Heart Attacks

Spring 2007

Laughter, along with an active sense of humour, can help protect against heart attacks. We know that looking after our heart involves diet, exercise, freedom from smoking and reduced stress.

But wait there’s new information ... Laughing every day is so important that cardiovascular researchers in the USA are now advocating 15 minutes of daily laughter as an adjunct to the 30 minutes of physical activity currently recommended for heart health. Researchers* have shown that the simple act of laughter relaxes arteries, boosts blood flow and reduces stress that is associated with impairment of the lining of our blood vessels. The evidence says that even if we need to take our work seriously, if we can learn to take ourselves less seriously we will be better able to deal with all the other aspects of our lives.

We need to make more space in our lives for fun and laughter. Start with simple things like dressing the fridge up, making a comedy corner or humour noticeboard at home or work, or having a comedy night where you have fun food, watch funny movies or just play. It all adds up to making a conscious decision to laugh, which will increase your optimism, reduce depression and stress, provide your brain and other organs with more oxygen, increase your heart health, improve your immune system and enhance communication with others.

If you have too much seriousness and not enough silliness in your life you may develop a dangerous but highly curable condition known as ADDS. It stands for Acquired Amusement Deficiency Syndrome. Symptoms include difficulty swallowing humour, hardening of the attitude, making mountains out of molehills, and terminal seriousness. Dr Peter Spitzer

*M Miller, C Mangano, Y Park, R Goel, G D Plotnick and R A Vogel, University of Maryland Medical Centre, Baltimore, USA

Dr Michael Miller “Impact of cinematic viewing on endothelial function” Heart 2006; 92:261-262; doi:10.1136/hrt.2005.061424 © 2006 BMJ Publishing Group Ltd & British Cardiovascular Society