Why Do We Laugh?

The reasons we laugh, including "contagious" laughter, may be products of evolution.

Natural laughter is a two-part, spontaneous, response to humor, that has physiological, psychological, and physical benefits.

Most agree that we laugh when we find something to be humorous, yet different reasons exist for what we find to be humorous. Additionally, different things are humorous to us at different stages of life.

Laughter, a physiological response to humor, can be broken down into two parts.

The first is a set of gestures, and the second is the production of sound. The brain forces to conduct both responses simultaneously. From a physiological standpoint, a "sensor" in the brain responds to laughter by triggering other neural circuits in the brain, which, in turn, generate more laughter.

Oddly enough, laughter is an orderly response, and almost occurs "spontaneously" during pauses at the end of phrases, earning it the name the punctuation effect. Human beings are the only species capable of laughter, and the average adult does so approximately 17 times per day.

Good health is one of the many benefits of laughter. Laughter reduces our stress levels by reducing the level of stress hormones, and also helps us cope with serious illnesses.

Physiologically, laughter promotes healing, by lowering the blood pressure, and by increasing the vascular blood flow and the oxygenation of the blood.

Physical fitness stemming from laughter is a benefit known to few. Scientists estimate that laughing 100 times is equivalent to a 10-minute workout on a rowing machine, or to 15 minutes on a stationary exercise bike. The mere act of laughing exercises the diaphragm, as well as the abdominal, respiratory, facial, leg, and back muscles.

Another benefit of laughter is that it improves our over-all mental health. Pent up negative emotions, such as anger, fear, and sadness, can cause biochemical changes in our bodies that can produce a harmful effect.

Laughter provides a harmless outlet for these negative emotions, and provides a coping mechanism for dealing with difficult or stressful situations.

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7 Questions To Help Parents And Children With ADHD Succeed With Homework

By Sarah Jane Keyser

If you are a parent of a child with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) and you have big time problems with homework, explore these seven questions with your child to create the best environment for him or her to succeed.

Understanding how your child's brain functions will help you find the strategies that work best.

When we are interested in something and are good at it, such as math or English, interest stimulates the brain and aids focusing. For people with ADHD the greater the passion the easier it is to pay attention. Kids who have an interest may be a walking encyclopedia for their favorite topic, like dinosaurs or basketball, but hopeless about school. The problems arise with subjects that are not interesting and may be particularly difficult for your child.

New research supports this experiential evidence.
Recent research has identified two separate areas in the brain which are used to focus attention. The parietal cortex reacts to external stimuli; the prefrontal cortex is active when you must choose what to pay attention to.

The prefrontal cortex is the brain part that is used for executive functions like deciding, planning and activating and is under active in ADHD. It is the last part of the brain to reach full maturity (that's why Hertz and Avis don't rent cars to people under age 25). Children with ADHD may be two to three years behind their age peers in mental maturity, but they do get there.

How can you use this information to help your child do his homework?
Your job, Mom and Dad, is to provide the environment that works for your child.

You do not want to do it for him or be dogmatic about how, where or when he should do his homework. But you do need to provide more structure and organizational assistance than for other children of his age.

Talk and explore with her to discover what kind of stimulation works best to help her brain stay focused, every child is different. Your goal is to provide en environment which provides the right stimulation for her unique brain.

Seven questions for you to explore.
1. When does he work best? He probably needs some exercise and a snack after school before settling down to do homework. A snack should include some protein for fuel for the brain.

2. Where does he work best? Does he work best alone in his room with no distractions or does he work better in an open area with some noise and movement around to provide stimulation? Does background music of his choosing help him stay on task?

3. Does he need to move often? Let him work in small chunks and take a short break to jump a bit between chunks. Explore using a rocking chair or a rubber ball seat.

4. Is he an aural or visual learner? Our modern world is expressed mostly through visual media, but some people learn better aurally. If your child is an aural learner have him work out loud recording his lessons on a tape recorder.

5. Is he a verbal or a graphic learner? Some children work better with pictures than with words. Let him use his creativity to illustrate his lessons with pictures cut from old magazines or his own drawings. Provide colored pens and highlighters to make his notes stimulating to look at.

