If you have ever laughed so hard your stomach hurt, you know from personal experience the therapeutic benefits a little humor can have. There is a lot of truth to the old saying “laughter is the best medicine.” Research has found that laughing does a great deal to safeguard and enhance your health, reducing stress hormones and maybe even preventing heart disease.
William Fry, a psychiatrist at Stanford University, conducted long-term studies on the health benefits of laughter and found that it increases circulation, exercises the muscles, stimulates the immune system, and invigorates the brain. Other researchers have found that laughter reduces stress hormones and may even help prevent heart disease. That’s certainly a reason to be happy!
— Play Date —
We can all learn a thing or two from children at play. They know how to enjoy the moment fully and lose themselves in what they are doing, whether it’s inventing a game of make-believe or climbing the highest tree they can find.
As an adult, it’s more difficult to make room for play and unscheduled leisure time. You may think, “How can I goof off when I have so many other important things I need to be doing?” You might feel that you can’t spare the time or even that you don’t deserve to have fun when you have a lot going on. But play isn’t just important for little kids. It’s a necessary part of healthy adult life and can help reduce stress and increase happiness.
According to Dr. Stuart Brown, founder, the National Institute of Play: Play is particularly important during periods that are sustainedly stressful... If we’re going to adapt to changing economic and personal circumstances the way that nature armed us to do, then we have to find ourselves having some play time virtually every day.
Far too often, we become distanced from our own health in our busy modern lives. We neglect not only our physical needs but also our mental, emotional, and spiritual needs. Each of these elements is vital, and optimal health is achieved when we’re able to keep them in balance in a holistic way.
To put it in simple terms, imagine that your well-being is a plant. For it to thrive, it needs the right care: plenty of water and sunlight, nutrient-rich soil, room to grow. If you take away one of those essential ingredients, the plant will suffer and begin to wither.
Have you experienced that kind of effect in your own life when you are deprived of something important – wholesome food or adequate sleep or leisure time? In those situations, it is often an easy short-term solution to treat the symptom instead of addressing the root of the problem. Perhaps you take a pill or drink a cup of coffee or push yourself harder to overcome feeling sick, tired, or anxious. But this approach doesn’t consider your wellness in the long term.
The good news is that you don’t have to keep feeling this way. You have the power to take ownership of your own wellness and change your life for the better, with your journal as your guide.
