Are you feeling down… stressed… tense… or depressed? Does it seem like your spouse keeps stepping on your last nerve… and your coworkers were put on this earth to drive you crazy? Well, laugh it off and you’ll live a longer, healthier and more satisfying life according to recent studies.

Laughter has been shown to relax muscles, increase oxygen flow, promote circulation and reduce tension, as well as lower blood pressure, aid in social bonding, ease stress and boost your immune system. It can even help promote a healthier appetite in the elderly or disabled, and may even lower your cholesterol and reduce your heart disease risk.

A recent health report lists the following five benefits of a good sense of humor:

• Most laughs involve exhaling deeply and when you exhale, your blood pressure and heart rate decrease, and you then experience a calmness and sense of relief indicates Dacher Keltner, Ph.D. professor of psychology at the University of California at Berkeley.
• You’ll be better able to bond with your spouse because those who laugh together to ease tension are much more likely to have better marriages according to John Gottman, Ph.D., a psychologist at the Gottman Institute.
• According to researchers from the Loma Linda University in California, even anticipating a good laugh decreases your stress hormones dopac (by 38 percent), cortisol (by 39 percent) and epinephrine (by 70 percent).
• In a study reported in the International Journal of Medical Sciences, those of us who enjoy chuckling as much as 10 to 25 times a day experience fewer diseases than those who laugh less than that amount.
• A survey of close to 600 men shows that 73 percent believed that having a good sense of humor made them better on their jobs.

What better way to promote good health and great happiness than to laugh your way through life. Try it daily and you’ll find that laughter truly is the best medicine.