5 Reasons for Laughing: SteamTherapy Healthy Lifestyle Tips

When is the last time you thought about laughter? Did you know it is a critical part of a healthy lifestyle? SteamTherapy believes intensely in healthy living. For that reason, we want you to start laughing and to do so regularly and with gusto.

Fun and Fit Fitness Experts and identical twins Alexandra Williams and Kymberly Williams-Evans offer 5 healthy lifestyle reasons why you need to laugh more.  

See if any of these five great benefits tickle your funny bone!

Were you aware that there are similarities between laughter and exercise?

Both can give you a workout! Your heart beats faster, your blood pressure goes up, your breath quickens, and you’re using your core muscles (put your hand on your belly the next time you’re laughing out loud; then do the same during your ab exercises - same contraction), all of which sends oxygen to your muscle tissue.

• Laughing leads to better sleep - If you watch a comedy before going to bed, you should get some solid sleep. Norman Cousins, author of “Anatomy of an Illness,” reported that just 10 minutes of laughter gave him two hours of pain-free sleep.

• Laughing means lower blood sugar levels - If you’re diabetic, or know someone who is, both laughter and exercise are effective treatments.

• Laughing leads to normal blood flow - Watch a sad movie or sit all day, and your blood vessels become constricted. Watch a funny movie or move, and your blood vessels contract and expand as they should.

• Laughing improves your immune response - Are you one of those people who can use humor to decrease tension or stress? If so, you are raising the levels of infection-fighting antibodies and immune cells inyour system.

• And of course, both laughter and exercise relax you and decrease stress - all those endorphins (hormones that reduce pain) swimming around in your brain!

So find an exercise teacher who injects humor into the workout.

Train with a friend who has a good sense of humor.

Read a funny book while on cardio equipment.

Sing crazy songs in the shower.

Focus on the funny aspects of life. It’s good for your health.

~ Alexandra and Kymberly - Fun and Fit