:) for health

Smile and the world smiles with you cry and you cry alone. Or, let a smile be your umbrella on a rainy, rainy day these are of lyrics to old songs of another day but they've never lost their panache.

Smiling, according to experts on the subject, has a direct relationship to improved health, the ability to relieve your stress level and enhance attractiveness. Smile and the chances are good that blood pressure readings will tumble.

So, is there a correlation between the efficacy of wearing a happy demeanor while engaging in physical training and physical fitness itself?

Psychologist Larry Cole along with Julie Johnson, fitness coordinator at the Conway Regional Health and Fitness Center, are in agreement that some of the elements of these concepts carry weight.

Threadbare is the recitation of physical fitness attributes by many sources parsing advice on their merits. Yet none are more engaging than the idea of smiling and laughing leading to better health.

Try it the next time a sense of dejection strikes. Try smiling and laughing, and your body will be tricked into improving your mood.

Cole, a Conway psychologist, suggests that the act of smiling is infectious and its ability to relieve stress, boost the immune system, lower blood pressure and help one remain positive is remarkable.

But this does not to imply that it is healthy to go about all day long smiling and laughing and inviting a visit from the "man in the white coat carrying a net."

Johnson, an expert in exercise physiology and a former strength and conditioning coach at the University of North Texas, is quick to throw in her nickel's worth about the wonders of physical fitness training. Smile, if you will, and try it while working out. It's good medicine.

There are some researchers who suggest that laughing 100 times is equal to 10 to 15 minutes on aerobic fitness machines. In addition to lowering blood pressure, laughter does wonders such as increasing blood flow and oxygen in the blood and also assists in the healing process.

Laughing affects the diaphragm and abdominal, respiratory, facial, leg and back muscles.

The advantage of a happy demeanor is measured in statistics that show that a reduction in blood pressure numbers is measurable in those who smile against those who do not. Take a reading while frowning and then smiling and notice the difference.

Still not convinced? Try this little test: Smile. Now try to think of something negative without losing the smile. Hard to do since the body is sending a message that when you smile you're signaling that life is good; depression is on the run and worry is undone.

Cole, an author, lecturer and practitioner, who once directed the operations of a mental health center, points out that it requires 12 muscles to smile and over 70 to frown. Simply stated also is the fact that the benefits of smiling result in a kind of contagion. "We certainly enjoy being around a friendly person rather than being around an individual of a dour personality," Cole says while offering proof in a line drawing that presents a face with a smile on it and another with a sullen look to it.

"It is a fact that when a person is smiling, she or he seems to enliven the spirits of people around them. It's obvious when one enters a room grinning from ear to ear. It changes and enhances the mood of everyone else," he asserts.

The impact of a happy countenance is not lost, for as the psychologist declares, "Everyone likes to feel good emotionally and physically. So a smile is a sign of good feelings that serves as a magnet to pull us toward the cheerful person."

In addition, Cole suggests, it connects with a basic condition of needing each other to survive. "I think the inter-dependent nature of the universe is an indicator that creations of Mother Nature are here to help each other. Most of us like to help people because we also want to be helped. The willingness of your smile sends a powerful psychological message about yourself. Most people like to be acknowledged. You receive that which you share with other people and people will respond accordingly."

He noted that a psychologist once said: " You can always tell when someone has a problem ... they lose their smile!"

And there are other examples of the merits of smiling and laughing. For example, researchers at Appalachian State University found that the key to happy relationships may be as simple as smiling. Another finding suggests that a hearty belly laugh decreases stress, relaxes muscles and in effect, makes us feel good al over.

In "Anatomy of a Illness" by Norman Cousins, the author writes that while he was dying of a degenerative illness, he learned that X minutes of laughter resulted in his experiencing several minutes of being pain free. He watched "Three Stooges" movies and other funny flicks and found laughter to be an ameliorating factor in his illness.

Meanwhile physical training guru Johnson asserts that a happy demeanor smiling and laughing may be part of good health, saying that several studies have demonstrated that "Exercise contributes to overall happiness by improving our mood."

Then climbing on her soapbox, she suggests that fun needs to be an element in physical activity. She says: "Parents need to become role models for their children at an early age. If your children see that you are physically active and having fun when you exercise they are more likely to be active and stay active throughout their lives."

And a final axiom: "For every minute you are sullen and gloomy, you lose sixty seconds of potential joyfulness."