Comedy films boost blood flow to the heart (press release)

Email this article to a friend

Printable Version

Articles Related to This Article: • Blaming dietary sodium for high blood pressure is too simplistic; the real problem may be mineral deficiencies • American Diabetes Association peddling nutritional nonsense while accepting money from manufacturer of candy and sodas • Potassium normalizes high blood pressure NaturalNews Store Specials: • Raw organic Vanilla powder at 40% off • Revolutionary new Hurom Slow Juicer at the lowest price on the 'net + FREE shipping! • Certified Organic Nutiva Hemp Seeds at a huge discount (+ FREE bottle of hemp oil) See more at the NN store...

Watching comedy films boosts blood flow to the heart, finds a small study in the journal Heart.

Researchers asked 20 healthy young adults to watch 15 to 30 minute segments of sad and humorous films, a minimum of 48 hours apart.

Examples of sad films included the opening scene of Saving Private Ryan and examples of comedy films included There's Something About Mary.

Participants were asked to abstain from drinking alcohol, using vitamins or herbs, or taking aerobic exercise the evening before the experiment, as all these can affect blood flow.

In all, 160 measurements of brachial artery blood flow were taken before and one minute after phases of laughter or sadness. The brachial artery runs from the shoulder to the elbow, and is a good indicator of blood flow around the body.

Brachial artery blood flow was reduced in 14 of the 20 participants after watching movie clips that caused distress. But it was increased in 19 of the 20 participants after watching movie clips that elicited laughter. The difference in flow between sad and happy responses exceeded 50 per cent.

The extent of the impact of watching a sad film was of the same magnitude as remembering episodes of anger and doing mental arithmetic, say the authors, while the impact of watching a funny film was equivalent to a bout of aerobic exercise or starting on statin treatment.

Share

Get articles like this delivered to you FREE in our popular email newsletter

Related CounterThink Cartoons:

Related Articles: • Blaming dietary sodium for high blood pressure is too simplistic; the real problem may be mineral deficiencies • American Diabetes Association peddling nutritional nonsense while accepting money from manufacturer of candy and sodas • Potassium normalizes high blood pressure	Take Action: Support NaturalNews.com Email this article to a friend Share this article on: NewsVine | digg | del.icio.us Permalink to this article: http://www.NaturalNews.com/020184_blood_flow_SAD.html Reprinting this article: Non-commercial use OK, cite NaturalNews.com with clickable link. Embed article link: (copy HTML code below): <a href = "http://www.NaturalNews.com/020184_blood_flow_SAD.html">Comedy films boost blood flow to the heart (press release)</a>