Laughter Really Is Good Medicine!
As I was sitting in my doctor’s office yesterday I picked up a WEBMD magazine. You can go to their website at www.WebMD.com. I found an article about how one of the best things for our hearts is LAUGHTER! Not that we can all go and throw our Lipitor down the toilet, but just think about these few ideas:
1. Every day your heart beats about 100,000 times, sending 2,000 gallons of blood surging through your body. All this blood feeds our organs and tissues, so we better take care of it by eating healthy, taking at least 3,000mg’s of Omega 3’s per day and doing some kind of exercise that gets our heart rate up.
2. A good belly laugh can send 20% more blood flowing through your entire body! Now who knew that? One study found that when people watched a funny movie their blood flow increased. That is why laughter is the perfect antidote to stress. When you laugh, the lining of your blood vessel walls relaxes and expands and this excersises your heart muscle making it stronger. So, find ways to make yourself laugh every day…..read jokes online, watch a funny movie or stand-up comedian. There are too many stressful things to watch on TV. One of these is your local news and all the arguing talking heads. Who wants to spend their evening listening to people argue? Many people do and this contributes to YOUR STRESS! Watch old re-runs of Andy Griffith instead of Hannity or listening to all the horrible news stories, over and over again, that you can’t do anything about anyway.
I read one study about how the media causes stress in the elderly. Many times all they have to entertain themselves is the BOOB TUBE or TV and the more news stories and talking heads they watched the more afraid, stressed, worried about the future and plain out paranoid they became. Stress causes your immune system not to function properly which can cause sickness of many kinds. It increases your blood pressure. Choose what you watch as carefully as you choose other components of your health care.
3. A man’s heart weighs about 10 ounces, while a woman’s heart weights about 8 ounces. Not only is a woman’s heart smaller than a man’s, but the signs that its in trouble are a lot less obvious. Women have different symptoms of a heart attack than men, such as nausea, indigestion and shoulder aches, rather than the hallmark chest pain.
I KNOW THERE ARE LOTS OF MEDICATIONS PEOPLE TAKE FOR HEART PROBLEMS THAT CANNOT BE REPLACED BY LAUGHTER, OMEGA 3′S OR ANYTHING ELSE, SO PLEASE, EVEN IF YOU ARE IN THE “DREADED DONUT HOLE” THIS TIME OF YEAR, DO NOT STOP TAKING YOUR NEEDED MEDICATIONS. IF YOU FIND THAT YOU ABSOLUTELY CANNOT AFFORD TO BUY THEM ANYMORE, PLEASE CALL YOUR LOCAL SOCIAL SECURITY OFFICE AND TELL THEM YOU NEED TO APPLY FOR MEDICARE PART D LIMITED INCOME SUBSIDY PROGRAM. IF YOU QUALIFY YOU WILL NOT HAVE A DONUT HOLE! DO THIS TODAY. IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS ABOUT DOING THIS, PLEASE WRITE ME AND I’LL GET BACK TO YOU ASAP! YOU MAY EVEN CONTACT THE DRUG MANUFACTURER. MANY TIMES THEIR INCOME LIMITS ARE HIGHER AND YOU CAN GET HUGE DISCOUNTS DIRECTLY FROM THEM.
Thought for the Day: Some Doctors Say That Cheerful People Resist Disease Better Than Grumpy Ones. The Surly Bird Catches The Germ.
