another laughter statement about 'good for the heart'

[hensylee]

Heart Disease / Cardiology
By DrRich
In a study published in the February, 2006 of the journal Heart, investigators found evidence that laughing can improve vascular reactivity. Vascular reactivity - the ease with which blood vessels dilate under appropriate circumstances - has been shown to correlate with cardiovascular health.

The investigators took 20 volunteers and had them watch (in randomized order) scenes from movie and TV comedies (clips from "Saturday Night Live," -presumably from the early years - and from the movie comedies Kingpin and There's Something About Mary), and a 20 minute segment of a movie known to produce stress and anxiety (the Normandy invasion scene from Saving Private Ryan). Vascular reactivity was significantly improved after watching the comedies, and significantly impaired after watching the stressful movie segment.

DrRich Comments:

This is an interesting study, in that it identifies a possible mechanism for the phenomenon many doctors think they have seen - that patients with a well-developed sense of humor generally do better than patients whose anxiety reactions become saturated at what most would consider a relatively low level of stress. Whether laughter could actually offset some of the risk produced by the traditional risk factors - smoking, cholesterol, sedentary lifestyle, hypertension, diabetes, obesity - and what "dose" of laughter would be required to do so, is completely unknown. In the meantime we may take some small comfort in supposing that, while sourpusses are miserable human beings, perhaps at least they won't be around to be miserable for as long as more lighthearted people.

 

[barbwil]

Have neighbor who is good medicine

Have neighbor who is good medicine

Hi Ann, I read Dr Rich's report too.

I have a neighbor who is so good for my heart; she keeps me laughing all the time. Last night when the news was on about VP Cheney spraying his hunting partner with buckshot she called me up and tried to disguise her voice. "I understand you are a Republican and wondered if, in view of all that has been happening lately, I could sign you up as a Democrat!" I said, "sure, as soon as I join the ACLU." We can discuss just about anything and end up laughing our heads off.

But she has threatened to throw a brick through my picture window 'cause I'm on this computer so much! She's actually sent her husband across the street to tell me to call her when I got off.

I would wish for everyone to have such a good friend and neighbor. She and her husband drove my husband and me to our dr's appt, grocery shopping, church, etc. when I couldn't drive after my OHS.

Stay warm, Ann. Our snow is quickly disappearing and the temperature is rising, going to be up in the 50s on Thurs, a hot spell for northern Ohio.

God bless, Barb

 

[hensylee]

Barb and I met about (nearly) six years ago on Dr Rich's site in About.com heart disease/cardiology. We learned a lot there, didn't we, Barb? He's so good to help out with heart related questions - and sometimes non-related heart questions. If y'all haven't been there, you ought to go check it out. He's got so many articles and covers a multitude of heart issues, including valve replacement. He's actually real, answers questions via his forum, sometimes in minutes, is an EP - I know Barb can vouch for him, too. If I didn't say so before, Barb, I am glad you are here. Sounds like you have been 'through it' these past years. I remember when you were still trying to figure out what the problems were; way back in those days.

 

[barbwil]

It's done, Ann.

It's done, Ann.

http://heartdisease.about.com/ You can read but in order to post you must register. And you can sign up for an email from him ( Mondays) on a current heart issue.

While writing this I am also watching Oprah's program about a child who was drawn into the world of hard pornography (one of thousands) which is the bad side of these computers. Parents need to put strong controls on their PCs!! "Every web cam in a child's room should be destroyed and thrown out today."--investigative reporter from NYTimes.

But then there is the other side of the coin, the wealth of information for those of us who are daily dealing with health issues. Dr. Rich is a retired electrophysiologist (now a patient advocate) who will answer heart related questions of a general nature. He will NOT diagnosis on line but many times I have proposed hypothetical problems to him.

There is another site "Ask the Doctor...." where you can ask questions that will be answered by a Cleveland Clinic doctor but it is very hard to get on there to ask your question. They (2) are taken randomly through the day.
A lot of our questions are answered by browsing the site.

Thanks to all of you here who are such a wealth of information and take the time to reassure fellow sufferers and pray for those who request it.

God bless, Barb

 

[hensylee]

I think Dr Rich is also on 'doctor in the house' or something similar to that. He's really good - has helped me a bunch of times. He described the persantine test perfectly to me. It went just like he said.

I get his Monday article early every Monday and have received it for more than 5 yrs. If you sign up for it, it'll come right to your emailbox as Barb says.