Humor in Healthcare? SURE 😎
It's true: laughter is strong medicine
🤣😎🏆
It draws people together in ways that trigger healthy physical and emotional changes in the body.
With today being April Fools’ Day, I thought we’d take a peek at some funnies (to lighten your day)... 🤩
You’ll be amazed by how effectively a few good laughs or grins will relieve stress. There’s actually long-term effects from humor, too!
Before we get started, if you missed last week’s blog on“🤯 The Belly Fat - Brain connection”, you can use this link, Here.
Okay, ready for some funny memes and great April Fool’s pranks?
🤩 ✅ 🤩
Luckily everyone in my house is pretty good about bathroom etiquette; but we all know someone that might not be….. This is the perfect prank 🤣
It’s that time of year that many of us are looking to trim off those extra few pounds that have hung around since the holidays…. Here’s a sign you can print off to show your support team that you are indeed human 🤣
Can you tell food is a BIG thing in my life? 🥓🥦🥓🥦🥓🥦🥓🥦
Someone in the house added googly eyes to bananas and stuff in the refrigerator…. It was pretty entertaining, and the jokes that followed were pretty funny, too 👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀
OK, I know, here’s another bathroom laugh, couldn’t help it 🤣
Stress relief from laughter? It's no joke 🤩
When it comes to relieving stress, more grins and hearty laughs are just what the doctor ordered. Here's why……
Whether you're laughing at a sitcom on TV or quietly giggling at a newspaper cartoon, laughing does you good. Laughter is a great form of stress relief, and that's no joke.
STRESS RELIEF FROM LAUGHTER
A good sense of humor can't cure all ailments, but data is mounting about the positive things laughter can do.
Short-term benefits:
A good laugh has great short-term effects. When you start to laugh, it doesn't just lighten your load mentally, it actually induces physical changes in your body. Laughter can:
Stimulate many organs. Laughter enhances your intake of oxygen-rich air, stimulates your heart, lungs and muscles, and increases the endorphins that are released by your brain.
Activate and relieve your stress response. A rollicking laugh fires up and then cools down your stress response, and it can increase and then decrease your heart rate and blood pressure. The result? A good, relaxed feeling.
Soothe tension. Laughter can also stimulate circulation and aid muscle relaxation, both of which can help reduce some of the physical symptoms of stress.
Long-term effects:
Laughter isn't just a quick pick-me-up, though. It's also good for you over the long term. Laughter can:
Improve your immune system. Negative thoughts manifest into chemical reactions that can affect your body by bringing more stress into your system and decreasing your immunity. By contrast, positive thoughts can actually release neuropeptides that help fight stress and potentially more-serious illnesses.
Relieve pain. Laughter may ease pain by causing the body to produce its own natural painkillers.
Increase personal satisfaction. Laughter can also make it easier to cope with difficult situations. It also helps you connect with other people.
Improve your mood. Many people experience depression, sometimes due to chronic illnesses. Laughter can help lessen your stress, depression and anxiety and may make you feel happier. It can also improve your self-esteem.
WHAT HUMP?
While there are many hilarious characters in the Young Frankenstein movie, Marty Feldman steals the show as the lab assistant Igor who has a very noticeable lump in his back. When Dr. Frankenstein meets his assistant, he kindly tells him,
“ You know, I’m a rather brilliant surgeon. Perhaps I can help you with that hump .”
Igor’s deadpan reply denies the existence of his hump. Legend has it that the running joke of Igor’s moving hump came about because Marty Feldman had been shuffling it around in between takes as an on-set prank
THE CLASSIC OREO PRANK
A classic prank, but one that never fails. Buy a pack of Oreos, remove the cream, replace it with white toothpaste, and reassemble. When your target spots an already-opened pack of Oreos… c'mon, who could possibly resist sneaking one?
Unfortunately for this unassuming little thief, when they bite down into this treat, the new "mint" flavor they find will make them gag.
FLIP SCREEN
It's so easy, it'd be an April Fools' crime not to use it on somebody. All you have to do is get access to their computer—wait until they're at lunch or on a bathroom break—and hit Ctrl+Alt+Down Arrow. It instantly flips everything on their PC screen so it's upside down.
(Don't worry, it's just as easy to reverse. Just hit Ctrl+Alt+Up Arrow.) For a Mac, go to their System Preferences, open the Displays option, and click on the "Rotate" menu.
REMEMBER THIS ONE?
We’ve used this one in the office several times 🤣 (watch out, you never know when it’s going to happen again)!
You'll be a hero when you show up at church, the job site, or the office with two dozen delicious doughnuts for your co-workers. Well, at least you will until they open the box and realize you've replaced the pastries with some cruciferous greens. Nothing tastes as sad as cauliflower when you were expecting something glazed with sprinkles.
THE BOTTOM LINE
“If you think your life is too boring to be funny, joke’s on you: Humor is all around us.”
“Cultivating more humor in your everyday life is one of the fastest and most powerful ways to increase overall health and wellbeing.”
Laughter is the best medicine 🤣😎💝
With more than 40 years of research to help people benefit from the healing powers of humor, we’ve learned that the experience of humor and distressing emotions can’t occupy the same psychological space.
Adding humor to your daily life can lead to a wide array of benefits. It sparks energy, boosts brain power, improves immunity, curbs stress and enhances mood. Some of those benefits stem from laughter, which is the physical response to humor. But not everyone laughs when they’re amused, and you don’t have to in order to reap benefits.
Go ahead and give it a try. Turn the corners of your mouth up into a smile and then give a laugh, even if it feels a little forced. Once you've had your chuckle, take stock of how you're feeling. Are your muscles a little less tense? Do you feel more relaxed or buoyant? That's the natural wonder of laughing…..
I hope today’s short and visual images have lightened your day. Follow those on social media that are funny, watch humorous movies, and choose to be around friends and family that make you laugh! AND, feel free to crack a joke with me next time we are together 🤣 I’d love it!
Make an appointment and come talk with us if you are having doubts or questions about your family’s health. We will give you the honest truth, and the clinical research that supports it.
To make an appointment with me use this link: HERE.
Or, you can always give me a call at (973) 210-3838
I want to hear from you! How do you bring humor into your life? Did you find this newsletter helpful?
Share your thoughts in the comments on our
We bring tools such as these to you, our patients, by using proven cutting-edge therapies to extend the health-span, life-span and years of health for everyone (no matter their age)!
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