If you do one thing this week . . . laugh your heart out
How great do you feel after a fit of the giggles? Mirthful laughter is one of the best mood-lifters, but it can also be a good boost for your body, it seems.
A recent study looked at how 17 apparently healthy adults (aged 23-42) physically responded when they watched a 30-minute comedy DVD.
The likes of Jerry Seinfeld, Ellen DeGeneres and Bill Cosby were on offer, or participants could bring in something from their own collection.
The researchers also measured what happened when the same people watched a not-so-mirth-inducing documentary.
And what they found was that watching the comedy – which prompted people to laugh about 100 times on average – brought short-term benefits to vascular function that the more serious documentary viewing failed to elicit.
The study was published in 2010 by the American Journal of Cardiology.
