Laughter Can Improve Your Health

It’s obvious that laughter has a positive impact on us emotionally. We simply feel good after we laugh. However, research confirms that laughter also has numerous physical benefits that can improve health.      

As early as the 13^th century, surgeons used humor to distract patients from pain. In more recent years, researchers have conducted studies to learn the impact of laughter on health. These studies revealed that laughter produces numerous health benefits, including reduction of pain, decrease in stress-related hormones, and a strengthened immune system.

Humor is different than laughter. Humor is the stimulus that evokes laughter. Humor in itself has emotional and physiological benefits. Laugher, however, produces even greater benefits.  

Laughter and Hormones

A healthy endocrine system consists of a having properly balanced hormones. Hormonal levels that are too high or too low can lead to insomnia, weight gain, anxiety, depression, and other symptoms. Laughter can be of great help here.

Laughter can raise DHEA, a steroid hormone that is produced by the adrenal glands. DHEA production declines with age, but DHEA is important in slowing the aging process, enhancing exercise performance, and strengthening mental skills. The body also converts DHEA into testosterone and estrogen.

Laughter also lowers several hormones that are related to stress. These include epinephrine, also known as adrenaline, and norepinephrine, which increases the rate of contractions in the heart. Laughter can also lower cortisol levels when they are too high. High cortisol levels are the result of stress, and long-term stress and high cortisol levels can lead to adrenal fatigue.

Laughter and the Circulatory System

 Laughter can improve the circulatory system by producing physiological results similar to those achieved through moderate exercise. Intense laughter will initially cause the heart and respiratory rates to rise, which will cause increased oxygen consumption. Following these changes, the muscles will relax and the respiratory rate will decrease. The heart rate will also decrease and blood pressure will drop.

Laughter and the Immune System

Laughter boosts the immune systems by increasing natural killer (NK) cell cytotoxicity. NK cells are white blood cells that can destroy cancerous and virally-infected cells without harming normal cells. A low level of NK cell activity is correlated with cancer.

Laughter and Tension                                         

Laughter eases tension by relaxing muscles throughout the body. In particular, it releases tension in the muscles of the face, neck, shoulder and abdomen, which are come areas of built-up tension. Uncontrolled laugher creates a convulsive reaction which loosens muscular tension and mobilizes breathing.

More Benefits of Laughter    

There are many more health benefits of laughter. Here are some of the more notable ones:

• It improves mental function, leaving you more alert, improving memory and creativity. 
• It stabilizes blood sugar.
• It reduces inflammation in the body. Chronic inflammation can lead to serious health conditions.
• It gives the heart, lungs, diaphragm, and the abdominal muscles a light workout.  
• It eases digestion and soothes stomach aches.
• It relieves pain.
• It stimulates the hypothalamus to releases dopamine.  Dopamine influences the brain’s reward and pleasure centers.
• It stimulates the release of endorphins, which are capable of relieving pain and producing feelings of euphoria.

Find Something to Laugh about every Day

When I was diagnosed with adrenal fatigue, part of my treatment was to find something to laugh about each day. Interestingly, the period of time when I laughed the most was the same period of time when I experienced the greatest improvement in my symptoms.

Of course, there are serious things in life that aren’t funny. I am not suggesting that we laugh away our problems. What I am suggesting is that if we learn to find more humor in life, then the resulting laughter can make our problems more manageable and can counteract the harmful impact on health that often accompanies stress.

 

http://www.cancercenter.com/treatments/laughter-therapy/

http://www.britannica.com/blogs/2008/07/funny-science-why-do-we-laugh-and-can-it-really-help-healing/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-frank-lipman/laughter-health_b_1380643.html

Dream Recall and Vitamin Deficiency

If you have trouble recalling your dreams, you may be deficient in vitamin B6. Also called pyridoxine, this vitamin’s importance goes beyond dream recall.

Vitamin B6 supports adrenal function. It helps produce serotonin, which regulates mood, sleep, and memory. It also produces dopamine, which helps control the brains reward and pleasure centers. It aids with depression, nerve injuries, and PMS.

Besides the inability to recall dreams, signs of deficiency include nerve damage of the hands and feet, cracked lips, confusion, depression, and insomnia.

B6 is a water-soluble vitamin. That means that it is not stored in your body; whatever your body doesn’t use for the day is flushed out of your system. The good news is that it is difficult to overdose on a water-soluble vitamin. However, this also means that you must take it daily.

The recommended dosage is 50mg-100mg daily. If you can’t remember your dreams after taking 100mg daily, then you may need a special form of B6 called Pyridoxyl 5 Phosphate (P5P). P5P is the natural form of B6. Since B vitamins compete with each other for absorption, it is best to take it as a B-complex supplement (containing all of the B vitamins).  Food sources include brewer’s yeast, bananas, legumes, carrots, spinach, potatoes, milk, cheese, eggs, fish, and sunflower seeds.

