Authors: Chris Kresser
Tags: #Health & Fitness / Diet & Nutrition / Diets, #Health & Fitness / Diet & Nutrition / Weight Loss
The idea that humor can heal can be traced back to biblical times; in Proverbs 17:22, you’ll find the maxim “A merry heart doeth good like a medicine.” More recently, physicians like Norman Cousins and Patch Adams have advocated the use of humor in medicine, and some researchers have argued that humor may have evolved specifically as a strategy for coping with stress. The American psychologist Rollo May believed that humor allowed people to distance themselves from their problems, view them from a different perspective, and thus reduce the feelings of anxiety and helplessness they experienced. And the British philosopher Bertrand Russell once said, “Laughter is the most inexpensive and most effective wonder drug. Laughter is a universal medicine.”
Humor has been shown to reduce stress, relieve pain, and improve the overall quality of life. Laughter can lead to changes in heart rate, skin temperature, blood pressure, pulmonary ventilation, skeletal muscle activity, and brain activity. It may also improve immune function by blocking the production of stress hormones (like cortisol, ACTH, and adrenaline) and stimulating the production of feel-good chemicals (like endorphins). Laughter may increase the activity of natural killer cells, which help fight infection and keep cancer at bay.
Here are some tips for benefiting from humor and laughter:
•
Lighten up.
Learn not to take yourself and your life so seriously. Take a step back, get some perspective, and remember that this too shall pass.
•
Watch a funny movie (or TV show).
If you watch TV, you might as well watch shows that are funny and improve your health. Just don’t watch too much, or the benefits of laughter might be outweighed by the harm of sitting on your butt for too long.
•
Go to a live comedy show.
Watching a live stand-up comic or improvisation performance has the added benefit of laughing with a group of people. Watch for listings in your area and make this a regular event.
•
Go on a news diet.
Let’s face it: the news is often depressing. While I believe it’s important to stay informed and not avoid or deny tragedy when it occurs, your life will not be enriched by hearing about every murder, car crash, and catastrophic event that happens in the world. Consider limiting your news consumption to fifteen minutes per day on most days, with perhaps a longer read of the Sunday paper.
•
Avoid people who bring you down.
This isn’t always possible, and there’s a certain amount of interpersonal struggle we all have to face in life. But there’s no reason to go looking for it or to invest your limited time and energy in relationships that are a constant drain on you.
•
Play with your kids and pets.
Kids and animals are experts in humor, play, and fun. Learn from them.
Whether as a parent, spouse, partner, parishioner, or friend, each of us has experienced the joy of giving. Giving and receiving are essential to who we are and how we relate to others, as necessary to our survival in the modern world as breathing, eating, and sleeping. Perhaps it won’t surprise you, then, to learn that research has shown that people who help others experience satisfaction, happiness, and self-esteem from giving. People who volunteer have longer life spans than people who do not, and they’re less likely to suffer from disease.
There are a number of reasons why volunteering might yield both mental and physical health benefits, but one of the strongest is that it increases meaningful social connection. People who give social support have lower blood pressure, and they’re more likely to report having greater social support (what goes around comes around!) and a greater
sense of self-efficacy, as well as less depression and less stress, than people with a lower tendency to give support to others. As I’m sure many of you have experienced, giving increases one’s sense of value and purpose and makes life more meaningful.
Here are some tips for volunteering and giving:
•
Find a cause you believe in.
Volunteering for a cause you believe in will make your volunteer work even more beneficial, since you’ll be working toward developing a world more in line with your values and ideals. It’s also a great way to meet like-minded people and expand your social network. Consider a service like Volunteer Match to help you find the right fit.
•
Volunteer at your church, temple, mosque, or religious organization.
Some of the research on volunteering suggests that those with the strongest faith receive the greatest benefits.
•
Volunteer in person.
Volunteering remotely (for example, doing computer work for an organization across the country) is still worth doing, but research suggests that volunteer work that involves live contact with other people is likely to be more beneficial.
•
Don’t overextend yourself.
Informal giving and volunteer work have been shown to benefit health, but extreme giving (such as caring for a disabled or very sick person) is detrimental to health. Of course, there are times when that is necessary and unavoidable, but don’t overextend yourself if you don’t have a compelling reason to do so.
