Posted by North Ohio Heart Center and Ohio Medical Group on Thu, Jan 28, 2010
According to an article on Humor and Heart Disease entitled Humor and Wellness: Melding the Present and the Future, research conducted during a ten year period from the year 2000 through 2010 has established that individuals who employ humor as a "serious" part of their everyday lives have fewer physical complaints associated with heart disease--less arterial blockage, fewer angioplasties, fewer heart attacks, and greater longevity.
Compared to subjects who exhibited a depressive, anxious, or angry lifestyle, it appears that the experience of "pleasant" or mirthful emotions counteract the deleterious, long-term physical effects of distressing emotions.
Since past research clearly linked distressing emotions with increased risk for heart disease and premature death, researchers hypothesized that a lifestyle that lowers distressing emotions could potentially lower these health risks and reduce premature mortality.
The humorous lifestyle was measured as a person's ability to receive humor as a cognitive, emotional, and/or physiological experience.
The cognitive component - integrating a "comic vision" into one's perception of the world. Use of humor to gain perspective, break rigid thinking patterns, and expand life's options was evaluated.
The emotional component - sometimes referred to as "mirth", the extent to which humor "lifts one's spirits" and is felt as joy or pleasure.
The physiological component - the ability to laugh at life's encounters, from a giggle to a belly laugh.
The results of the research reported in 2010 indicate that a humorous approach to daily life creates healthful changes in cognitive (perspective to the world), emotional, and physiological states. It is these changes that researchers believe lead to improved physical health--particularly related to heart disease.
Researchers further concluded that individuals who incorporate a humorous lifestyle into their daily lives are more likely to improve their overall physical and emotional health, thus maintaining optimal wellness.
Posted by North Ohio Heart Center and Ohio Medical Group on Mon, Jan 04, 2010
“Depression is more likely to break your heart than smoking or eating fatty food,” begins an article from the Harvard University Gazette. "Recurrence of cardiovascular events, including heart attacks, strokes, cardiac arrest, severe chest pain and other problems is more closely linked to depression than to high cholesterol, smoking, high blood pressure, or diabetes," according to a Harvard Medical School publication.
Depressed people who also are anxious add to their problems. According to one recent study, whereas depression doubles the risk of heart problems recurring, anxiety triples that risk.
The Harvard publication notes that your mind and mood can push you into a chronic state of emergency readiness. Such people are ready to fight or run even when there's nothing to fight about or run from.
In real emergencies, stress hormones rise, blood vessels constrict, your heart speeds up, appetite slackens, and it's harder to fall asleep. Inflammatory chemicals increase in the blood, which becomes stickier in anticipation of wounds that will need healing. When the scare ends, this red alert shuts down - unless you are seriously depressed or anxious.
Then, stress hormones stay jacked up. Inflammation may damage the lining of your arteries. Blood vessels become less flexible. The heart responds more sluggishly to internal signals telling it to slow down as the body's demands change.
The University of Alabama at Birmingham offers some tips to keep your spirits up this holiday season.
- Avoid thinking that everything has to be perfect.
- Omit some of the holiday decorating or food preparation if it's too burdensome.
- Lower your expectations for family gatherings.
- Establish what your priorities are — to observe a religious holiday, gather around friends and family, or to simply spend some quiet time alone — and base your plans around those goals.