Laughter is Truly the Best Medicine: new research proves it!

Breaking news suggests that laughter truly is the best medicine!

A new study by Lee S. Berk, DrPH, MPH, director of the molecular research laboratory at Loma Linda University in Loma Linda, Calif., shows that laughter effects the body similarly to physical exercise by boosting the immune system. Berk's research found that laughter (or "Laughercise" as Dr Berk's team refers to it) can significantly elevate mood, reduce stress, boost immunity and blood pressure, and reduce cholesterol. It also stimulates appetite for the malnourished.

"We are finally starting to realize that our everyday behaviors and emotions are modulating our bodies in many ways," Berk said.

The study was presented at the 2010 Experimental Biology meeting, April 24 to 28, in Anaheim, Calif. Dr. Berk, a preventive care specialist and psycho-neuro-immunology researcher, has been working on studies related to laughter for close to three decades.

Read 'WebMD' article here

Read 'The Medical News' article here

Read 'US News & World Report' article here

BBC News: 'Hot' substance in chilli peppers key to killing pain?

BBC News: 'Hot' substance in chilli peppers key to killing pain

Studying chilli peppers is helping scientists create a new type of painkiller which could stop pain at its source.

A team at the University of Texas says a substance similar to capsaicin, which makes chilli peppers hot, is found in the human body at sites of pain.

And blocking the production of this substance can stop chronic pain, the team found.

They report their findings in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

Capsaicin is the primary ingredient in hot chilli peppers which causes a burning sensation.

It does this by binding to receptors present on the cells inside the body.

Similarly, when the body is injured, it releases capsaicin-like substances - fatty acids called oxidized linoleic acid metabolites or OLAMs - and these, via receptors, cause pain, the researchers have found.

...

read entire article here

'Wild Comfort: The Solace of Nature' by Kathleen Dean Moore

Something I've long reveled in is the connection between the natural world and healing. Kathleen Dean Moore's, 'Wild Comfort,' http://tinyurl.com/25e7ykf puts the theory to study.

OSU professor Kathleen Dean Moore started out writing a book about happiness, however, as she says, “events overtook me.” In Wild Comfort, Moore tries to grapple with “the power of water, air, earth, and time to bring gladness gradually from grief and to restore meaning to lives that seem empty or unmoored.”

Love this!

No matter what, and for whatever the reason, this song (& video associated with it) always comforts me. It helped me relax during for my eye surgery (which was less than pleasant), and is a nice touch-stone when I'm in a lot of pain, like right now. Hopefully it will help me relax enough to sleep & end this miserable headache...

"Please Don't Go", by Barcelona
Kuroshio Sea -- 2nd largest aquarium tank in the world

ARTICLE: Shape Magazine, "Basic Pain Management Techniques"

ARTICLE: Shape Magazine, "Basic Pain Management Techniques" http://tinyurl.com/y2sc3ju

"One in four Americans - 75 million people - live in chronic, debilitating pain. In fact, pain affects more Americans than diabetes, heart disease and cancer combined. Here are some steps you can take to get relief.

What is pain?

The early Greeks and Romans advanced the idea that the brain played a role in producing the perception of pain. In the 19th century, physician-scientists discovered that opiates such as morphine could relieve pain and chemist Felix Hoffmann developed aspirin from a substance in willow bark. Aspirin remains the most commonly used pain reliever today.

In 1994, the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) defined pain as an "unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage."

According to a survey by the National Center for Health Statistics (2006), 26% of adults experienced pain lasting more than 24 hours in the month prior, and 10% experienced the same pain for a year or more. Pain requires particular attention in infants and children since they are not always able to describe the type, degree, or location of pain they are experiencing.

The truth about women and pain

Pain is a regular, if unwelcome, reality for many women, perhaps even more than it is for men, and yet, according to the American Pain Foundation, they are often undertreated. Most women have pain with menstruation at some point in their lives, and childbirth can be painful. Some common disorders of the female reproductive tract are painful. Also, painful autoimmune diseases are much more common in women. To cope with their pain, women tend to use more approaches than men, such as learning about their condition, turning to others for support, and finding ways to relax more and manage stress.

Still, it can be hard for a woman to get help for her pain. Some doctors are less likely to give women painkillers because they think that women overstate the amount of pain they feel. Studies have shown that given the same amount of pain, men are less likely to report it than women. Men might feel they need to "tough it out." But this doesn't mean that the pain women are reporting isn't real. ..."

READ MORE: http://tinyurl.com/y2sc3ju