A Gorilla a day, chases the blues away.

Was in a meeting with two men this morning. One of the men,  a successful 60 years old business man, recounted a Halloween experience he had as a freshman in college.

Picture this:  Young freshman dressed in a gorilla suit.   Assignment is to stand in a dark corner of a very hot, very dark Halloween haunted house made by his fraternity, jump out and scare people coming through.  All evening Gorilla jumps out successfully scaring people. Gorilla jumps out to scare preadolescent boy.  

Boy knees gorilla and runs away.  Gorilla falls writhing to the floor.  Haunted house spectators think it’s part of the “fun”.  Gorilla crawls moaning in agony through haunted house, spectators assuming this too is part of the show.  Gorilla reaches outside of haunted house. Gorilla is in agony.

Fraternity brothers call paramedics.  Gorilla is taken to the hospital where he spends the night until his (ok, keep this out of earshot of underaged children) right  ball reduces in size from a blue grapefruit to normal proportions.

I laughed until the tears were running down my face.  Why do I feel so refreshed now!?

Laughter dissolves tension, stress, anxiety, irritation, anger, grief, and depression. Like crying, laughter lowers inhibitions, allowing the release of pent-up emotions. After a hearty bout of laughter, you will experience a sense of well-being. Simply put, he who laughs, lasts.

If you can laugh at it, you can live with it.

• Medical researches have found that laughter boosts the immune system. Laughter decreases stress hormones and increases immune cells and infection-fighting antibodies, thus improving your resistance to disease.
• Laughter reduces pain by releasing endorphins the body’s natural feel-good chemicals. Endorphins promote an overall sense of well-being and can even temporarily relieve pain.
• Humor helps integrate both hemispheres of our brain, for the left hemisphere is used to decipher the verbal content of a joke while the right hemisphere interprets whether it is funny or not.
• Laughter relaxes the whole body. A good, hearty laugh relieves physical tension and stress, leaving your muscles relaxed for up to 45 minutes after.
• Laughter protects the heart. Laughter improves the function of blood vessels and increases blood flow, which can help protect you against a heart attack and other cardiovascular problems.

I’ll never think about gorillas again without smiling, but then again I’m a woman.  The other man who was listening to the story is probably still clutching his . . . . .