6. Does he have a problem with time? Many people with ADHD have an elastic sense of time. Have your child practice measuring the time he needs to do each assignment. Prepare a chart on which he can record estimated time, start time, end time, elapsed time, and the difference from estimated time for each assignment.

7. Does he have difficulty starting? Some children with ADHD see tasks as one big overwhelming cloud. They need help finding where to begin. Talk with him about the steps he needs to accomplish starting with very simple actions like open your book, read the first problem.

Most important! Enjoy! Have fun!
Tell a silly joke before he starts or when he takes a break. This may sound paradoxical, but laughing lowers the stress level for you and your child.

Courage! Graduation will be here sooner than you think.
Sarah Jane Keyser worked for many years with computers as grammar, analyst, and user trainer, but her struggle with inattentive ADD kept getting in the way of her plans and dreams. Once ADD was identified and the great need that coaching filled, she added ADD Coach training to complete her preparation for a new career as ADD Coach.

For a free coaching session, contact me at skeyser@bluewin.ch. Learn more about ADHD at http://www.CoachingKeytoADD.com or sign up for Zebra Stripes, a free E-zine for ADHD at http://www.coachingkeytoadd.com/newsletter/newsarchive.html.
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Success, Personal Growth - 6 Tips for Making Better Decisions

by Kevin J John

The ability to make quick and definite decisions is one of the keys to success. The opposite of decisiveness is procrastination, the greatest thief of your time. You need to constantly tune and develop your decisions making skills to make faster and better decisions. How do you measure up against the 6 tips in this article?

You must banish indecision and procrastination form your life. Every time you put off a decision, you waste time thinking about it and loose opportunity that you could have had if you made a quick decision.

Here are 6 tips to help you become more decisive and make better and faster decisions.

1. Do not let yourself be easily influenced by the opinions of others. It is true that you should make informed decisions, but it is also true that only you can make the decisions about situations that are important to you. Other people’s opinions are just that and no more.

You will find it easier to make decisions if you don’t devote a lot of attention to other people’s opinions or even worse, your fears about what they might think if you make a decision.

Remember that they are not you. Their needs and perceptions of the situation you are in are different to you.

2. Only get advice from a very few people that you trust. Sometimes you will need to get help in looking at your decision from another perspective. When you need to do this find someone, or at most a handful of people, who can help you to review the decision that you are going to make before you make it.

They should be people with a good understanding of what you are trying to achieve and preferably with experience of success in the situation you find yourself in. These people will often not be close friends and relatives, rather they will be people who are trying to achieve similar things to you in your life.

3. Let your actions do the talking. One way to avoid the flood of opinions and negative comments that often accompanies a decision is to make the decision and then get on with it.

The actions you take and the results you get will show them what you have decided. And if it does not, wait until you are confident in the outcome of your decision before telling them.

4. Recognize when you don’t have the knowledge to make a good decision. Making quick decisions is very important, but sometimes you just don’t know enough to make a good decision. Learning to recognize that “you don’t know what you don’t know” will help you to make better decisions. Set yourself a timetable for acquiring the knowledge that you need, don’t permit yourself to spend a moment longer on gathering information than you need.

Then make that decision!

5. Be resolute in your decisions. Once your decision is made, stick by it. Don’t go and make a different decision 5 minutes later. All you will do is end up hopping from one fad to the next, never making any real progress.

Of course you must recognize that you made your decision with the best knowledge available to you at the time. With hindsight you may realize that you may have overlooked something important and eventually you may have to reconsider your decision. But don’t rush to do so. Be prepared to put some effort in to following through with your decision.

6. Write down your decision. Write down why you made the decision and what it was in a notebook or somewhere where you can refer back to it later. That way you can keep your decision in front of you at all times and remind yourself why you made it.

Being decisive is important for success. Procrastination will steal your time and waste opportunities that are in front of you. If you put into practice the 6 tips we’ve discussed in this article, you will become more decisive and make better decisions. Your journey to success in your endeavors will be shorter and easier.

Would you like to learn more about success, personal growth?
Download my latest e-book here Principles of Success. Visit my website for more resources, articles, and support materials about success and personal growth.
Kevin John has spent many years helping businesses owners, aspiring business owners, and private individuals to develop the understanding and skills needed to achieve the success that they want.
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