Day with a Difference - Feb 15, 2007

Today's Inspirational Quote:

"The mind is the limit. As long as the mind can envision the fact that you can do something, you can do it – as long as you really believe one hundred percent."

Laughter is the BEST medicine

Norman Cousins is a man who laughed his way from sickness to complete health. He had a terminal illness which the doctors gave him a one-in-five-hundred chance of making a full recovery. Norman Cousins refused to accept the doctors opinion and decides to take matters into his own hand. Laughter was one tool Cousins used in a conscious effort to mobilize his will to live and to succeed. He spend most of his time immersed in films, television programs, and books that made him laugh. He eventually recovered completely and wrote a book entitled, "Anatomy of an Illness".

Cousins also served as Adjunct Professor of Medical Humanities for the School of Medicine at the University of California, where he did research on the biochemistry of human emotions, which he long-believed were the key to human beings' success in fighting illness. It was a belief he maintained even as he battled heart disease , which he fought both by taking massive doses of Vitamin C and, according to him, by training himself to laugh.

The above story illustrates the importance of laughter, smiling, having fun and focusing on the positive side of things and circumstances. Our physiology can have a big impact on our physical and mental well being and also our emotion. Movement creates our emotion or state of mind. If we approach our work with fun, then we are not only going to enjoy it but we are surely going to be more successful. We are also going to make more friends and keep our body and mind healthy!
Cousins received the Albert Schweitzer Prize in 1990. He died of heart failure on November 30, 1990 in Los Angeles, California, having survived years longer than his doctors predicted: 10 years after his first heart attack, 16 years after his collagen illness, and 26 years after his doctors first diagnosed his heart disease.

Expand your knowledge base

Laughter

Medical studies show that laughter boosts levels of endorphins, the body's natural painkillers, and suppresses levels of epinephrine, the stress hormone.
According to Arnold Glasgow, " Laughter is a tranquilizer with no side effects."

In an ABC television interview, Professor Lee Berk, who has studied laughter and medicine for the past 18 years, explained that laughter increased the Natural Killer Cell activity, the cells that destroy viruses and tumors. Laughter increased a disease-fighting protein, B-cells, the source of a disease-destroying antibody, and T-cells which help cellular immune response.

Hearty laughter also exercises the lungs and circulatory system and increases the amount of oxygen in the blood. "He who laughs," said Mary Pettibone Poole, "lasts."

Have a memorable day!

Priya