You know the saying: laughter is the best - and most fun - medicine. Laughter isn't a cure all, but research is proving that it has valuable health benefits.

I highly recommend you find several sources of laughter and get your daily dose of this spoonful of fun. Kids and animals are a great source of laughter. See also: LOL at Animals.

By the way - that's my daughter standing in the front yard butt naked. She's standing with her hands on her hips in a disgruntled posture. And, she's pouring it on thick with that sour-puss face.

Did the dog eat her popsicle? Or, was her Grammy insisting she put her undies back on? It still makes me laugh just thinking about that day.

I absolutely love kids, and they can be a barrel of laughs at least once a day. At this point in my life, I'm OK that my child has adulted and I don't have 16 hour days. Now I get to laugh & play with other people's kids and grandkids.... then I give them back to mommy.

Stress/Anxiety Relief

When you LOL laugh out loud - which is more than a chuckle, your stress hormone (cortisol) is significantly reduced thereby providing stress/anxiety relief.

Mind Relaxation

After a good laugh, you feel happy, content, and relaxed. Your mind gets a quick reboot, clearing itself of unwanted clutter & stress. Check out: Relax Your Mind or Go Cuckoo Crazy.

Brain Function

When you burst into laughter, you take in more oxygen which improves brain function and focus. Thought processes and memory also improve.

Improves Mood

Laughter can really lift your mood and improve your outlook. When you laugh, your brain releases endorphins, dopamine, and serotonin which are the body's happy hormones. Dopamine gives you feelings of pleasure & satisfaction, endorphins reduce pain & anxiety, and serotonin is an anti-depressant & happiness hormone. All 3 help fight stress. Here's more ways to: Make Happy Hormones.

Emotional Strength

Laughing at a difficult situation helps you cope with it better, improving your emotional strength. When problems & stress creep in, find ways to laugh at it. This allows you to minimize the problem & stress so it can't control you.

Social Connections

Laughter is a great ice-breaker. It draws people together and helps deepen your friendship bonds and social connection with others.

Loneliness

Laughter can help lessen the impact of feeling alone or isolated. Do you sometimes feel alone even though people are all around you at work. Humor and laughter will help you connect - make it a goal to develop 1-2 friends at work, your neighborhood, and the clubs/groups you belong to.

Increased Oxygen

To get more oxygen into your body requires a good hearty laugh - it's more than a chuckle, but not so much that your rib cage get's sore. The added oxygen will help revive several organs in your body: heart, lungs, and muscles. In addition, the extra oxygen in your system helps you relax.... and who doesn't want that?

Muscle Relaxation

Laughter improves blood flow/circulation which relieves muscle tension & pain throughout the body.

Immune System

Stress & negative feelings produce chemical reactions that actually lowers your immune system's ability to keep illness away. The reverse is also true - happy, positive thoughts increase your immune system which can then help you fight stress. Laughing produces antibodies which kicks your immunity into action lowering your risk for illness & disease.

Heart Health

Laughter lowers your heart rate, which increases due to stress. When your heart lowers - you feel relaxed. With more oxygen, you increase blood flow/circulation in/out of the heart thereby improving heart health. It also lowers your risk of stroke or heart disease. See my blog: Combat Stress, Avoid Heart Disease.

Blood Pressure

You can experience a decrease in blood pressure for a short time after laughing out loud. High blood pressure has several health risks including heart disease which means heart attacks & strokes.

Pain Relief

Your body will produce endorphins when you succumb to hearty laughter. This hormone provides some pain relief.

3. No matter how goofy they look, no matter what's smeared on their face, or the trailing toilet paper that's stuck in their undies - kids don't care. Kids will pick their nose, scratch their behind, and burp out loud in the middle of a crowd - and they still don't care.

   They don't care if they leave their shorts in the public bathroom because they're wet and walk out butt naked, and they don't care that the 2 frogs in their pocket escaped in the living room full of your girlfriends.

4. Kids say the funniest things, like something hilarious during a large family Thanksgiving dinner. Kids can deliver their line with the face of innocence and not even crack a smile. Meanwhile, everyone else bursts into a laugh-fest.

   Some of the younger kids will snort milk out their nose, and some mom's will laugh until they cry. The grandmothers however, might just admit out loud..... they just peed their pants a little. And round 2 of the laugh-off begins.

Kids Are a Barrel of Laughs

1. Kids are a barrel of laughs and they'll surprise you with off the wall comments. Their little body's can hide so easily just behind the chair and overhear grown-up talk like mommy & daddy talking about date night & the anticipated activities to be shared after.

   Your children probably don't understand what they heard, but they're all too eager to repeat it.... and almost always somewhere public.

2. Kids are brutally honest about your most embarrassing moments, and they're way too happy to announce it as you're walking into church or at the grocery store check out line.

   And rest assured, it won't be a whisper.... they'll use their outside voices to bring it to your attention. In this case, the barrel of laughs is enjoyed by the other people around you.

Laughter is Medicine - Parenting 101

I wanna know where the parents bought their "Parenting 101" book - photo right. Or maybe Dad found it in the book, "101 Uses For Duct Tape"? If Dad came up with this clever prank on his own - Dude, you're brilliant. Truly... a barrel of laughs.

Children are adorable little jokesters, and they can fill your home with laughter, and that's fun kind of medicine. That is, until they drop YOUR toothbrush in the toilet. But we still love the little darlings.... don't we?

FYI: The Dad I'm guessing that taped his child to the wall did it purely as a joke and did NOT endanger his child. You gotta admit - it's hysterical.

Bottom Line: Laughter is Fun Medicine

• Always remember the good moments with your children - despite the not so good ones. Turn their messy into a moment for bonding & giggles.

• Encourage their imagination & expose them to multiple forms of playtime activities. Join them in their fun time to boost your own happy.

• Let their laughter encourage you. Laugh with them and secretly AT them.

• Kids can keep you physically active, mentally challenged, and emotionally on a roller coaster - but there's always lots of laughable moments in between.

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