13 Facts about laughter. How fun affects our health

One of the main components of this game is laughter. Why do people like to laugh so much, and what is laughter so good for our health?

A minute of laughter = a kilo of carrots.

The nature and the impact of such a phenomenon as laughter, doctors have been exploring for a long time, because there is a saying among the people that 15 seconds of laughter prolongs life by 5 minutes. However, no one has made accurate calculations showing the specific benefit of laughter, but some rather interesting and useful observations scientists have made.

13 facts about laughter

1) With a normal smile on his face “works” 17 muscles, and to frown we use 43 muscles.

2) In case of strong and whistling laughter, when a person bends in half and almost shakes with laughter, the body of the laughing person loses at least half a kilo per hour. But you should consider that a man can laugh for an hour at most. However, even 10-15 minutes of laughter may be enough to burn an amount of calories equivalent to a medium size chocolate bar.

Also, according to a study by scientists at Vanderbilt University, people laughing 15 minutes a day can burn 2 kg of fat a year.

3) Laughter helps in the treatment of asthma and bronchitis – the fact is that the air, which breaks out of the lungs during laughter at a speed of 100 km / h, frees bronchi from accumulated mucus and facilitates breathing in inflammatory processes.

4) Laughter enhances creativity and the ability to solve a variety of problems. It activates the limbic system of the brain by connecting the left and right hemispheres.

5) At a congress of the International Society for Laughter Studies, the benefits of laughter in cancer treatment were made public. Patients who are regularly mixed appeared to have a higher cure rate and better medical outcomes than the control group.

6) The English philosopher and doctor William Osler considered laughter to be the music of life and advised to laugh every day for at least 10 minutes. It is believed that if a person laughs for at least 17 minutes a day, he prolongs his life for one year.

7) Cheerful disposition reduces the chance of various diseases by 50% – this is the opinion of scientists at Harvard University. In particular, during laughter the ventilation of lungs is improved, carbon dioxide accumulates in the vessels, which lowers blood pressure. Also, thanks to fun and laughter, blood sugar levels rise markedly lower among diabetics and healthy people.

8) Laughter therapy is actively practiced in some countries. In Japan, for example, laughter therapy sessions are very successful in tuberculosis hospitals. And in Malaysia, on the eve of the session, students are taught special breathing exercises that simulate laughter. Experience has shown that all participants in the experiment are successful and do not worry to pass the exams.

9) A normal child at the age of 6 laughs approximately 300 times a day, while adults smile and laugh on average only 15 times a day. At the same time, until the age of 3 months children can not laugh at all.

10) You can also benefit from laughter because waiters who smile at customers all the time get 1.5 times their tips.

11) The smileiest people live in Brazil and Cuba, and the darkest people live in the Scandinavian countries.

12) In 80-90% of cases people laugh at phrases that do not contain anything funny.

13) Men with a good sense of humor seem smarter to women than serious members of the stronger sex. It is believed that a sense of humor is more characteristic of men than women, and the main merit in this belongs to the male sex hormone testosterone.