Wilson’s Temperature Syndrome

Wilson’s Temperature Syndrome (WTS) is a concept that may be of interest to those with symptoms of hypothyroidism. This concept was developed in 1988 by Dr. Denis Wilson (not to be confused with Dr. James L. Wilson, the guru for adrenal fatigue). The hallmark feature of Wilson’s Syndrome is low body temperature. Dr. Wilson believes that the body needs to be at a temperature of 98.6 degrees F to be operating optimally. Those with Wilson’s Syndrome, however, have a chronically low body temperature, usually around 97 degrees. Just as the body can’t function optimally with a fever, it also can’t operate optimally when too cold. When the body is too cold, the result is symptoms that mimic hypothyroidism. The goal is to get the body temperature up to 98.6 degrees and when this happens, symptoms are supposed to disappear.

What Causes Wilson’s Syndrome?

Wilson’s Syndrome develops in response to stress. Stress may come from a wide variety of sources. The most obvious ones include childbirth, divorce, or death of a loved one. Less obvious sources include chronic pressures at work or relationship troubles. While the body is under stress, metabolism slows in order to conserve energy. Once the stressful event has passed, metabolism should return to normal, but sometimes it doesn’t. This produces symptoms of hypothyroidism. Thyroid tests will be normal, but the body will respond to thyroid treatment.

How is it Diagnosed?

Wilson’s Temperature Syndrome cannot be diagnosed with a blood test. Instead, when symptoms of WTS are observed, other related conditions are ruled out. Then, you may try the WTS protocol to see if your body responds positively.

The main symptoms of WTS are low body temperature and normal thyroid blood tests. Here is where things get tricky. Low body temperature is also an indicator of hypothyroidism, and one can have hypothyroidism and also have normal blood tests. Please refer to the section on hypothyroidism for more information on this.

Other conditions that cause similar symptoms are liver disease, anemia, leukemia, and diabetes. Blood tests should be run to check for these conditions first. You should also be checked for a heart condition and for Addison’s Disease. These conditions may be worsened by starting Wilson’s Syndrome treatment.

Once other conditions are ruled out, some further information is required. To see if your body temperature is truly low, your temperature should be taken by mouth with a basal thermometer three times a day, starting three hours after waking. This process should be repeated for several days. For each day, add the three temperatures together and then divide by three to get the average. If your temperature consistently averages below 98.6, then Wilson’s Syndrome may be suspected.

Treatment

WTS protocol involves taking sustained-release T3 every 12 hours, to the minute. Some people report negative side effects if they take their dose late by as little as 5 minutes. Treatment also involves checking your pulse and your temperature daily. The starting dose of T3 is 7.5mcg, and this is increased by 7.5 mcg daily until the temperature reaches 98.6. However, there are two exceptions to this. The maximum dosage of T3 is 75 mcg of T3, twice daily. This amount of T3 should never be exceeded, even if the body temperature doesn’t reach 98.6 degrees. Furthermore, you should not increase your dose if your resting heart rate is over 100 beats per minute, or if you have palpitations.

If your body temperature reaches 98.6 degrees, you can stop increasing your dose, but keep taking your temperature. Your temperature will likely go down again. When this happens, you can cycle up your dose until the temperature is back up to 98.6. When your temperature remains at 98.6 for three weeks, your temperature is considered “captured.” Once the temperature is captured, you can stay on that dose for a period of time as decided by your doctor. After this period of time passes, you will wean down off of your T3. However, you will want to decrease your dose slowly to prevent your temperature from dropping, so that means decreasing your dose by 7.5mcg every 2-8 days, depending on how your body responds. You will eventually wean off the T3 completely for about 2 days and then begin the process again. However, chances are that your temperature will be captured at a lower dose the second time around.

Temperature doesn’t always go up on the first round, but it usually does on the second. The process is repeated for about 6 months. The process of cycling up and down on T3 for about six months is supposed to reset your metabolism so your body temperature remains at 98.6 degrees.

Does this Work?

I tried the WTS protocol two years ago. I learned the procedure my doctor, not from Dr. Wilson’s website. Now I realize that I did not follow the protocol correctly. Therefore, I am not sure if my experience is the best indicator of whether this treatment is effective. However, it could serve as an example of how important it is to follow the procedure extremely carefully.

The first mistake I made was that I never took my temperature. I simply cycled up on my T3 by 7.5 mcg a day until I reached the maximum dose of 75mcg, and then I cycled down. My symptoms were horrendous. I had major heart palpitations that sometimes woke me up at night. These continued for a year after stopping treatment. I had never had palpitations before beginning the protocol. I was also so fatigued that I couldn’t think straight. Once I had to cancel a doctor’s appointment because I didn’t think it was safe for me to drive. This was the first time in 19 years of battling fatigue that I felt this way. I stopped treatment at the direction of my doctor in the middle of my second cycle.

It is difficult for me to recommend a treatment that I had such a negative response to, although my poor experience could have been the result of not doing it correctly. If you decide to try this, make sure that you fully understand the protocol. I have included links at the bottom of this article. It would be interesting to hear from others who have tried this treatment and to learn what their experience was.

http://www.wilsonssyndrome.com/

Click to access PatientOrientationSheet.pdf