Learning to Laugh

Learning to laugh with a group is often easier, you can benefit from laughing by yourself for 15 minutes a day.

Here's the laughter exercise:

1. Give 3 big, noisy sighs as you inhale through your nose and exhale through your mouth.
2. Stretch gently. Bring your shoulders to your ears; then lower gently. Rotate feet and elbows; turn your head from side to side—gently.
3. Take a few deep abdominal breaths and release slowly.
4. Holding your hands under your belly, make a laughing "ho-ho-ho." Make sure the sound comes from your core (you'll feel it in your hands when you're doing it right). Repeat 3 groups of 3, several times.
5. Change the sound to "ha-ha-ha" and repeat as above.
6. Change the sound to "hee-hee-hee" and repeat as above.
7. Put all 3 sounds together—"ho-ho-ho, ha-ha-ha, hee-hee-hee"—and repeat for 3 rounds, continuing until you develop a rhythm.
8. After the final round, break into your own natural laughter. Continue for a few minutes. If it becomes difficult, stop and go back to step #3 and start the laughing cycle again.

The exercise may feel contrived at first, but your normal laugh will come.

"We have gotten ourselves so overscheduled and overwhelmed that we forget to be like children. We forget to give ourselves permission to be happy, to smile,".

"This is one tool to put in your toolbox to make your life more rewarding and make you feel better."

To Protect a Million Hearts

A bold initiative called Million Hearts aims to prevent one million heart attacks and strokes from happening over the next five years. “This wide-ranging collaboration among communities, health systems, government agencies, and private-sector partners will rely on individuals like you and me to meet that goal.

The initiative is spearheaded by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Its main focus is to encourage more widespread and appropriate use of simple, effective, and inexpensive actions dubbed the ABCS:

• taking daily low-dose Aspirin, if prescribed. Only half of Americans who should be taking aspirin are doing it.
• managing Blood pressure and Cholesterol levels. Both of these silent conditions contribute to heart attack and stroke.
• quitting Smoking. Help is available for anyone who wants to quit.

In addition to reviewing the most current targets for blood pressure, cholesterol, and smoking cessation—and strategies for hitting them—we added D (for Diet) and E (for Exercise) to the Million Hearts alphabet. Because eating healthfully and staying physically active are important contributors to preventing cardiovascular disease.