Monday, June 23, 2008

Humor & Heart Disease

I ran across the perfect survey for this blog. It is a humor and heart disease survey on the University of Maryland Medical Center website. The survey, originally published in November of 2000, helps you determine how well your individual sense of humor will help protect you from heart disease. The survey comes from a study conducted by the university that found that laughter may in fact be good medicine.

“People with heart disease were less likely to recognize humor or use it to get out of uncomfortable situations. They generally laughed less, even in positive situations and they displayed more anger and hostility.

"The ability to laugh -- either naturally or as learned behavior may have important implications in societies such as the U.S. where heart disease remains the number one killer," says Dr. Miller. "We know that exercising, not smoking and eating foods low in saturated fat will reduce the risk of heart disease. Perhaps regular, hearty laughter should be added to the list." Dr. Miller says it may be possible to incorporate laugher into our daily activities, just as we do with other heart-healthy activities, such as taking the stairs instead of the elevator.”

Okay, my only problem with this survey is that it insinuates that we folks with heart disease may have a diminished sense of humor. I take issue with that. Even as I was laying in the emergency room the night of my heart attack, my humor was still intact.

In any event, you can take the survey by clicking here.

My score was 58.

2 comments:

sobohon said...

I think George Carlin had a sense of humor and I know YOU do, HAG. Surveys are whacked.

Anonymous said...

People who smoke have more risk of heart attacks than non-smokers do. Due to smoking, the arteries become hard which can block the flow of blood from the heart. This results in a possible heart attack. Doctors can treat his problem by performing bypass surgery, which may be a risky affair for a patient. http://www.chantixhome.com/