Life is better when you’re laughing and drinking a cup of tea!

How about some “tea humor” to get us to giggle, chuckle, laugh, and even chortle, when many of us are housebound. So for the next few days, I’m going to get us laughing or at least smiling, considering what we as the entire world are facing.

Stress relief from laughter?

 It’s no joke. When it comes to relieving stress, more giggles and guffaws are just what the doctor ordered. Here’s why… Negative thoughts manifest into chemical reactions that can affect your body by bringing more stress into your system and decreasing your immunity. By contrast, positive thoughts can actually release neuropeptides that help fight stress and potentially more-serious illnesses.

Short-term benefits

A good laugh has great short-term effects. When you start to laugh, it doesn’t just lighten your load mentally, it actually induces physical changes in your body. Laughter can:

• Stimulate many organs.Laughter enhances your intake of oxygen-rich air, stimulates your heart, lungs and muscles, and increases the endorphins that are released by your brain.
• Activate and relieve your stress response.A rollicking laugh fires up and then cools down your stress response, and it can increase and then decrease your heart rate and blood pressure. The result? A good, relaxed feeling.
• Soothe tension.Laughter can also stimulate circulation and aid muscle relaxation, both of which can help reduce some of the physical symptoms of stress.

Long-term effects

Laughter isn’t just a quick pick-me-up, though. It’s also good for you over the long term. Laughter may:

• Improve your immune system.Negative thoughts manifest into chemical reactions that can affect your body by bringing more stress into your system and decreasing your immunity. By contrast, positive thoughts can actually release neuropeptides that help fight stress and potentially more-serious illnesses.
• Relieve pain.Laughter may ease pain by causing the body to produce its own natural painkillers.
• Increase personal satisfaction.Laughter can also make it easier to cope with difficult situations. It also helps you connect with other people.
• Improve your mood.Many people experience depression, sometimes due to chronic illnesses. Laughter can help lessen your depression and anxiety and may make you feel happier.

SO, HERE WE GO…

• It is time to get this par-TEA started! Right?
• Do you think it is okay to STEEP together on the first date?
• The only dinosaur who loved drinking tea was the TEA-REX.
• The loving husband always greeted his wife each day with a “Hello Brew-TEA-Full!”
• I love to drink tea each day because it brings out my inner tranquili-TEA.
• The tea drinker tends to get the most work down because they are full of creativi-TEA
• When I told the barista she gave me the wrong drink, she quickly became all missed-TEA-eyed.
• If you spill Queen Elizabeth’s tea it can be considered a threat to all British sovereign TEA.
• Those smart travelers who take part in long desert journeys always drink their camel-mile tea.
• I have been visiting the same tea shop for twenty years. That’s what I call long java TEA.

See you tomorrow!