Nothing beats taking some time off with your girlfriends to enjoy a few good laughs. Laughter serves as my reset switch. Recently, I’ve found myself giggling a lot in secondhand stores. For example, we’ve been seen practising the Shake and Weight in Goodwill, blowing ram’s horns at Arc, and most recently, calling Mom into a Palm Springs thrift store to save me from the outfit that is two sizes too small. Laughter lowers stress hormones and raises immune cells and antibodies that fight infections, increasing your body’s ability to fend off illness. Endorphins are released when someone laughs. These are the body’s natural feel-good substances that support general wellbeing and short-term pain alleviation. Your blood vessels narrow during stress, which lowers circulation. Serious cardiac problems like heart disease, blood clots, and heart attacks can result from prolonged stress. Fortunately, laughing increases circulation and eases tension in your muscles, which can lessen some of the physical effects of stress and lower your risk of cardiovascular problems. It is also an excellent technique to lessen anger, which is a typical stress-inducing emotion. Your blood pressure is lowered and your body is relaxed when you laugh, which lowers your risk of heart disease. Nitric oxide, a molecule that reduces inflammation and prevents plaque from accumulating in your blood vessels, is released when you laugh loudly and vigorously, which causes the inner lining of your blood vessels to widen.
