Avast me hearties - today is Talk Like a Pirate Day, even NPR got into the spirit of the day. Why are we blogging about TLAPD? Because humor is so essential to good health!

A clown is like an aspirin, only he works twice as fast ~Groucho Marx

Mental and physical health is linked to positive attitudes, and research has shown that laughter and humor help patients heal quicker. It is thought that this is related to neuropeptides in the body. Body cells have receptor sites that receive neuropeptides.These are changing throughout the day, and the kind and number of emotion-linked neuropeptides are affected by your state of mind. Keeping a positive attitude helps these chemical messages work for you, not against you.

Humor has so many health benefits: it helps the body relax, reduces stress hormones, enhances immunity, reduces pain, and laughter actually raises one's heart rate for a few minutes! So join in the silliness of the day and remember to laugh.

Aye! (Why yes, I agree most heartily with everything you just said)