Monthly Archives: March 2010

Laughter a Day Keeps the Doctor Away

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“Laughter is definitely a healing experience, and we’re not talking metaphorically, we’re speaking absolutely literally. Laughter is one of the best medicines you can have.” Quote by Deepak Chopra

More on Human Aging and the Mind Body Connection. Humor and the Benefits of Laughter:

* Like a mild workout- A good hearty laugh causes your pulse and respiration rate to increase, your blood pressure to go up and many of your muscles to stretch. This increases the blood supply to the body and increasing the amount of oxygen to the body’s tissues.
* Promotes relaxation- After your body stretches the muscles and the blood flow increases to the muscles of the body, you feel a sense of relaxation. In fact, muscle physiologists have found that this relaxed response can last as long as forty five minutes.
* Encourages social interactions- an individual that has a sense of humor and laughs is an individual others want to be around. Laughing is contagious. It is a powerful reaction that can deescalate a difficult situation, can dissipate anger and bring families together. It is the stuff good memories are made of. Laughing with others makes everyone feel good and experience an elevated mood. This can create decrease the stress of all involved and enhance the social interaction as well.
* Promotes an increased pain threshold- when we laugh the increase of production of endorphins also acts as a pain reliever. Studies show that individuals suffering pain experience pain relief after watching comedy.
* Maintains blood sugar levels- it has been discovered that individuals diagnosed with type II diabetes experience smaller spikes in their blood levels after eating when they enjoy and experience laughter after their meal. Scientists feel that the increase in use of the abdominal muscles and utilizing more energy may attribute to a more stable blood sugar level.

Hospital Stays May Spur Brain Decline in Seniors

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TUESDAY, Feb. 23 (HealthDay News) — Elderly people who have been hospitalized have an increased risk of cognitive decline.
That’s the finding of U.S. researchers who analyzed data from 1994 through 2007 on 2,929 people, aged 65 and older, who did not have dementia at the start of the study. During an average follow-up of 6.1 years, 1,287 were hospitalized for a non-critical illness and 41 were hospitalized for a critical illness, while 1,601 of the participants were not hospitalized.

Among those hospitalized for one or more non-critical illnesses, there were 228 cases of dementia, and among those hospitalized with one or more critical illnesses, there were five cases of dementia. There were 146 cases of dementia reported among the participants who weren’t hospitalized during the study period, the authors noted.

After adjusting for various factors, the researchers concluded that patients hospitalized for a non-critical illness were 40 percent more likely to develop dementia than those who weren’t hospitalized. Seniors hospitalized with a critical illness also had a higher risk of dementia, but the result wasn’t significant, possibly because of the small number of people in that group, the study authors explained.

“The mechanism of this association is uncertain,” wrote Dr. William J. Ehlenbach, of the University of Washington, Seattle, and colleagues. “These results also could suggest that factors associated with acute illness, and to a greater degree with critical illness, may be causally related to cognitive decline.”

There are a number of possible mechanisms through which critical illness could contribute to cognitive decline, including hypoxemia (decreased partial pressure of oxygen in blood), delirium, low blood pressure, glucose dysregulation, inflammation, and sedative and analgesic medications, the report indicated.

“Further studies are needed to better understand the factors associated with acute and critical illness that may contribute to cognitive impairment,” the researchers concluded.

The study findings are published in the Feb. 24 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

SOURCE: Journal of the American Medical Association, news release, Feb. 23, 2010