{"id":19798,"date":"2022-11-08T09:00:50","date_gmt":"2022-11-08T14:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/?p=19798"},"modified":"2022-11-05T14:59:34","modified_gmt":"2022-11-05T18:59:34","slug":"laughter-your-way-to-better-health","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2022\/11\/laughter-your-way-to-better-health.html","title":{"rendered":"Laughter: Your Way To Better Health!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/258\/2022\/11\/laughter-1369402_1280-scaled.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-19810\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/258\/2022\/11\/laughter-1369402_1280-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"768\" height=\"514\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A few years ago, I interviewed Butch Harman, the executive producer and cartoonist of the TV show, <em>Fairly Odd Parents<\/em>. He told his personal story how humor and laughter helped him through stressful times. Humor was an outlet that for him, became the focus of his career. But what Butch discovered is also true for all of us. A sense of humor goes a long way toward improving our physical health and mental health. It\u2019s a powerful tool at your disposal. People who can laugh at themselves and with others show flexibility, a resiliency factor.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Humor has many benefits:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>It is a self-care tool that fosters a positive and hopeful attitude.<\/li>\n<li>It releases emotions and stimulates the immune system.<\/li>\n<li>It decreases the risk of heart attack.<\/li>\n<li>It helps fight pain as the body creates its own natural painkillers.<\/li>\n<li>It relieves tension and calms you down. When you have a good bout of laughter, the positive effects can last up to 45 minutes.<\/li>\n<li>It increases your chance of getting pregnant. What? Yes, according to a 2011 <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/21211796\/\">study<\/a> with women going through in vitro fertilization, laughter from being entertained by a clown, improved their pregnancy chances by 16%. Not sure about the clown, but it surely can&#8217;t hurt to laugh more!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Studies at Cornell University found that people exposed to humor in the workplace were not only more creative problem-solvers, but could also see the consequences of their individual decisions better. So laughter even helps in the workplace.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Now, I\u2019m not suggesting you laugh off serious matters in your life. We don&#8217;t want to deny or avoid problems. That strategy comes with its own set of problems. I am \u00a0simply saying that maintaining a sense of humor helps during difficult times.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So next time you feel stressed:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Try to laugh (Even a forced laugh reduces stress!).<\/li>\n<li>Take a different perspective on a problem and add humor. I&#8217;ve seen this work during couples&#8217; therapy!<\/li>\n<li>Watch a silly movie on one of your streaming services.<\/li>\n<li>Tell a joke. If you don\u2019t know any, find one online! There are plenty of sanitized jokes that can break tension and help people relax.<\/li>\n<li>Tickle someone. Make sure you have permission first. You&#8217;ll probably laugh as much as your &#8220;tickle target.&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>Play a crazy game. <em>Apples to Apples<\/em> often prompts our group into fits of laughter.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You get the idea. Laughter may\u00a0just might make you a healthier you! So thanks, Butch Hartman, for all the Nickelodeon cartoons you gave us through the years. And thanks, too, for the reminder that laughter is good medicine.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; A few years ago, I interviewed Butch Harman, the executive producer and cartoonist of the TV show, Fairly Odd Parents. He told his personal story how humor and laughter helped him through stressful times. Humor was an outlet that for him, became the focus of his career. But what Butch discovered is also true&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":419,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4100],"tags":[6709,6700,6703,6706,4488,1422,53],"class_list":["post-19798","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-health","tag-comedy","tag-funny","tag-funny-movies","tag-jokes","tag-laugh","tag-laughter","tag-relationships"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Laughter: Your Way To Better Health!<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A sense of humor goes a long way when it comes to our health and mental health. It\u2019s a powerful tool you have at your disposal.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/?p=19798\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Laughter: Your Way To Better Health!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A sense of humor goes a long way when it comes to our health and mental health. It\u2019s a powerful tool you have at your disposal.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/?p=19798\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Doing Life Together\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/drlindamintle\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-11-08T14:00:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-11-05T18:59:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/258\/2022\/11\/laughter-1369402_1280-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Linda Mintle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@drlindamintle\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Laughter: Your Way To Better Health!","description":"A sense of humor goes a long way when it comes to our health and mental health. 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Dr. Linda\u2019s fun personality and expertise comes through whether she\u2019s helping her audience stress less or make peace with their thighs! Dr. Linda has her Ph.D. in Urban Health and Clinical Psychology and is a national expert on mental health. She has specialized in the treatment of eating disorders, anxiety, depression and pain management. With 30 years of clinical experience working with couples, families and individuals, she brings her common-sense approach to people who want to live in positive mental health. Dr. Linda is also a bestselling author with 21 book titles to her credit, a radio host of the Dr. Linda Mintle show, professor, national speaker, winner of the Mom\u2019s Choice Award, a national news consultant, featured writer for Beliefnet and hosts her own website. Her academic appointments keep her abreast of current research in her areas of expertise. Her media experience includes seven years as the resident expert for ABC Family\u2019s Living the Life television show and regular appearances on network television and radio. It is often said that being with Dr. Linda is like having coffee with a friend. She makes the complicated issues of relationships and mental health easy to understand and applicable to everyday living. The ease she has with people, coupled with her clinical training and experience makes her a sought-after speaker on college campuses, conferences and special events. Whether she is doing a TV skit with Tim Conway or discussing teen violence with Queen Latifa, Dr. Linda will entertain, educate and integrate faith and mental health in everyday living. 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