In my recent travels to the other side of the world, I noticed how different the cultures are and being an immigrant myself, I remember the very first day of us coming to the States … it was like smiles central; everybody would greet us with a friendly smile. It was a huge culture shock for me, but I got used to it after a while and now wouldn’t have it any other way. So, as I landed back in my home country, that was the very first thing I noticed … nobody was smiling, in fact people were frowning. I knew I had to adjust in order not to be perceived as weird and a tourist. However, that got me thinking how detrimental it is for us to constantly frown, so here are all the reasons you should fill your life with smiles and laughter :)

When we laugh every organ in the body is affected in a positive way
- Our breath quickens, which exercised the diaphragm, neck, stomach, face and shoulders
- Increases amount of oxygen in the blood
- Helps healing
  - Laughter stimulates the body’s natural painkillers and “feel good” enhancers, known as endorphins, helping relieve stress and heal the body
  - Improves circulation
  - Expands blood vessels close to the skin’s surface (that’s the reason you get red after a laughing hard for a while)
  - Lowers the heart rate
  - Dilate the arteries
  - Stimulate the appetite
  - Burn up calories
  - 1 minutes of solid laughter provides up to 45 minutes of subsequent relaxation
  - 100 laughs will give your body an aerobic workout equal to that of a ten-minute session on a rowing machine
  - Improves overall health

Medically speaking, the reasons above are why a damn good laugh is damn good for you!:)

Science has proved that the more you smile, the more positive reactions others will give you:
- Smiling attracts friends
- In business, smiling at appropriate times during negotiation such as during the opening stages where people are sizing each other up, produces a positive response on both sides of the table = more successful outcome and higher sales ratios
- Laughter in love is the top of women’s priority list of what they look for in a man
- Smiling and laughter are a way of bonding and building relationships
- In advertising, humor sells

Research shows that people who laugh or smile, even when they don’t feel especially happy, make part of the “happy zone” in the brain’s left hemisphere surge with electrical activity. So, even if you don’t have anything in particular to laugh about, make time to smile for no reason at all, because it moves brain activity toward spontaneous happiness

Life is short, so smile every day! :)

Humor is the Universal Language