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TROJAN TRIBUNE
Laughing your way to a healthier life Bridget Feeney
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“The most wasted of all days is one without laughter.” - e e cummings
by laughing his way to a healthier as heredity, obesity and smoking, relaxed and good about yourself. and longer life. Mr. Cousins recalled one of the major contributing “If you’re stressed and you have how he watched humorous movies factors is stress. Laughter reduces a good laugh, it does help you move and TV shows. When he laughed, he stress hormones that cause heart away [from your stress]. It allows released endorphins, which helped attacks. Laughter improves blood you to take a step back and collect dull the pain. Cousins survived circulation and oxygen supply to yourself. It doesn’t sound like it would many years longer than his doctors the heart muscles, which also assists refocus you, but it almost does,” said thought possible, and he attributed those suffering from heart disease, Willis. Willis and others feel this that to laughter. as well as asthma and bronchitis. way because a hearty laugh gives Doctors at Loma Linda the body University Medical Center in a great California researched the advantages internal of frequent laughter. Studies revealed workout, how laughter can help deal Physical benefits with stress, of laughter high blood pressure and a -helps prevent heart Mental benefits poor immune disease and lowers blood pressure system. These of laughter -burns calories a n d o t h e r -better blood flow Seniors Lauren Kenney, Tracy Thibodeau and Ricky Rivelli -reduces stress/anxiety laugh with their lunch table. photo by Colleen Curtin studies have -Immune system boost -improve relationships caused people -exercises diaphragm, -establishes connections to form clubs, abs, heart and shoulders M a n y s t u d i e s h a v e m a s s a g i n g -develops sense of yoga class es discovered that laughter is a n d humor and t herapy equivalent to aerobic exercise. working the -provides a healthy s e s s i o n s According to Dr. William Fry diaphragm, release for fear, devoted solely to laughter. of Stanford University, 1 minute of abdominals, boredom and anger Laughter is attributed to helping laughter is equivalent to 10 minutes h e a r t a n d in the prevention of heart disease, the on the rowing machine. Like aerobic shoulder muscles. No. 1 killer in America. While heart exercise, which improves the amount Sometimes, the healing of the disease and high blood pressure are and quality of oxygen entering the body can be just as essential to health caused by a number of things, such body, laughter leaves you feeling as healing of the mind. Laughter
p i t g u n e k o e o o c t n u f h t t he
Kim Tyler
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A universal symbol for happiness, pleasure and amusement, laughter plays an important role in people’s lives. As seen through the large success of comedies, such as Pineapple Express and Superbad, and NBC’s Outstanding Comedy Series Emmy award winning, The Office, people crave laughter. “Laughter is an important part of life because without it, everybody would be boring. No one would have fun and no one would ever be in a good mood,” said Meredith Rhodes, sophomore. Senior Alex Willis agreed. “It’s important for people to laugh and have a sense of humor, because without it, life is just too boring.” Not only does laughter provide one with fun and entertainment, laughter can also benefit the body, both inside and out. A study at the University of Maryland Medical Center shows that laughter and a good sense of humor allow one to combat many physical and mental illnesses. In the film Anatomy of an Illness, journalist Mr. Norman Cousins told of how he dealt with an incurable spine disease
09.12.2008
page editor
“It is a gap that is intensely active. A sort of wraith of the name is in it, beckoning us in a given direction, making us tingle with the sense of our closeness and then letting us sink back without the longed-for term.”
Just what was William James, a 19th century American psychologist, so intensely describing? It has been annoying people for ages, stumping psychologists since the 1800’s, and is commonly known as tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon. As defined by bookrags.com, tip-of-thetongue phenomenon is “trying but failing to retrieve someone’s name or a word from memory.” While lethologica is the scientific name of the syndrome, the public more commonly uses the term “brain freeze” to describe the vague sensation when the word is right “on the tip of my tongue.” When tip-of-the-tongue arbitrarily strikes an innocent victim, a person may
gaze aimlessly into space, focused only on remembering that particular elusive word. What can be done to remedy the situation, and what caused it in the first place? New studies suggest that tip-of-the-tongue is caused by errors in encoding words and their proper meanings in long-term memory. When information is first learned, it is held in the short-term, or working, memory store and then transferred to long-term, or permanent, memory. When something goes wrong, the meaning of a new word cannot be properly associated with that word rapidly. Errors occur more often during this process in people with learning disabilities. Mrs. Stacy Kerrigan, geography and AP psychology teacher, said, “If that (the process of encoding) is inhibited, it will obviously be harder for them (people with learning disabilities) to retrieve the word.” Others who have a particular problem with this phenomenon are the elderly and patients with Parkinson’s disease. Synapses fire to make connections in the brain between words and their meanings. As one ages or
is affected by a disease such as Parkinson’s, these synapses fire more slowly, causing communication problems. Solving crossword puzzles has been shown to decrease the prevalence of tip-of-the-tongue because they keep the synapses firing rapidly. In addition to crossword puzzles, other options have been explored to relieve the symptoms of tip-of-the-tongue. The most natural reaction when tip-of-the-tongue surfaces in a conversation is for other people to begin shouting out words that may fit the meaning the person is looking for. In addition to synonyms, words that rhyme with the desired word can also trigger the mind of a person suffering tip-of-the-tongue. Looking at pictures of similar objects can help as well. If a person cannot think of the word “dog”, showing him or her pictures of a cat, pig or bird may trigger the person’s memory. C ognitive psychologists continue to perform research on this widespread phenomenon. However, “It is universal across all languages,” said Mrs. Kerrigan.
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has an effect not only on the heart and muscles, but also on the mind and the hormones in the body. Feeling depressed, bored, stressed and anxious leaves the human body tense. Laughing provides a release for those emotions, helping your body feel more at ease and comfortable. “Laughing just puts me in a good mood and I don’t worry about [stress]” said Rhodes. The reason Rhodes and countless others experience brighter moods after laughing is because laughter increases the production of serotonin, a natural anti-depressant. The body’s natural pain-killers, endorphins, are released during laughter. Endorphins assist in reducing the intensity of pain felt by those suffering from arthritis and muscle spasms. Willis said, “Having a good laugh is tiring for sure, using all of that breath, but it makes the next 20 or 30 minutes a better 20 or 30 minutes.”
It’s right there. . .
Overcome tip-of-thetongue syndrome with these easy steps. 1. Perform a cross word puzzle. 2. Visit Onelook.com: type in the definition of the word you can’t remember the name of and this website will give you the name of what you’re looking for. 3. Look at pictures of similar things. 4. Have those around you say words that are in the same category of your forgotten word.