For Diabetes Daily Laughter is Good Medicine...

Diabetes is no laughing matter, but a dose of daily laughter may do the trick when it comes to diabetes control.

If you can increase the number of occasions when you break into hysterical laughter you may just find it is really beneficial.   Daily laughter has been claimed to help lower blood sugars for people with diabetes type 2.  And if that is not enough to break you out into a smile, how about being able to reduce your weight by indulging in regular laughter? 

New Exercise Technique Gets You in Shape for Swimsuit Season 

Spring is around the corner and everyone is looking for a fun way to get back in shape and into their swim suits. One of the newest and most exuberant workouts to hit mainstream America is Laughtercising™, a technique requiring 10 minutes of vigorous laughter to be added into your daily work outs.

According to a study by Maciej S. Buchowski, PhD, and his colleagues, using a whole-room indirect calorimeter at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, a daily laughter workout of 15 minutes can burn 40 calories and melt away 4 pounds over the course of a year.

"Laughing's not as easy as it may sound," explained Laughtercising's creator, Betty Hoeffner. "First you have to put your ego aside because you can feel silly breaking out into raucous laughter. Then you have to work your way up to doing it, non-stop, for 10 minutes … just as you would in any exercise program. Once you become proficient, you'll be able to break out into hysterical laughter instantaneously. You'll keep laughing and laughing which will work up a great sweat and get your abs aching."

For those who need help, Hoeffner created a CD of contagious laughter called, "Laugh It Off."

Instructions on the CD advise listeners to laugh along with the laugh instructors continuously for at least one minute. Every day, increase the laugh session by a minute until you can laugh for ten minutes nonstop. "Since laughter is also a great stress reliever, we made the CD 60 minutes long so it can be played in the background to lighten your spirit during times of stress," explained Hoeffner. "Playing the CD quietly in the background while at work, studying for exams or struggling with an angst-ridden problem can help lighten your mood and put a smile on your face."

According to Dr. Andrew Weil, “I think it's (laughter) one of the most effective ways to reduce stress, and preliminary research suggests laughter may also boost immunity, relieve pain, lower blood sugar in people with type-2 diabetes, and help protect against heart disease.”

According to William F. Fry, M.D., associate professor of clinical psychiatry at Stanford University, "....laughing 100-200 times per day is the cardiovascular equivalent of rowing for 10 minutes.

When something strikes you as funny, you laugh. And when you laugh, your body responds. You flex, then relax, 15 facial muscles plus dozens of others all over your body. Your pulse and respiration increase briefly, oxygenating your blood. And your brain experiences a decrease in pain perception, possibly associated with the production of pain-killing, pleasure-giving endorphins."

"Laugh It Off" is available at http://www.HeyUGLY.org for $10 and proceeds go to Hey U.G.L.Y. Inc., NFP, a 501(C) 3 nonprofit organization whose mission is to empower teens with self-esteem building tools to help them counter challenges such as eating disorders, bullying, violence, substance abuse and suicide.

You might think deliberately planning a laughter session - after all laughter, especially hysterical laughter, is normally spontaneous - is a bit strange.  But if doing it helps your blood sugar-control, reduces any stress you are under and helps prevent heart disease, then it has got to be worth giving it a go, don't you think?

Top: Diabetes Daily Laughter