Article: Ha Ha Ha your way to health
By Roslyn Franken  

I recently went to a comedy club with a group of friends and can’t remember the last time I laughed that hard.  Have you ever laughed so much that your face and stomach actually hurt?  It felt great.  It reminded me of how important it is to make the time to get together with friends and have some good hearty laughs. 

In this article we will look at the role and power of laughter for proper eating, healthy weight management and positive living and how to make it work for you.  The key points we’ll look at are critical to remember all year round but are especially worth noting around holidays and when bringing in the New Year.  Why?  Because we often use these times as a perfect excuse to let go of our regular health, diet and exercise routines leading to the unwanted guilty weight gain.  Let’s look at how to turn things around and laugh your way to a happier and healthier you.

To control your eating, manage your weight and change your lifestyle for greater health and happiness, one of the most important things you need to look at is your stress levels.  If you tend to have lots of stress in your life, especially around the holidays with gift buying, planning family gatherings and additional social commitments, then the resulting abundance of stress hormones coursing through your system may be having a direct impact on your ability to eat properly, manage your weight and have a positive and balanced outlook on life.  If this is true for you, then the first thing you need to do is look at healthy and positive ways to get the stress hormone levels under control.  The reason being that stress hormones such as cortisol increase cravings especially for less healthy sweets and starches, the foods that are often the most difficult to have control over leading directly to improper food choices and unwanted weight gain.  Therefore, in order to help curb the cravings you need to manage your stress more effectively.

Laughter is a great means to reduce the level of stress hormones because:

1. It increases the levels of health-boosting hormones like endorphins, the number of cells that produce antibodies and the effectiveness of T cells all of which are important to a healthy immune system as well as fewer physical effects of stress.
2. A good hearty belly laugh provides a physical and emotional release plus a physical workout that leaves you feeling more calm and relaxed afterward.  Imagine deriving comfort from laughter which is calorie-free?  If anything you’re burning calories when you laugh.  You feel better and can shed weight at the same time.
3. It takes your mind off the negative thoughts and feelings that are at the root of your stress to give you a mental and emotional break  
4. Finding humour in your difficulties and being able to laugh at yourself can help you take the edge off the physical effects of stress and gain a more positive perspective on your situation.

When you keep your mouth busy laughing you will also be eating less because you can’t eat and laugh at the same time.  So next time you’re reaching for that less healthy snack or about to overeat, try making yourself laugh instead.  Even if you have to fake it, just trying to laugh will help you lighten up and maybe even prevent you from giving in to your craving.  Just remember WHY you’re trying to improve your eating, health and lifestyle to begin with and hopefully you’re long term goals will outweigh your desire for immediate gratification.

How to get some more laughter in your life

Next time you’re looking to get together with your friends, suggest going to a comedy club or a funny movie.  Or have your friends over and play some fun games like Cranium or Sherades.  Surround yourself with positive people who like to laugh as much as possible.  Remember that laughter is contagious so get the laughter ball rolling and keep it going.  Sometimes you’ll even forget what you’re actually laughing at and won’t be able to stop.  That is the best case scenario.

Remember that no matter how bad things seem in the moment, you can find a way to get through it.  Just think back to what you’ve already come through in your life and what worked well for you then.   Try and always find the humour in life, stop taking yourself and others too seriously and let yourself have a good chuckle.

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Roslyn Franken is the author of The A List: 9 Guiding Principles for Healthy Eating and Positive Living, a powerful self-directed guide for achieving your long term health, lifestyle and weight management goals.

To purchase The A List book and for more information on Roslyn Franken’s personalized coaching and professional speaking services, please visit www.roslynfranken.com. Take your complimentary online Readiness Assessment and be sure to sign up for your FREE Healthy Hints newsletter.

©Copyright Roslyn Franken Group, a division of 10-Q Enterprises Inc. 2006. All  rights reserved worldwide.