Laughter could lower blood glucose levels!
More and more research has been piling up to suggest that laughter could lower blood glucose levels in type one and type two diabetics. Keiko Hayashi, of the University of Tsukuba, Japan has published several works that suggest that laughter can lower in the increase in two hour post-meal blood sugars in people with diabetes.
Laugh for the health of it.
Diabetes is a tricky disease; anything and everything affects blood glucose levels. That's why learning that laughter could positively impact blood glucose levels is not necessarily surprising. Laughter dilates the blood cells and encourages the healthy development of the endothelium (the inner lining of blood cells). In fact, this enlargement of the blood cells is comparable to what happens during exercise. That's not to say that exercise isn't important, but a good laugh is just as good for the vascular system and a diabetic's blood sugar levels.
In some studies, it has been shown that mirthful laughter lowers the risk of heart disease associated with type one and type two diabetes. Laughter also led to increased levels of stress and inflammatory hormones in the study's subjects. Further studies are currently being conducted to expand and confirm these study findings.
Down, down, down.
In one study, subjects were asked to use continuous glucose monitoring systems to monitor their blood glucose levels during large bouts of laughter. Blood glucose levels were shown to be reduced by as much as 38% in some cases after large amounts of laughter.
The study mentioned above was conducted over a twelve month time span. Subjects were asked to monitor their glucose levels and note when decreasing blood glucose levels were attributed to increases in laughter.
The volunteers then reported the results of their particular ends of the study to the scientists at the end of the twelve month period. Both type one and type two diabetics were used to perform this study, and no distinction was made between them in the final results.
So why not make it a goal to laugh a little bit more? After all, it's good for your health.
Source: Sciencedaily.com