Thursday, February 17, 2005
Laughter, the Lift-off Elixir?
Most self improvement enthusiasts have come across the Norman Cousens story of how he laughed himself back from terminal illness.
Well now, it seems, the 'laughter gland' has even more power than just saving lives!
How about opening parallel dimensions?
University of Queensland (Australia) researcher Professor Jack Pettigrew has described just that in the current issue of the journal Clinical and Experimental Optometry.
You know those optical illusions - the Necker cube, the young woman/old woman etc?
Well apparently what happens normally is that the brain sends alternate messages from each eye, very rapidly - a process known as binocular rivalry. So people just don't see the two versions of the illusions at the same time.
They have to focus, first on one, then on the other.
But when you laugh, the images blend together and the illusion is lost, leaving just a flat 2D image.
"If you can see both images together, you can be pretty sure you're seeing from both hemispheres at the same time," Professor Pettigrew said.
"It's a surprisingly large affect from such a banal phenomenon."
Just think about that for a moment.
Laughter can transform brain function.
If you really need proof, just think about the last time you had an uproarious laughing exchange, and how the ideas spontaneously popped into your head and out of your mouth.
And now imagine the possibilities of harnessing that 'banal phenomenon' to jet-propel your self help and self improvement...
Is that exciting, or what?
Well now, it seems, the 'laughter gland' has even more power than just saving lives!
How about opening parallel dimensions?
University of Queensland (Australia) researcher Professor Jack Pettigrew has described just that in the current issue of the journal Clinical and Experimental Optometry.
You know those optical illusions - the Necker cube, the young woman/old woman etc?
Well apparently what happens normally is that the brain sends alternate messages from each eye, very rapidly - a process known as binocular rivalry. So people just don't see the two versions of the illusions at the same time.
They have to focus, first on one, then on the other.
But when you laugh, the images blend together and the illusion is lost, leaving just a flat 2D image.
"If you can see both images together, you can be pretty sure you're seeing from both hemispheres at the same time," Professor Pettigrew said.
"It's a surprisingly large affect from such a banal phenomenon."
Just think about that for a moment.
Laughter can transform brain function.
If you really need proof, just think about the last time you had an uproarious laughing exchange, and how the ideas spontaneously popped into your head and out of your mouth.
And now imagine the possibilities of harnessing that 'banal phenomenon' to jet-propel your self help and self improvement...
Is that exciting, or what?
