A good bout of laughter can be highly infectious. There are lots of truth in the saying “laughter is the best medicine”. Various chemical reactions take place in the body when you are having a good laugh, and the scientific study of the psychological, physiological and neurological effects of laughter even has a name attached to it – gelotology!  The claimed positive effects of laughter: ·         Laughter leads to physiological changes in the body – muscles stretch throughout the face and body, the pulse and blood pressure increase, and breathing is faster and sends more oxygen to body tissues. ·         Laughter is a great reliever of stress, as it helps to regulate the stress hormones cortisol and epinephrine. ·         Laughter

There are lots of truth in the saying “laughter is the best medicine”. Various chemical reactions take place in the body when you are having a good laugh, and the scientific study of the psychological, physiological and neurological effects of laughter even has a name attached to it – gelotology! The claimed positive effects of laughter: Laughter leads to physiological changes in the body – muscles stretch throughout the face and body, the pulse and blood pressure increase, and breathing is faster and sends more oxygen to bodily tissues. Laughter is a great reliever of stress, as it helps to regulate the stress hormones cortisol and epinephrine. Laughter and the accompanying positive thoughts can release neuropeptides that help to fight

“The human race has only one really effective weapon and that is laughter.” Mark Twain. A sense of humour: Saying someone has a sense of humour may mean different things to different people. For example, the perceptions of what constitutes a desirable sense of humour in a potential partner, are quite different between the opposite sexes:- • Women perceive a good sense of humour in a prospective mate as someone who makes them laugh. • Men regard a good sense of homour in a prospective mate as someone who laughs at their jokes! Generally speaking, a sense of humour can have many different meanings: • Someone who laughs at the same things that we do. • Someone who is easily

“The smile is the shortest distance between two persons.” Victor Borge. The act of smiling has intrigued scientists over the ages. The best-known earlier study in this regard was a French study on smiling, whose findings were published in 1862. The French anatomist Guillaume Duchenne studied emotional expression by stimulating various facial muscles with electrical currents.  This technique was so painful that he probably ran out of volunteers, as he started performing some of his tests on the severed heads of executed criminals! The anatomy of a smile involves two sets of muscles waiting readily and are roused into action when the emotional center of the brain initiates a smile.  The zygomatic major muscles reside in the cheeks and tugs