Applied Food Science and Nutrition
PBPN
A good LAUGH not only feels GREAT, but also relieves your stress and boosts your immunity.
Let Food be your medicine. AND lets us all tell you more about the relationship between
LAUGH + STRESS + IMMUNE SYSTEM RESPONSE + DIETARY FACTORS.
HAHAHA SONG! ;)
February 2009
Designer: Increasingly
Resources: XXX
Laugh to Strengthen Your Immune System!
The entire physiology system of the body is related with laughter.
When laughing, one will release the endorphins which are a type of body’s natural painkiller. This helps to provide a state of happiness for a person.
LAUGHTER stimulates Natural Killer Cells
Natural killer cells are a type of immune cell that will attack the carcinogenic cells and it do not require any sensitization to be lethal. The natural killer cells can be in increased in number and activity when it is being stimulated by LAUGHTER. With the presence of natural killer cells, it can attack any of the infected cells such as the cancer cells in our body. Thus aids in the prevention of development of cancer. As the cells in our body are always changing to create cancerous cells, hence, natural killer cells is required to eliminate all this lethal and dangerous cells that may cause cancer.
Relation between STRESS + LAUGHTER + IMMUNE SYSTEM
Stress will show a negative effect on immune system, which leads to illness easily.
When we laugh, infection-fighting antibodies multiply, raise the number of natural killer cell produced which aids in destroying tumours and viruses found in the body. In addition, it will helps to boost the other immune cells as well.
The relationship of immune system and human’s mood
Immune system and our mood play an important role for one another. When one person is happy, the immune systems will tend to functions well than if one is sad or unhappy. This means that,
when we are happy = immune system is happy
when we are sad = immune system is sad
In order to make our immune system to be happy, by having positive or bright side emotions and this includes LAUGHTER can help in enhancing the immune system of our body. Thus, when one is laughing more often and viewing at the bright side tends to have a healthier immune system.
Tips to boost your immunity through laughter
1. Spend quality time with the children.
2. Watch comedies.
3. Listen to Jokes.
4. Watch funny comics
A story of Laughter the Medicine from the Norman Cousins.
The most famous story of laughter as medicine is that of Norman Cousins. In 1964, Norman Cousins returned home from a meeting in Moscow experiencing severe joint pain and with fever.
Moscow was diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis, a collagen illness that attacks the connective tissues of the body, most likely due to exposure to heavy-metal poisoning. They questioned this diagnosis with his wife that had been with him, but experienced none of the symptoms. The research they found learned that it may be due to the immune system.
Cousins read of the theory that negative emotions be harmful to the body, and so hypothesized that if the negative emotions were detrimental to your health, then the positive emotions should improve health. Cousins, still battling his ailment, were being treated with high doses of painkillers, which he realized were being harmful to his body. This realization motivated him to prescribe himself a medication of a different sort.
He hired a nurse who would read him humorous stories, and play for him Marx Brothers movies. This proved to be effective, as in very little time, Cousins was off of all painkillers and sleeping pills. He found that the laughter relieved pain and would help him sleep.
In 1989, it was acknowledged in the Journal of the American Medical Association that laughter therapy could help to improve the quality of life for patients with chronic illnesses, and that laughter has an immediate symptom-relieving effect. The increase in threshold for pain during laughter that Cousins experienced has been confirmed in laboratory studies. Since Norman Cousins declared that he "laughed himself out of" a deadly disease, scientists have theorized that laughter has the ability to strengthen the human immune system.
As quoted from the Norman Cousins, “Hearty laughter is a good way to jog internally without having to go outdoors.” There are so many ways to boost your immune system and by laughing, it is the simplest way to do so. Laughter is indeed the best remedy. So, laugh your way to a healthy life!!
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References:
http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/biology/b103/f01/web2/chew.html
http://www.laughsupportsystem.com/humorhealing.html
http://www.distanthealer.co.uk/laughter-CD.htm
http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/biology/b103/f01/web2/chew.html
