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Help Your Heart, Laugh It Up
> 1/19/2006 9:49:35 AM

Everyone enjoys a good laugh. But what makes us feel good on the inside might actually be making us more healthy-on the inside, that according to a new study that has been published in the journal Heart and presented to the American College of Cardiology.

Researchers at the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore studied the effects that laughter had on the body by monitoring blood flow in subjects who were watching a humorous film. They also monitored the same outputs in subjects who watched a sad film. The results shouldn't surprise anyone who's ever had a good laugh.

According to the researchers, brachial blood flow was reduced in 14 of the 20 participants after they watched segments from the sad movies. Blood flow was increased in 19 of the 20 participants after they watched clips from comedy movies.

Laughter has often been cited as a homeopathic treatment for any number of diseases and disorders, but the researchers showed that laughter can actual stimulate blood flow equal to that during aerobic exercise.

So get your dose of laughter in today, and feel better. I might suggest The Dilbert Blog or Screenhead, both never fail to please.

Quotes courtesy of Yahoo! News.

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