I’d like to finish this discussion by sharing a personal story. At one point in my long struggle with illness, I felt I had reached the end of my rope. I was demoralized, discouraged, and exhausted. I had tried at least six
special diets; I had a cupboard full of supplements that had done nothing for me (or made me even worse); and I’d seen at least fifteen specialists in all different fields without much of anything to show for it. I came to a place where I simply didn’t know what to do, and I didn’t have the energy or will to focus on yet another diet or supplement program.
So I did something radical—or at least, it seemed radical to me at the time. I decided to focus almost exclusively on cultivating more pleasure and connection in my life and not to worry much about diet or supplements. I was feeling isolated and somewhat disconnected from my life after being sick for so long, and intuitively, I knew that I had to nourish myself on a deeper level than food or supplements could offer in order to regain my strength. I created a weekly pleasure-and-connection program that involved a massage trade, acting/improvisation classes, regular social visits with friends, dancing at least once a week, and volunteering as a meditation teacher at the San Francisco county jail. During this time, I continued to eat a healthy diet, but I resolved not to be overly restrictive or think too much about what I was eating. In fact, I made sure to eat plenty of things that brought me pleasure—even if they didn’t fit my concept of healthy foods.
After about three months on this program, I felt like a different person. I was more calm, relaxed, and happy. I didn’t feel so alienated and alone. But the benefits weren’t just psychological and emotional; I felt more energetic, my digestion improved, I gained about ten pounds that I had lost during my illness, and my sleep became more restorative. In fact, nearly everyone who knew me remarked on how much more vital and healthy I looked.
There’s no question that diet and exercise are crucial to health. But experiencing pleasure and feeling connected to others are also important and, in certain circumstances, maybe even more so than diet. You may not need to go to the lengths I did to reap the benefits of pleasure and connection, but I hope this story inspires an appreciation of just how powerful they can be.
•
Make pleasure and connection as much a priority as eating well, managing stress, and getting enough sleep and exercise.
•
Get plenty of physical contact and touch from hugs, massage, sex, partner dance, and partner yoga.
•
Cultivate intimate relationships and expand your social-support network by being open and honest, scheduling time with loved ones, joining a friendship group, and putting yourself in situations where you’re likely to meet people you’ll connect with.
•
Get a dog, cat, or other pet; if you already have one, set aside time to play and interact with your pet.
•
Listen to music that makes you feel alive, happy, relaxed, and at peace. Use software or music-exchange groups to discover new music and expand your horizons.
•
Volunteer for a cause you believe in, and focus on giving more to the people in your life.
Notes for this chapter may be found at ChrisKresser.com/ppcnotes/#ch15.
Complete the quiz below and use the answer key to determine your nature and sleep score.
I often spend a large portion of my day outside.
Points
: 2
I am outside for more than thirty minutes daily.
Points
: 2
I frequently walk or bike to work or to do errands.
Points
: 2
I don’t always cover my skin with sunblock or clothing when I go outside.
Points
: 1
I live in an environment with a lot of green space, parks, and/or natural attractions.
Points
: 1
My office or place of work has many windows.
Points
: 1
I spend less than eight hours a day looking at a screen (computer, television, and so on).
Points
: 1
Most of my physical activity takes place outdoors.
Points
: 1
I have frequent interaction with nature (trees, water, plants, and animals).
Points
: 1
TOTAL
Total Points
: 6+
What Your Points Mean
: You are likely spending adequate time outside.
Your Personal Paleo Code
: Complete the
Your Personal Paleo Code
3-Step program. No additional personalization is required.
Total Points
: 3–5
What Your Points Mean
: You may benefit from more focus on time outside.
Your Personal Paleo Code
: Complete the
Your Personal Paleo Code
3-Step program, and read this chapter for additional tips on how to bring more outside time into your life.
Total Points
: 0–2
What Your Points Mean
: You are likely not spending enough time outside.
Your Personal Paleo Code
: Complete both steps above. This should be a major focus for you, and ignoring this area may stand in the way of improvement elsewhere.
Most people intuitively know that spending time outdoors is good for them. But researchers are now beginning to understand that nature may be as essential to health as sleeping, exercise, and eating a healthy diet.
Humans evolved over hundreds of thousands of generations in a natural, outdoor environment rich in sunlight (in what is now modern-day Africa), and our species has inhabited urban environments for only a few hundred years. Human beings have never in history spent as little time in contact with plants and animals as they do today. And though the consequences of this profound separation are not yet entirely clear, recent evidence suggests that too much artificial stimulation and time spent in purely human-made environments may cause everything from fatigue and a loss of vitality to a decline in health. Just as we didn’t evolve to eat an industrialized diet full of processed and refined foods, we also didn’t evolve to live lives with little or no contact with nature. This disconnection from the natural world is yet another way that humans are
mismatched with the current environment, and it is likely contributing to the epidemic of modern disease.
