{"id":6696,"date":"2017-02-13T18:10:31","date_gmt":"2017-02-14T02:10:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lifeandhealth.wordifysites.com\/?p=6696"},"modified":"2021-11-10T14:47:44","modified_gmt":"2021-11-10T22:47:44","slug":"my-funny-valentine-the-health-benefits-of-chocolate-and-laughter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lifeandhealth.org\/mindfulness\/emotional-health\/my-funny-valentine-the-health-benefits-of-chocolate-and-laughter\/186696.html","title":{"rendered":"My Funny Valentine: The Health Benefits of Chocolate and Laughter"},"content":{"rendered":"

Love is in the air\u2026along with the sweet smell of roses and chocolates. The reason is, what else, but because Valentine\u2019s Day is here.<\/p>\n

Now, aside from the fact that this day can be a struggle for men everywhere (what do you give the woman who has everything?)<\/em> and possibly a source of dread for singles, there are definite perks to having some delectable (but moderate, of course) quantities of chocolate and laughter.<\/p>\n

Dark chocolate and high blood pressure<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Believe it or not, some studies have shown that dark chocolate actually has some health benefits associated with its flavor. A few studies even revealed that it may actually lower your blood pressure.<\/p>\n

According to one study, 100 grams of dark chocolate consumed every day for three weeks lowered participants\u2019 blood pressure by 5 points. To put that into perspective, some of the most commonly prescribed blood pressure medications (Lisinopril, Atenolol, etc.) are considered highly effective if they can lower blood pressure by 5-10 points. So, in dark chocolate lowering blood pressure by 5 points after just three weeks of consumption, you may wonder, \u201cwhy can\u2019t my medicine always taste this good?\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s important to note that 100 grams of chocolate a day is less than 4 ounces, so I\u2019m not recommending you to eat an entire bag of Hershey\u2019s Kisses. In addition, keep track of any added sugar in your blood pressure-reducing chocolate. As much as possible, you want the highest percent of dark chocolate\u201470% or higher\u2014with the lowest amount of added sugar.<\/p>\n

My funny Valentine<\/strong><\/h2>\n

We all know the old adage, \u201cLaughter is the best medicine,\u201d but is there really any truth to that? Several universities conducted studies to find out.<\/p>\n

    \n
  • Loma Linda University<\/strong> did a study that revealed that just 20 minutes of laughter can increase recall abilities by about 44% and significantly lower cortisol (stress hormone) levels in those ages 60-70.<\/li>\n
  • A study by Vanderbilt University <\/strong>revealed that 10-15 minutes of laughter can burn up to 45-50 calories.<\/li>\n
  • The University of Maryland <\/strong>showed that laughter can actually lower blood pressure and protect against heart disease.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    There are many more studies on the health benefits of laughter, but the most well-known written account that I can recall was noted in a memoir of the late American journalist, Norman Cousins. Suffering from Ankylosing Spondylitis, an incurable autoimmune disease that causes joints to fuse together, Cousins was in constant, debilitating pain. But, he found that 10 minutes of laughter provided him with two hours of pain-free sleep. That\u2019s a refreshing oasis for those in constant pain!<\/p>\n

    With that, have a piece of dark chocolate and share a laugh with your Valentine! Know that you\u2019re helping your heart, as well as your mind, on multiple levels.<\/p>\n

    I can\u2019t help myself. In light of the occasion and topic, I have to leave you with a couple of my best Valentine\u2019s jokes, with the warning that \u201cmy best jokes\u201d are often rather corny.<\/p>\n

    Joke 1<\/strong><\/p>\n

    What do you call two birds in love?
    \nTweet-hearts!<\/em><\/p>\n

    Joke 2<\/strong><\/p>\n

    What do squirrels give for Valentine\u2019s Day?
    \nForget-me-nuts!<\/em><\/p>\n

    Like I said, a bit corny. Happy Valentine\u2019s Day, folks!<\/p>\n

    \n

    Sources<\/p>\n

    “Dark Chocolate and Blood Pressure: A Novel Study from Jordan.”\u00a0Current Drug Delivery.<\/em>\u00a0U.S. National Library of Medicine, 8 Nov. 2011. Web. 13 Feb. 2017. <https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/21696359>.<\/p>\n

    DeNoon, Daniel J. “Dark Chocolate Is Healthy Chocolate.”\u00a0WebMD<\/em>. WebMD, 27 Aug. 2003. Web. 13 Feb. 2017. <http:\/\/www.webmd.com\/diet\/news\/20030827\/dark-chocolate-is-healthy-chocolate#1>.<\/p>\n

    Strean, William B. “Laughter Prescription.”\u00a0Canadian Family Physician<\/em>. College of Family Physicians of Canada, Oct. 2009. Web. 13 Feb. 2017. <https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC2762283\/>.<\/p>\n

    Shah, Yagana. “New Study Proves That Laughter Really Is The Best Medicine.”\u00a0The Huffington Post<\/em>. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 22 Apr. 2014. Web. 13 Feb. 2017. <http:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.com\/2014\/04\/22\/laughter-and-memory_n_5192086.html>.<\/p>\n

    Griffin, R. Morgan. “Laughter: Good For Your Health.”\u00a0WebMD<\/em>. WebMD, n.d. Web. 13 Feb. 2017. <http:\/\/www.webmd.com\/balance\/features\/give-your-body-boost-with-laughter#2>.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Love is in the air\u2026along with the sweet smell of roses and chocolates. The reason is, what else, but because Valentine\u2019s Day is here. Now, aside from the fact that this day can be a struggle for men everywhere (what do you give the woman who has everything?) and possibly a source of dread for…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1428,"featured_media":6697,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[200,96,182,555],"thb-sponsors":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-6696","post","type-post","status-publish","format-image","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-emotional-health","tag-emotional-health-2","tag-mental-health","tag-mind-body-spirit","tag-seasonal","post_format-post-format-image"],"acf":[],"views":1366,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeandhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6696","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeandhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeandhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeandhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1428"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeandhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6696"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lifeandhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6696\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6700,"href":"https:\/\/lifeandhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6696\/revisions\/6700"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeandhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6697"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeandhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6696"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeandhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6696"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeandhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6696"},{"taxonomy":"thb-sponsors","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeandhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/thb-sponsors?post=6696"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeandhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=6696"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}