In this day and time everyone seems to be getting more health conscious, from losing weight to reducing your heart attack risks. There is a lot to do and things you shouldn't do. You have to eat right, watch your fatty foods, fried foods, and red meat (this one really gets me because I love a steak). We all know that we need to exercise, walking, aerobics, and we need plenty of cardiovascular exercise. You must control your stress level.

That's a lot to ask for, Right? Well here is something else we can do that will be easier for everyone to follow. Laughter, don't forget to laugh. That's right; researchers believe that laughter can reduce the risk of heart attack. Who would have ever thought a good active sense of humor and a good laugh helps the fight against heart attack. Sounds simple right? Studies show that if you laugh, you reduce your risk of heart disease, and these same studies also found that individuals with heart disease laughed less than their heart healthy counterparts; in fact laughter can be used as a way of reducing tension and is usually followed by relaxation, thus taking the stress off of your heart. Laughter protects the heart.

Laughter is the newest weapon in our fight against heart disease. It was noted that in a study that healthy people would laugh more often and they use laughter or humor to get them out of bad situations. A good laugh can go a long way in reducing pain. It may help a person who has had a heart attack. A study on this showed that rehabilitation was much more effective for patients who watched funny videos each day than ones who did not watch funny videos. Laughter has been effective in the recovery of illness. Hospitals have even created rooms for humor and put in cable TV with comedy channels.

The medical researchers found that laughter can lower blood pressure helps reduce our stress hormones, and gives a charge to the immune system and many other functions of our body. Laughter also releases our body's natural painkillers and gives us an overall sense of feeling good. Research shows that laughing fifteen minutes each day could prolong your life. This comes from stimulating the blood flow and helping your heart. Laughter has similar health benefits as aerobic exercise but comes without the aches and pains. Laughter is a good medicine and even the expectation of laughter was very effective.

It showed that a person expecting to watch a funny program or video lowered their stress inducing chemicals and helped release stress relievers. Brain chemistry seems to be changed by laughter; being able to laugh seems to give a person more control over themselves as well as over the situation. Have you ever thought that a good belly laugh could be like a trip to the spa for your upper body? When you laugh, you stretch many of the upper body muscles, these muscles relax and unknot, even your abdomen and diaphragms contract. This brings to mind a thought. If laughter can help patients in a cardiac rehabilitation program, why not add it to the program. Adding laughter to a program should be a simple enough task.

This should be just as important as what they eat and the exercise they take. Laughter can be a safety valve for us. A pressure cooker has a safety valve, and if the steam gets too much it blows. The same is true with our hearts, so a good laugh on a regular basis could help regulate out heart. If heart disease is directly related to the body’s ability to cope with stress, anger, and all the hormones produced as a result of those emotions, then it should stand to reason, that the counter effect of stress and anger would be laughter.

The opposite effect should be felt on our bodies, even our hearts, blood vessels, and other bodily functions. So, the next time you begin to feel those "raging" hormones being released; stop, find a funny picture, watch a funny video, or just watch your children at play; humor will find its way into your emotions, and rather than experience a heart attack you might find yourself experiencing a laugh attack. Not only will your heart thank you, but so will your family and co-workers!