Laughter yoga is based on a simple truth that all children know: laughter makes you feel better (children laugh about 400 times a day; adults, 15 times). Developed by Madan Kataria, a family physician from India, laughter yoga is spreading across the United States and the world. Some typical exercises include:
- Greeting laughter: Laughing while shaking hands with at least four or five people in a group.
- Appreciation laughter: Joining the index finger with the thumb to make the universal “okay” sign to other group members while laughing simultaneously.
As these examples illustrate, laughter yoga is not really about humor (or yoga), but rather exploits the natural human tendency to laugh when others laugh - so when a group of people forces laughter, it quickly transitions to real, spontaneous laughing. One participant in a laughter yoga program at the University of Michigan’s Health System said, “It gives me a relaxed feeling, and yet I actually feel like I worked out.”
I find this trend fascinating, and have no doubt that boosting the laughter quotient in the daily life of an adult is indeed healthy. If you are intrigued, learn more at Dr. Kataria’s Web site, http://www.laughteryoga.org and give it a try!
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Raising Vitamin D Levels May Save Your Life
The lower your vitamin D levels, the higher your risk of death from any cause. These ominous findings, reported in the August 11, 2008 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine, come from an analysis of data from 13,331 adults ages 20 and older. The analysis showed that vitamin D deficiency increased the risk of death from all causes by 26 percent. The researchers suggested that these findings should be confirmed by an actual study, and vitamin D supplements should be investigated as a way to reduce the risk of death. Earlier studies have linked vitamin D deficiency to cardiovascular disease, cancer and death in heart disease patients, dialysis patients, and others. The researchers noted that vitamin D deficiencies are common - affecting about 41% of men and 53% of women in the United States. Participants in the studies analyzed who reported more physical activity, took vitamin D supplements or were assessed during the warmer months of the year were less likely to be deficient. Those at highest risk for deficiencies were older, female, nonwhite, had diabetes, were smokers and were overweight or obese.
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Run for Your Life
Regular running in middle age and beyond could lengthen your life and reduce your risk of heart disease, cancer and neurological diseases including Alzheimer's. A study from Stanford University reported in the August 11, 2008 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine showed that runners ages 50 to 72 had a 40 percent lower risk of being moderately disabled or of dying after 21-years of follow-up, compared to healthy controls. Moral of this story: regular exercise really does pay off. The study began in 1984, when 538 members of a nationwide running club for those 50 and older and 423 healthy Stanford faculty and staff members ages 26 to 70 who weren’t runners signed on to complete annual questionnaires about their daily activities, including their exercise programs. At the outset, the runners were younger, more likely to be men and less likely to smoke than the controls. Although disabilities increased in both groups over time, they occurred at a significantly greater rate among the non-runners. At the end of the 21 years, 15 percent of the runners had died compared with 34 percent of the controls.
Getting Fit in Eight Weeks
Dr. Weil’s My Optimum Health Plan has weekly fitness goals to help you start a fitness routine. It could change your life - in just eight weeks! Visit today for a free tour and recipe.
Orange-Jicama Salad
This colorful salad uses jicama, a crunchy and sweet root vegetable common to Latin countries. The pairing with oranges and cilantro gives it a distinctive Mexican flair. It would be a wonderful salad to serve with Vegetarian Chili or your favorite Mexican meal. During the winter holidays, add some pomegranate seeds to make it even more festive.
View Recipe
Healthy Aging Tip
Courtesy of Dr.Weil on Healthy Aging
Seasonal Food - Swiss Chard. One of the dark, leafy greens that nutritionists love to recommend, Swiss chard is similar to spinach, kale and collard greens. Tall and leafy with a crunchy stalk, chard is slightly salty and a tad bitter, and works well with fish and vegetable dishes. It is an excellent source of vitamins A, K, C, E, magnesium, manganese, potassium, and iron. Its combination of nutrients, phytonutrients and fiber helps to prevent digestive-tract cancers, including colon cancer, and chard is a good source of osteocalin, necessary for bone health. Join Dr. Weil on Healthy Aging for access to recipes using Swiss chard!
Featured Discussion:
“How safe are Chinese herbs?” asks leodog.
We hear so much about air and water pollution in China, how safe are Chinese herbs and roots? How can we tell we are getting the safe ones? Are there toxicity tests to determine the levels? (If so)… how do you go about getting (herbs) tested?
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What’s New
Healthy Aging Workshop with Andrew Weil, M.D.
October 26 - 29, 2008, Tucson, Ariz.
During this three-day workshop you'll learn techniques that will help you thrive in every stage of your life. Join Dr. Weil and his personally selected group of experts from various fields (nutrition, fitness, movement and more) pertaining to healthy aging. There are a limited number of openings for this extraordinary opportunity to meet and learn from Dr. Weil himself, the founder of the Program in Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona. For more information, or to register visit Miraval's Web site.
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