Saturday, January 4, 2014

Laughter Helps My Memory


I noticed not long ago that I was having trouble remembering things – details.  Signs of aging?  I refused to accept it. 

I thought for a moment, “What can I do to wake up my brain?”  The answer came immediately as I lecture about it all the time – laughter.  Laughter wakes up the brain – by bringing more oxygen to it. 

Studies show that Alzheimer’s patients have low levels of oxygen in their brains.  This is completely congruent with our findings about laughter.  We bring more oxygen to our brains when we laugh, making our brains more alert, more clear and higher functioning.

Confession:  I had been experimenting with simply smiling in the morning in place of my morning laughter ritual (2 minutes of hearty laughter every morning in the mirror).  Smiling is so peaceful I wanted to experience that for awhile as the beginning to my day.  But after I reinstated my morning laughter ritual, the result was that my memory improved again. 

Photo:  Stock.xchnge 

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