GROW SOME GRATITUDE

It’s not a laugh-out-loud emotion but gratitude helps create a calmer mood and may bring other benefits too.

A study was conducted asking cardio patients to keep a gratitude journal for eight weeks, writing down two or three things they were grateful for on most days of the week. At the end of the study these patients had a better mood, better sleep and less fatigue compared to another group of cardio patients who followed their doctors’ recommendations, but without keeping a journal. Two months later, the patients were retested: those who stuck with the gratitude journal had an improved heart rhythm.

– Ros Ben-Moshe, Adjunct Lecturer at LaTrobe University’s school of Public Health and Psychology.

Laughter IS the best medicine

Laughing can boost our oxygen intake, improve artery function and increase the brain’s production of feel good chemicals called endorphins – just like exercise. Find out how to get more laughter in your life.