There are three features unique to spending time outdoors that are essential to health: exposure to sunlight, making contact with nature, and getting outdoor exercise. Let’s look at them in more detail.
Our Paleo ancestors spent about half of their days in the light of the sun. But today, frequent sun exposure is actively discouraged because of fears that it will encourage skin cancer, and modern lifestyles often involve long hours spent indoors under artificial light. While there’s no doubt that too much ultraviolet radiation in the form of sunlight can increase the risk of skin cancer in fair-skinned people, not enough sunlight can also cause problems.
One of the primary benefits of sunlight is that it stimulates vitamin D production. Vitamin D is formed when a particular type of ultraviolet light (ultraviolet-B) interacts with 7-dehydrocholesterol, a molecule in the skin. Fair skin produces about 10,000 to 25,000 IU of vitamin D in response to twenty to thirty minutes of summer skin exposure, while those with darker skin may need to spend up to two hours in the sun to obtain the same amount.
We now know that vitamin D deficiency is a major predisposing factor in at least seventeen varieties of cancer, as well as heart disease, stroke, hypertension, autoimmune disease, type 2 diabetes, depression, birth defects, infectious diseases, and more.
Yet as important as vitamin D is, exposure to sunlight isn’t absolutely necessary to obtain it, and it’s possible to use supplements to ensure an optimal vitamin D level, checking lab tests to avoid toxicity. Does that mean we don’t really need sun exposure for optimal health? No. A growing body of evidence suggests that sunlight has additional benefits above and beyond its capacity to stimulate vitamin D production, including reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease and regulating the immune system.
Scientists observed a connection between sunlight and cardiovascular disease as far back as the 1970s, when clinical studies of hypertension showed that blood pressure was consistently lower in summer than winter. Later studies showed that both the prevalence of hypertension and average blood pressure is directly correlated with latitude; in other words, those living in higher northern or southern latitudes (with less sunlight) had more hypertension and higher average blood pressure than those living closer to the equator. While some have argued that this variation may be due to genetic differences, it has been found that when people migrate from one place to another, their risk of death changes to match that of their new place of residence—which of course suggests that latitude and sun exposure, not genetics, are the responsible factors. In the United Kingdom, the risk of death from heart disease is directly correlated with latitude; there are more deaths at higher latitudes, even when researchers take into account all other known risk factors (like obesity and family history) and possible protective factors (like fruit and vegetable consumption and physical activity). Finally, clinical experiments have provided direct evidence that ultraviolet light reduces blood pressure. In one study, researchers exposed one group of people to lamps that gave off ultraviolet light as well as heat and another group to lamps that gave off only heat. In the group that received both heat and ultraviolet light, blood pressure dropped significantly after just one hour of exposure, whereas those that received heat alone experienced no change in blood pressure.
How does sunlight lower blood pressure and reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease? Sunlight stimulates the production of a chemical called nitric oxide in the skin. Nitric oxide helps blood vessels to relax and expand, which in turn reduces blood pressure. This is important because high blood pressure is one of the strongest risk factors for cardiovascular disease, and even relatively small reductions in blood pressure can dramatically reduce the deaths from both heart attack and stroke. For example, a drop of 20 mmHg in systolic blood pressure (blood pressure is expressed in terms of variations in pressure—for example, 120/80—and
systolic
refers to the number on the top) leads to a twofold reduction in
the overall risk of death in both men and women between the ages of forty and sixty-nine. Sunlight may also reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease by putting the brakes on inflammation. These beneficial effects of sunlight are likely to extend to other organs and tissues as well, since both blood pressure and inflammation have widespread effects in the body.
