Laughter is the antidote to the stress response

Research shows that people who laugh heartily on a regular basis have lower standing blood pressures than the average population. When we have a hearty laugh, our blood pressure initially increases and then decreases below normal levels. Our breathing becomes deeper, sending oxygen-enriched blood and nutrients throughout the body. With laughter, endorphins and other natural pain-relieving hormones are released, improving our ability to tolerate pain. Our ability to digest food also improves. So you are not only what you eat, but what you think and feel. Research indicates that the benefits of laughter occur as early as a smile.

How can we bring more smiles and laughter into our lives?

Make a joy list

Joel Goodman, Founder and Director of the Humor Project in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. suggests making a joy list: Put down five things you love to do, but have not done in a long time. This could be resuming former hobbies or contacting/meeting people whom you have not seen in a while. Choose two things on that list that you plan to do and write down a date and time when you will do the activities.

Create a humour library

Collect humorous memos, bumper stickers, books, movies and TV shows. The internet is packed with humorous focused websites and videos. Next time you are feeling a little down, read, listen and view.

Spend more time with folks who are fun to be with

Make a commitment to spending more time with those that are fun to be around. Think about someone whom you consider fun to be around. What makes that person attractive? Along with mental alertness and positive attitude, a large part of your answer will lie in them having a great send of humour and a sense of playfulness. Humour is an excellent tool to use on your path in life. Approaching life’s aggravations with humour has fewer harmful side effects, for humour can release feelings of hostility and at the same time provide an acceptable means of expressing and decompressing these feelings in an appropriate way.

Get to know what amuses you

Who are your favourite comedians? What types of humour do you like? For some it’s political humour… “When two politicians accuse each other of lying… they’re both telling the truth”, others like nonsense … “What does a 300 pound canary say?… CHURP!!!”, still others like philosophical humour … “I don’t believe in an afterlife, but I’m bringing a spare pair of underwear just in case.” Put on your humour filtered glasses and you are more likely to notice humorous occurrences that would have passed you by otherwise.

Become comfortable with appearing goofy

Overcome your “fear of foolishness.” C.W. Metcalf and Roma Felible authors of Lighten Up: Survival Skills for People Under Pressure, suggests that when an embarrassing moment happens to you, choose to see it as a humorous incident. This will prevent the negative physiological effects that will occur if you view the event as a life threat [“I was so embarrassed I wish I were dead”]. Take the risk of sharing the incident with others and nine out of ten times they will see the humour and thank you for sharing it.

Checkout the Association for Applied and Therapeutic Humor. They actually have a Humour Academy. A three year course to become a Certified Humour Professional. Yes, I’m a C.H.P. and proud of it!

Humour is the healthiest coping mechanism you can use to deal with the absurdities of life. I used humour to literally get back on my feet after a diagnosis of severe arthritis. If you lose hope and are taken over by fear, you become helpless. If you use humour and focus on a positive outlook you can get through anything. You can learn to use humour like Judo, fending off attacks from a different angle. When the arthritis attacked, humour was my defense.

Remember, if something is thrown at you and you meet it straight on, you will fall backward. This is true for any ‘problem’ that attacks you. If you have a good sense of humour you can slide to the side and look at it from a different perspective. Humour is not a cure-all, but the positive emotions brought on by humour and a good laugh can have a positive effect on your overall wellness.

The post How humour can help you heal your body and stay healthy appeared first on Complete Wellbeing.

When you’ve lain in bed for hours, tossed and turned until your body aches, glanced at the clock more times than you can count, tried every mantra, meditation, and visualisation you’ve ever learned to no avail, insomnia has you in its clutches.

Hopefully, it’s a passing phase prompted by external circumstances like an impending exam, a recent breakup, or financial problems. Most people go through periods of difficulty sleeping. But one in ten people struggle with sleeplessness night after night, month after month, sometimes for years, beset by chronic insomnia.

Sleep is fragile

Sleep is remarkably fragile, despite its persistence and universality. All manner of conditions can fray its fabric, and little works to restore the weave once it’s lost. Heat, cold, good food, bad food, solitude, company, noise, silence, new love, the loss of love—you name it—can banish sleep from the bedroom.

There are many things we can do to sleep better, or a little longer. We can cool and darken our bedrooms, establish a regular sleep schedule, avoid stimulants, alcohol, and electronics before bed, take calming teas, supplements, or medications, and learn to control our catastrophising thoughts. These are good things to do, but they rarely crack the nut of habitual insomnia.

