We laugh 10 to 15 times a day
Worries, frantic pace of life, stress… we devote less and less time to frank laughs: from around twenty minutes a day in 1939, we went down to six minutes in the early 1980s and barely 60 seconds for more than a third of adults today. That is 10 to 15 bursts of laughter a day, while 4-year-olds can drink up to 400 times a day, without forcing themselves. However, laughter is to be taken very seriously, because it is at the origin of chain reactions, beneficial to your body.
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Laughter is a complete muscle exercise
This internal gymnastics is equivalent to a dance session, estimates Bernard Raquin, psychotherapist. Laughter brings into play a dozen muscles of the face: those of the eyelids, lips, cheekbones (including the famous small and large zygomatic), neck … A beneficial massage for the skin, since it accelerates the circulation to the capillary level.
The heart starts to beat faster and the vessels dilate: the whole vascular system is stimulated. This “shock wave” then travels to the abdomen, causing constipation-fighting contractions, speeding up the production of gastric juices and enzymes needed for digestion.
Laughter is great for high blood pressure
In the process, the diaphragm, the muscle that separates the chest cavity from the abdomen, rises and falls. Its contractions increase the amount of air entering the lungs and the oxygenation of the blood. With the same effectiveness as “intense sports, such as aerobics, jogging and tennis, or a passionate sexual act», Specifies Bernard Raquin.
If the laughter continues, the legs become limp and we lose our means. We sometimes curl up to the point of no longer controlling our bladder. The heart rate slows down and blood pressure drops. If you have high blood pressure, never stop laughing with a good heart!
Hilarity also allows physical tensions to dissipate. The proof ? In a stressful situation, have you never been in a nervous laugh, sometimes to tears? After this inner tumult, the body gives in to an irresistible relaxation, especially as the central nervous system and the endocrine glands engage in the production of relaxing substances. The brain produces endorphins, pleasure hormones, a kind of natural morphine whose action on pain is not negligible. It is no coincidence that clowns are now invading hospital corridors and pediatric wards.
Laughter has anti-aging properties
The adrenal glands, for their part, secrete catecholamines, hormones that dispel anxiety, also involved in the proper functioning of the immune system and in the fight against joint inflammation.
At last, after a good laugh, no more insomnia problem, because the stimulation of a neurotransmitter, the serotonin, influences the quality of sleep.
A true antidote to discomfort, anxieties and small daily troubles, laughter is undoubtedly the best elixir of youth. We now know that centenarians have an optimistic temperament. Full of humor, they do not hesitate to “afford a slice of it”.
The right dosage? At least three times a day, for three minutes, according to Bernard Raquin. Treat yourself to a comedy film, the show of your favorite comedian, a tickling game with your children. In short, have fun! You will see, it is irresistibly contagious!
Find out more: Laughing for life, by Bernard Raquin, Dangles editions
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