The Readers Digest magazine has a section dedicated to medical jokes that is called "Laughter is the Best Medicine", and we all know how great we feel after a good belly laugh - that laugh that comes from deep within where you roar with laughter until your sides ache and you feel like you cannot possibly laugh anymore.

Laughter truly does have a profound healing effect on our bodies, both mentally and physically.

We begin to laugh when we are 10 weeks old and by age four we laugh every four minutes. However, by age 50 we can consider ourselves lucky if we laugh 15 times in a day.
Laughter helps to boost our immune system and reduces the production of stress hormones in our bodies. When we laugh we release endorphins, which help to reduce pain. It also boosts the production of serotonin, which is a natural anti-depressant.

A good belly laugh gives our digestive tract an excellent internal massage and increases the blood flow to all organs in our belly. Our lung capacity increases, which enhances the supply of blood to our active body while enriching it with plenty of oxygen. It helps us sleep better as it is good for our throat and the muscles of the soft palate in our mouth.

More than 70 per cent of the maladies of modern-day living can be attributed to the effects of stress on our body. Heart disease, high blood pressure, insomnia, headaches, anxiety, depression, the list goes on. While we may not be able to completely eliminate stress in our lives, we can reduce the effect stress has on our bodies, and the way we react to those stressors.

Our capacity to find fun in laughing at ourselves and situations was never more evident than in Lord Lovindeer's song Wild Gilbert, where he poked fun at what had been a terrible experience. We loved it as it made us laugh and provided a framework to help us cope with the hardship in our lives.
It has been noted that people who laugh regularly are not as fretful as those who take life too seriously. Laughing helps us to cope with challenges and conflicts, gives us an opportunity to view things from a better perspective and helps us relax and remain objective about experiences in our lives. Remember we can't laugh and worry at the same time.
By finding laughter and humour in a situation, we can make our lives more pleasant and enhance the quality of the lives of those around us. Chores seem easier and we find ourselves less tense and less likely to feel bored, angry or fearful. Fun and humour in our lives stir our imagination and creativity.

When you smile, feel it not just by the lift of the muscles in your face, let your eyes light up and those around you will react with smiles of their own.

So laugh regularly and release the joy that laughter brings. Find a friend and sit facing each other, as you look at each other, one of you will start to laugh, then all of a sudden you are both laughing so hard that your sides ache - all over nothing, just the simple joy of laughter.

Spa Elder Tip
"A merry heart doeth good like a medicine, but a broken spirit drieth the bones."
Proverbs 17:22

Stella Gray is the Spa Elder at Fern Tree, the Spa at Half Moon, with over 35 years in the spa industry. She can be reached at ferntree@halfmoon.com.

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