Too awake to sleep

One of the most surprising discoveries to emerge from 21st century sleep research is that insomnia is not just a problem with sleep; it is a disorder of our waking lives as well. Scientists have learned that people who struggle with ongoing insomnia tend to live in a state of hyper-arousal characterised by higher body temperatures, faster heart rates, stronger high-frequency brain waves, increased levels of cortisol and adrenaline, and lower levels of melatonin 24 hours a day, whether they are awake or asleep. These folks are remarkably quick and sharp, but their nervous systems run on high alert as if living in a war-zone. Simply put, they are too awake to sleep. In fact, many are somewhat awake even when sleeping!

Eons ago, in our evolution as human beings, our bodies developed the capacity to mobilise in the face of danger, enabling us to respond quickly and forcefully when necessary. If your child runs out into traffic, you need that ability to charge out and grab him or her out of harm’s way immediately. It has an obvious evolutionary advantage. Once your child is safe, your heart will hopefully stop throbbing, your breathing will slow down, and the stress hormones coursing through your blood will return to normal levels.

However, if you are genetically inclined towards anxiety, have experienced long-term stress, repeated traumas, or life-threatening insecurities, your body may gradually lose the knack of calming down, even when resting. The brain simply stays busy and the heart keeps racing regardless of what is happening. When hyper-arousal becomes the norm, rather than the exception, it’s nearly impossible to get good sleep.

Even if you aren’t predisposed towards anxiety, and haven’t experienced major traumas, the pace, pressures and insecurities of contemporary life in the 24/7 global economy may be pushing you into hyper-arousal without your knowing. We are surrounded by bright lights and street noises throughout the night, encouraged to consume stimulating foods and drinks, rewarded for being alert, quick and aggressive, and often required to work longer hours.

No quick fix

How can our bodies remember how to relax enough to sleep under these conditions?

One thing is certain: there is no quick fix. We have to cultivate our abilities to calm down, let go, and go within to counteract the tendencies to gear up, grab on, and get ahead that are so encouraged in our society. Lowering arousal levels is a gradual process that requires many small shifts in the ways we go about our days and nights as we weed out old habits that interfere with sleep and develop new ones to restore calm.

The process is also very individual; there are no standard answers. What helps one person may not help another, or in some cases even make things worse. For example, a family pet may be soothing to one family member and stressful to another. Each of us needs to experiment with lifestyle changes, observe the results, and adapt accordingly.

Here’s what you can do

Here are some things that have helped others:

• Develop a meditative practice that you can do on a regular basis. That can be something as simple as walking to work, listening to music before bed, even closing your eyes and taking three deep breaths a few times a day. Or you could join a weekly meditation group, take a yoga or t’ai chi class, or sing in a choir. Many of these activities involve breathing more fully, which works to calm down the nervous system.
• Practise putting aside your worries, even if you plan to pick them up later. Anxiety is the enemy of sleep. Make a list of what you need to address later, fold it up, and tuck it away. Our unconscious minds mull over our problems while we sleep, and often pose solutions the next day that we couldn’t figure out on our own. A friend of mine likes to imagine that all her anxieties are written out on a large chalkboard; when she lies down to sleep, erasers wipe them away. Napoleon used fall asleep by seeing himself pushing away his concerns as if closing the drawers of a bureau, one by one. When I was a child, I was so anxious about taking tests that I often couldn’t sleep beforehand. Finally, one sleepless night, I had a fantasy that I was an eighty-five-year old grandmother looking back over my life. Did I care how well I did on that math class in third grade? No! Realising that the things that worried me at the time were insignificant in the big picture enabled me to relax and get some sleep.
• Make a point of spending time with people whose company you enjoy. You can comb and braid your children’s hair, or read them bedtime stories, join a soccer team, go out dancing or play cards with friends at the club. We need trust and a sense of safety to unwind. As social creatures, we derive that sense of safety from the people who care for us, look out for us, and have our backs. Money in the bank and locks on the doors can help, but there is nothing like the comfort of relationships.
• Finally, if you can’t sleep, get up and do something. Read, draw, email friends, water plants, have a cup of tulsi [basil] tea or warm milk, whatever. Abraham Lincoln and Charles Dickens used to take long walks when they couldn’t sleep. My grandmother typed Braille books. Doing something will distract you from the effort to sleep, and probably help you to fall asleep later. Besides, it is fine to sleep in stretches of a few hours at a time. Naps are efficient forms of sleep. The key is to remain calm and trust that the sleep you get, however little, is enough.

Remember: climbing back off the ledge of insomnia takes time. Every little step you take to calm your nerves, day after day, night after night, gradually restores the peace that enables sleep.

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