Paolo Trinidad says to laugh your way out of stress!

Paolo Trinidad

Yes, that's what Paolo Martin Trinidad said during his talk at the EJAP Wellness Fair last Saturday at The Grove by Rockwell. In fact, he stressed that we only need 20-seconds of mirthful laughter to work our way out of stress. The benefit is that it is equivalent to a 3-5 minute heavy workout that can burn up to 300 calories.

Trinidad always wanted to promote laughter that he founded the Pinoy Laughter Yoga  in the Philippines after studying under Dr. Madan Kataria in Bangalore, India, the founder of Laughter Yoga International.

He cited that Dr. William Fry, the father of gelotology (the science of laughter) who has established strong laboratory evidence that mirthful laughter stimulates most of the major physiologic systems of the body. Based on his study, laughter speeds up the heart rate, improves blood circulation and works muscles all over the body. This means, it will help decrease chances of heart attacks by easing tension, stress and anger; and may even prevent strokes and lessen discomfort of people suffering from cancer.

Trinidad strongly advises to have a good belly laugh at least once a day and if you can't have one, it's better to fake it.  He said that there is no difference between real laughter and faking it anyway. The psychological effects and the health benefits are  the same.

learning how to Ha-He-Hi-Ho-Hu

Citing another expert, he said that Dr. Kataria noticed that the body cannot differentiate between real and fake happiness. If you fake it, the brain starts to produce happy chemicals or endorphins." He noted that after working personally with depressed people in jails and hospitals, their moods significantly  improved,

What he did was to teach them the scientific way to laughter. This is, to utter different sounds which corresponds to the different parts of the body - "ha" is for the heart, "he" for the throat, "hi" for the brain, ho for the solar plexus (emotions). and "hu" for intimacy.

Here's how to do it (unfortunately I only was able to video the hi' part):
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CoQMMKiAcyQ

He warned thought not to do  laughter therapy  "if you have hemorrhage, any kind of hernia, any persistent cough, epilepsy, heart disease, high blood pressure, urinary tract infection, loose bowel movement, severe backache, surgery within the last 3 months and conception period."

Well, I guess laughter is indeed the best medicine!