Another effect of sunlight that isn’t mediated by vitamin D is its ability to regulate immune function. Studies have shown that the more hours of sun there are where you were born, the lower the risk you’ll develop multiple sclerosis. Along the same lines, the more exposure to sun people have where they work and live as adults, the lower their rates of MS, and relapse rates for MS are higher in winter than in summer. Evidence for benefit from sunlight is strong for other autoimmune diseases as well, such as type 1 diabetes. Finally, exposure to sunlight may improve endocrine function, elevate mood (via its effects on certain brain chemicals, like serotonin), increase DNA repair capacity, and reduce skin lesions in psoriasis, eczema, and vitiligo. Researchers aren’t entirely clear on how sunlight protects against autoimmune disease, but one possibility is that ultraviolet radiation suppresses the immune system. This explains why too much sun exposure can cause skin cancer: the excessive ultraviolet radiation breaks down natural defense mechanisms in the body that keep the growth of cancer cells in check. But it also suggests that not enough sunlight could lead to an
overactive
immune system that starts attacking its own organs and tissues. Importantly, these immune-suppressing effects of sunlight appear to be completely independent of vitamin D. With all of this in mind, how much sun exposure is just right? How can you minimize your risk of skin cancer while optimizing vitamin D levels and getting the additional cardiovascular and immune benefits of sunlight? Just follow these guidelines for you and your family members:
•
If you have fair skin, aim for spending about half the amount of time in the sun that it takes for your skin to turn pink (without sunscreen) two to three days a week. This could be as little as ten minutes for those with very fair skin. If you have dark skin, you may need up to two hours per day to generate the same amount of vitamin D (which is why supplementation may be necessary for those with darker skin).
•
Never burn yourself in the sun. Cover yourself with light clothing; wear a hat; shade yourself with an umbrella, a tree, or a canopy; wear sunglasses; and use a safe sunscreen (see sidebar below) to prevent sunburn if you’re going to be exposed to sunlight for a prolonged period.
•
Pay attention to the time of day, latitude, and season. This probably goes without saying, but you need less sun exposure at midday during the summer on the equator to generate a given amount of vitamin D than in the late afternoon during the winter in New York City. Vary your exposure accordingly.
•
Infants under six months old don’t have much of the protective pigment melanin in their skin. It’s best to avoid direct sun exposure at midday, use protective clothing and a hat, and limit exposure to the morning or late-afternoon hours. Infants may be particularly susceptible to the toxic effects of some sunscreen ingredients, so use clothing or shade when possible and closely follow the recommendations in the sidebar on sunscreen.
According to a report from the Environmental Working Group, only 25 percent of eight hundred sunscreens that were tested were effective at protecting the skin and didn’t use potentially harmful ingredients. The report made the following recommendations for choosing a safe and effective sunscreen:
•
Look for zinc oxide, titanium oxide, Mexoryl SX, or avobenzone (3 percent) as an active ingredient.
•
Use lotions, not sprays or powders. Many sunscreens contain tiny nanoparticles of zinc oxide and titanium dioxide. While these don’t generally penetrate the skin, they can be inhaled from sprays or powders—with unknown health consequences.
•
Don’t be fooled by high SPF ratings. If you buy higher than SPF 50, you may think you have a free pass to stay in the sun for as long as you’d like without skin damage. But research suggests that SPF ratings higher than 50 are a hoax. Stick with SPF 15 to 50, depending on your skin tone and sun intensity.
•
Avoid sunscreens with vitamin A (retinyl palmitate). While vitamin A is beneficial when consumed in the diet, some studies suggest that rubbing it on the skin may increase the risk of skin cancer.
•
Avoid oxybenzone, a synthetic estrogen that can penetrate the skin and disrupt hormone regulation.
See my website for a link to the Environmental Working Group’s sunscreen guide, which has a list of recommended products that meet these criteria.
For as long as cities have existed, humans have sought out nature as a refuge from the business, noise, and pollution of urban environments. More than two thousand years ago, Taoists in China created gardens and greenhouses that they believed promoted health. At the end of the seventeenth century, the book
English Gardener
suggested that readers “spare time in the garden, either digging, setting out, or weeding; there is no better way to preserve your health.” By the 1890s, landscape architects and park planners were developing large urban parks for health purposes. Parks were considered the “lungs of the city,” and the health benefits of exposure to nature were an unquestioned article of faith. Without nature, there would be no life. Humans are entirely dependent upon the natural environment for food, water, and shelter. But nature is more than just a
source of raw materials; it’s necessary to our psychological, emotional, and spiritual well-being. Frederick Law Olmsted, the famous nineteenth-century American landscape architect, believed that nature “operates by unconscious process to relax and relieve tensions created by the artificial surroundings of urban life.” Yet over the last few hundred years, people have become profoundly disconnected from the natural world. As they moved from rural areas to cities and transitioned from working primarily outdoors (on farms) to working primarily indoors (in offices), they lost their vital contact with nature, and their health suffered as a result. A recent review of studies found that people living in the United States, Japan, and Spain are spending on average between 18 and 25 percent less time in wilderness or natural environments today than they did in 1981.