If you need extra help to shift some weight, then scientists have suggested that we should lighten up and laugh more.

Researchers have calculated that an hour of laughter can burn off around 100 calories – the equivalent of a small chocolate bar. Other less fun ways of burning the same amount of weight include thirty minutes of weightlifting or forty minutes of housework. And giggling away for an hour a day for a year could lead to a loss of about eleven pounds. This is because a burst of heavy laughter provides the body with a mini aerobic workout. The heart beats faster and boosts circulation around the body. The chest is forced to rise and fall and abdominal muscles have to work hard to keep up, tightening the tummy. And the health benefits don’t just end there: laughter requires help from many muscles in the face, keeping them supple and the skin smooth. It also boosts levels of feel good endorphins and cuts stress – and stress is known to increase the chances of weight gain, especially in the belly area.

 

Other studies have shown that laughter can be beneficial for the heart, boosting circulation as much as exercise or cholesterol-lowering drugs. Even thinking about something funny appears to be good for our health. It is enough to boost our spirits and boost the immune system, with effects lasting for up to 24 hours.

 

The message is simple: laughing away excess weight by spending time with friends, seeing the humour in situations or watching a funny show or film is a great way to keep in shape, as long as you are not consuming extra calories while you are laughing.

A study published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease has found that drinking just two glasses of antioxidant-rich apple juice a day can delay the onset of Alzheimer’s disease.

Alzheimer’s affects around 700,000 older people in Britain and is the most common form of dementia. Many people fear Alzheimer’s may impact them in old age, but this study shows how crucial it is for people to lead a healthy lifestyle – with a diet rich in antioxidants – to reduce their risk. Apple juice appears to reduce the amount of protein created in the brain, which can impair memory function. In the study mice fed on apple juice performed better and found their way through a maze, and the decline in performance usually associated with age was also prevented.

 

Researchers from the Centre for Cellular Neurobiology (at Massachusetts in the USA) chose apple juice for the study rather than apples because apple juice contains more vitamin C, as well as polyphenols, which are antioxidants that can help clear away toxins known to damage cells in the body. Polyphenols can also help to relax arteries and increase blood flow. The mice who received the equivalent of two glasses of apple juice a day for a month produced less beta-amyloid protein, a substance that is responsible for forming the sticky plagues in the brain that are typically found in people with Alzheimer’s.

 

More research is needed, but the findings of this study indicate that drinking two glasses of apple juice a day can not only keep the brain healthy but may also delay the onset of Alzheimer’s disease. The findings certainly add to the increasing body of evidence that a healthy diet is vital for protection against diseases like Alzheimer’s.

 

Fruit juices certainly appear to be an important part of a healthy diet. In addition to keeping the brain healthy, apple juice has also been linked to a reduction in asthma. A glass of cherry juice a day has been found to offer the same health benefits as eating over 20 portions of fruit and vegetables. Purple grape juice has been found to be effective against a number of diseases and pomegranate juice is said to help fight prostate cancer. Drinking cranberry juice (with no added sugar of course) is said to ease cystitis. All this adds to previous research, which has shown that drinking fruit and vegetable juices more than three times a week can dramatically reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s.

And just a short while after a study exploded the myth that eggs can increase the risk of high cholesterol and heart disease, another study released from the University of Alberta in Canada (reported in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry) has suggested that starting your day on an egg could actually help keep your blood pressure in check.

More research needs to be done, but scientists showed that eggs produce proteins that can mimic the action of powerful blood-pressure-lowering drugs, such as ace inhibitors, which are prescription-only pills taken by millions around the world. These drugs lower blood pressure by stopping the hormone angiotensin from narrowing the body’s blood vessels. This recent research shows that when eggs come into contact with stomach enzymes they can produce a protein that can act in the same way.