Arqueolink Healthy News

Jakarta, If you do not have time to exercise, to laugh. In some ways be equated with a laugh diligent diligent exercise, because the effect produced nearly equivalent.

Quoted from ScienceDaily, Tuesday (04/27/2010), a private research ever conducted in the 1970s by Norman Cousin, lay people who have experienced the benefits of laughter. He concluded that humor and laughter can improve health happiness, and conclusions are published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Dr. Lee S. Berk from Loma Linda University, in collaboration with Dr. Stanley Tan interested to follow up. Since the 1980s, they have pioneered research to develop these Cousin.

The result is, laughter proved to optimize the production of hormones in endocrine systems. Reduced levels of cortisol and epinephrine, and this is what causes the stress is reduced. Laughter also can enhance the immune system to stimulate antibody production.

In that study they also introduce Laughercise, a series of laughter that is claimed to have an effect equivalent to mild exercise. In addition to improving your mood and reduce stress hormones, Laughercise can improve the immune system. The other effect is to reduce levels of bad cholesterol (HDL) and blood pressure and raise levels of good cholesterol (LDL).

Affect Appetite

Recently, Berk re-examine the effects of laughter on the human body. This time he invites his colleagues at Loma Linda University, Dr. Jerry Petrofsky. The goal is to see the impact of eustress (laughs happily) and distress (hard feelings) on appetite.

In a study that lasted for three weeks, they involve 14 volunteers. Random, participants were shown a video with a pause duration of 20 minutes each a week to eliminate the effects of the previous video.

To create the effect of distress, Berk plays the first 20 minutes of footage from the film Saving Private Ryan. While for eustress, volunteers freed choose any appropriate funny videos humor them, with the same duration ie 20 minutes.

Before and after watching the video, pressures and blood samples of volunteers were observed. Two hormones that influence appetite, namely leptin and ghrelin have been observed from the serum separated from blood samples.

From observation of the volunteers who watch videos distress, Berk did not find any change in blood pressure and hormone levels. While the volunteers watched videos eustress, blood pressure and hormone levels change.

These changes are, leptin levels fall while ghrelin increases. According to Berk, the same effect was also obtained when people do a little exercise so-called beneficial to increase appetite.

Berk did not conclude that laughter can increase appetite. But observed that this research opens the possibility to find solutions troubleshooting appetite, especially for those who can not regularly exercise.

For example the elderly, depression and lack of physical activity often resulted in a decrease in appetite. This often triggers chronic pain, and reduced general health condition. The same was experienced by a widow or widower who had just left her partner.