ArtashNikki

Laughter, it’s said, is the best medicine. And there’s lots of evidence that laughter does lots of good things for us.

It improves your job performance, especially if your work depends on creativity and solving complex problems. Its role in intimate relationships is vastly underestimated and it really is the glue of good marriages. It synchronizes the brains of speaker and listener so that they are emotionally attuned.

Laughter establishes — or restores — a positive emotional climate and a sense of connection between two people, In fact, some researchers believe that the major function of laughter is to bring people together. And all the health benefits of laughter may simply result from the social support that laughter stimulates.

source: http://psychologytoday.com/articles/pto-20050406-000001.html

Posted by Jon as Fitness and Health

A recent clinical study suggests that touch reduces stress and anxiety: when a subject touched the hand of a loved one, centres of the brain concerned with fear and danger became less active.

At the Touch Research Institute, University of Miami School of Medicine, over 100 studies have shown the positive effects of touch on medical conditions.

Their studies indicate the benefits of touch to include:

• weight gain in preterm infants;
• increased attentiveness in children;
• reduced pain;
• reduced stress hormones and
• improved immune function.

In fact, some researchers suggest that, as a result of its effect on the immune system, wound-healing and resistance to infection is improved by touch.

Hugging also causes the release of a hormone called oxytocin, which Swedish researchers have show is associated with reduced levels of stress hormones, promotion of growth and healing and social bonding.

So make time for a hug with someone special and, hey, you might just be improving the quality of your health today!

Photo: courtesy Mr Patterson Snr