Learning to Relax

Laughter - The Best Medicine to Relaxation

Choose Your Attitude

Can laughing really keep you healthy? Research suggests that positive thinking and laughter can influence health. Positive emotions are associated with a decreased production of the stress hormone cortisol, along with improved immune function, and reduced disease risk. Simple laughter may also boost immunity, relieve pain, lower stress aiding in relaxation, and even help protect against heart disease.

Pessimists tend to blame themselves when bad things happen. They view good events as transitory and negative ones as lasting, often resulting in feelings of hopelessness. Alternately, optimists are much more likely to explain bad events as due to a temporary external cause and have a generally positive view of life and confidence in their ability to affect their future. Because optimists tend to actively engage in planning and problem solving, they may experience less stress than pessimists, and develop more resources to deal with stress. The result? Better overall health, and shorter recovery times after an illness or surgery.

If you tend to be pessimistic, try these proactive, health-beneficial steps below...

• Take care of yourself: eat a healthy diet, exercise regularly, and get adequate sleep.

For many people, exercise is a main method of reducing stress and promoting relaxation. One of the benefits of regular aerobic exercise is its moderating effect on emotions.  While exercise is a great way to burn up excess energy and dissipate tension, it does not necessarily teach you how to process stress differently, and is best used as a complement to another technique, such as breathing, visualization or meditation for instance.

• Express yourself: expressiong emotions and reactions to events honestly helps you effectively deal with what's bothering you.
• Confide in someone - your mate, a good friend, or a trusted relative.

People often have difficulty expressing their anger, and end up holding it in instead of letting it out in manageable ways. Unfortunately, suppressing your anger can ultimately contribute to health issues and increased stress. Instead of bottling up your anger, try to figure out what is causing it; distinguish between the mildly annoying and infuriating; look at what else you are feeling (lack of power, guilt, or confusion, etc.); recognize where your anger is really coming from; discuss it openly with a close friend or therapist, and try to remedy that situation.

• Make a resolution: view the cup as half full instead of half empty.
• Lighten up: instead of bristling at life's annoyances, try to view them as amusing.

Expressing positive emotions, such as optimism, is associated with a variety of health benefits: lowered production of the stress hormone cortisol, better immune function, and reduced risk of chronic diseases.  How about injecting a little laughter into your life?  Here are some healthy ways to do just that.  You will find them useful to help cope with unpleasant health problems:

Ø      Rediscover the kid in you:  Children laugh around 400 times a day – compared to only about 25 times for adults.  Watch youngsters, see what makes them laugh, and try to bring some of that playfulness into your life..

Ø      Lighten up: Instead of bristling at life's annoyances - lost luggage, a late bus - try to view them as amusing and joke with others who are in the same fix.

Ø      Look for humor in difficult situations: Just make sure that your jokes aren't made at the expense of others, which could be hurtful instead of enjoyable. Positive humor is better for the mind, body and spirit than negative humor.

• Breathe and learn to relax.
• Add imagery to this technique.

     Often taught in conjunction with yoga and exercise classes, progressive relaxation is a simple and effective method of releasing tension in muscles. You can easily incorporate progressive relaxation into your daily routine. Experiment with it at work (try it sitting), on airplanes, or whenever you feel tense!

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