Submitted on Saturday July 20th, 2013
![hospice winston-salem](https://www.trellissupport.org/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/images/Care_4.jpg?itok=wHnTm2hu)
Don’t you just somehow feel better when you laugh? It turns out, that’s not just fantasy.
Laughter has physical and emotional health benefits.
Studies show that laughter
- supports the heart. If we’re laughing, we’re not stressing. The stress hormones are the root cause of heart attacks because they damage the circulatory system;
- relaxes muscles. Good, deep breathing is part of laughing. It stimulates oxygen flow to the muscles and triggers muscle relaxation;
- lessens pain. The body’s natural pain-relieving hormones, the endorphins, are released when we laugh;
- boosts immunity. Laughter helps combat infections and other diseases by triggering better antibody response at the cellular level;