by not taking yourself too seriously, laugh at the things in life that would ordinarily stress you out, then see how big of a deal they seem.

Some things in life are sad, and clearly no laughing matter, but truth is most events in life fall into a sort of gray zone that makes up your daily life-giving you the choice to laugh, or not.




At A Glance:

Benefits of Laughter:
Physical Health Benefits:

• Boosts immunity
• Lowers stress hormones
• Decreases pain
• Relaxes your muscles
• Prevents heart disease

Mental Health Benefits:

• Adds joy and zest to life
• Eases anxiety and fear
• Relieves stress
• Improves mood
• Enhances resilience

Social Benefits:

• Strengthens relationships
• Attracts others to us
• Enhances teamwork
• Helps defuse conflict
• Promotes group bonding

We're Vegetarians, Not Aliens



     If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? We do! So often it seems like omnivores look at vegetarians as though they are of a different breed. Hell, maybe we are; in the rest of the animal kingdom we find that animals who eat solely meat, animals that eat both meat and plant matter, and animals who eat only plant matter are of different species. But humans have always been the exception, haven't they?

     Truth is the difference between a vegetarian and a person of the typical diet is really nothing more than food preference. You wouldn't usually gawk and be in awe of the idea that someone doesn't eat potatoes. Not eating meat products makes about the same amount of difference to a vegetarian as not eating potatoes makes to a potato-hater.

     Just like anything else in life, you can't generalize. Every person is an individual; not every vegetarian chose the lifestyle because they're against killing animals, or because they want to shed some weight. Some people don't lose a pound. I don't eat meat because I just don't like it. There is no other motivation or thought behind it.
    During Thanksgiving dinner, at the age of six, I've been told that I said: "I don't eat no damn dead bird," a mimic of my father's way of wording things, and refused to eat any of the turkey.

     If I had a dollar for everytime I have been asked: "How can you get enough protein with that diet?", I'd probably have about 30 bucks. Doesn't sound like much, but it's actually a pretty fair amount for being a relatively uncommon question. The average American usually consumes 10% more protein than the lifestyle requires, so says Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin, authors of the diet book Skinny Bitch. In my 5 years of being a vegetarian I have never had a problem with supplementing all of my dietary needs.
    After that look leaves the omnivores's face, that look that tells me they are thinking they were just let in on the secret that I am really a life form from another planet masquerading as a normal human, and they come to the inevitable, and quick realization that I am no different than them, they try to convince me that I have just never had good meat before.
    It doesn't matter if I tell them with complete honesty that I do not like chicken, I frequently find myself in the situation where they resond with, "Oh, but you've never had my chicken." It doesn't matter. I don't want your chicken.

At A Glance:
~ Vegetarian Food

~ Vegetarian Celebrities  

~ Vegetarian Restaurants Near You