Laugh your way fit!

I'm a grown man. I'm a quite big grown man. I'm a quite big grown man, sitting behind a laptop in a quiet literary cafe in Tufnell Park laughing my head off. At nothing.

As experiments go, it borders on the unscientific. But I had two hypotheses in mind - 1) That laughing in public, out loud and with no apparent reason for doing so will cause people to give me a wide berth. Yes, I can confirm that that will happen!
2) That by laughing I will feel relaxed, happy and positive.

Well, why have I reached this hypothesis?

Laughing has been shown to reduce muscle tension, increase the amount of oxygen in the blood, exercise the heart and produce happy chemicals in the brain called endorphins. As an added extra it also burns a small amount of calories - but, many small baby steps can take you a long way.

Laugh like a gurgling baby!

So, is this going to help you to reach your health and physical goals? Well, I'd say so. The result of my laughing madman routine at the cafe has left me feeling quite giddy, open to new thoughts, ready to be charming to others and so positive that I think it may add 30 minutes onto my workout today. On top of that, I know that it is lowering levels of the stress hormone cortisol, which are known to increase your chances of becoming fat! So I can laugh my way thinner too... in fact I have noticed that many comedians, especially the laughing, manic ones can be in pretty good shape.

Admittedly, it is unlikely that this is the look you are after, the spaniel on steroids appearance is a little unnerving.

Laughing is a small but pleasurable thing that you can throw into your day... watch some Monty Python, go to a stand up gig, read some Tom Sharpe or just enjoy being around friends. It will make your day easier and be beneficial to your health and the look of your body!

I say, just laugh... whatever it is you are doing right now, just laugh. Plus, a deep belly laugh is going to work your abs at the same time. Result!
Beware of the link below. I saw this show in Edinburgh this year, had me laughing like a chimp at a food fight but it was possibly the most offensive show to some... it will make you laugh though!