healthbriefs
February is American Heart Month.
Laughter yoga
benefits belly
Muscles
New Clue to
A
n experiment to assess the effect of laugh-
ter of yoga on back pain by sports science
Love at first
student Ulrich Rehm of Münster University, in
Germany, turned up an encouraging conclu-
sight
sion. In conducting research for his Ph.D.
thesis, he hooked up two healthy young men
L
eave it to genetics (and pairs of fruit
flies) to answer a question that has
to an electromyograph (EMG), which mea-
perplexed humanity since the dawn of
sures strength, endurance and increases in
science. An American and Australian
muscle activity. Rehm monitored some of the
research team has found that, before
abdominal and back muscles that are addressed
mating, female fruit flies experience
by conventional strengthening exercises or even in
a biochemical state that amounts to
sports physiotherapy.
“genetic priming,” making them more
First, his fellow students performed a series of conventional physiotherapy
likely to mate with certain males over
exercises on a mat for 30 minutes. Next, they performed another 30 minutes of
others—research that sheds a bit more
laughter yoga exercises. The working conclusion was that, “Simulated laughter
light on the complexities of mating and
exercises engage as many abdominal muscles as conventional physiotherapy ex-
reproduction.
ercises, sometimes even more.” Initial findings are backed by overseeing professor
Dr. Heiko Wagner, who teaches kinesiology at the university.
Source: Federation of American Societ-
ies for Experimental Biology, 2009
natural awakenings February 2010 23
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