By James Goodlatte

 

“No man is happy who does not think himself so”

Publius Syrus, 1^st century BC

 

“No pregnant mom is happy who does not think herself so”

James Goodlatte, AD 2010

 

There are several quick and easy ways that a pregnant mom can remove negative emotions and negative stress while increasing positive emotions.  Research has proven that swapping negative emotions for positive emotions allow the unborn infant to grow optimally.  Yes, laughing, smiling, and just having fun will nurture a happier healthier baby. 

 

Laughing and smiling have been shown to increase endorphins, alter internal chemistry, and flat-out heal the human body.  Besides using guided imagery, a mom who laughs, smiles, and just has more fun will program happy healthy molecules to flow through her body.  These are the same molecules that experts in previous chapters show to improve the health and development of the unborn baby.

 

Laugh for Your Baby

Norman Cousins, the father of laughter medicine, checked himself out of the hospital and into a motel where laughter helped him regain function doctors said he could not.  Anatomy of an Illness, the book describing his miraculous journey, was originally criticized but eventually researched.  In a 1983 interview with KCRW-FM in

Los Angeles

, Cousins said, “Attitudes, emotions, have a great deal to do with health or the lack of it.”  He continues, “Since we’re apt to think of illness as being caused by germs, it’s difficult for us to recognize that very serious illness can be caused by ideas, by emotions, and by attitudes.”

 

A 2005 University of Maryland Medical Center press release, tells that research has “shown for the first time that laughter is linked to healthy function of blood vessels.”  Principle investigator Michael Miller, MD, hypothesizes that positive changes may be due to the chemical release of endorphins or a breakdown in nitric oxide.  Subjects were tested while watching scenes from a funny movie.  Healthy function of blood vessels would move nutrients and wastes more efficiently for the unborn infant.

 

The

University of Maryland

research also shows the potential negative effects of mental imagery, however.  The same group of volunteers was shown the stressful opening scene of “Saving Private Ryan,” which created a chemically “unhealthy response.”

 

Dr. Mercola, founder of the largest holistic website in the world, says laughter studies have discovered a lot more than just healthy functioning blood vessels.  Previous research has shown laughter to:

• Boost immunity
• Reduce inflammation
• Help diabetes
• Reduce muscle tension
• Reduce blood pressure
• Dislodge lung mucous
• Defend against infectious organisms
• Increase oxygen
• Reduce pain
• Lower the production of stress hormones

 

“When you laugh, you’re helping yourself to stay positive, and that is really the name of the game when it comes to your health and happiness,” says Dr. Mercola.  He adds, “Research has proven that happy people live longer, are healthier, are more successful, enjoy more fulfilling relationships, earn more money, and are liked and respected more.”  …and probably also nurture babies that are happier, healthier, and fitter J

 

Smile for Your Baby

Research shows you can positively affect your internal chemistry simply by smiling. Here are four studies showing the benefits of smiling:

 

• As reported in Essential Social Psychology, test subjects were divided into three groups and asked to evaluate how funny a series of cartoon were.  Each group held a pen in one of three ways: non-dominant hand, between lips, or between teeth.  Who found the cartoons most funny?  Hold a pen between your teeth and see what expression you produce.  While the lip group was unconsciously forced into a frown, the teeth group unknowingly held a smile…and subsequently rated the cartoons most funny.  In effect, those who smile view the world in a happier way; they’re optimists.
• The Facial Feedback Hypothesis (FFH) suggests that a person’s smile can influence emotional experience.  Though researchers are unsure exactly how a physical expression can manifest happy hormones, the effect is very real.  James Laird performed the original version of this experiment and concluded, “The empirical evidence…are of sufficient strength to warrant confidence in the reliability of the FFH.”  In effect, making a smile, even a fake one, causes the body to produce beneficial internal chemistry. 
• A later study published in Cognition & Emotion used golf tees to encourage eyebrow furrowing.  The subsequent sadness reported by subjects adds weight that both sides of the chemical emotional spectrum can be caused by facial expressions alone.  Researchers reported, “These results provide evidence, using a new and unobtrusive manipulation, that facial feedback operates for unpleasant affects to a degree similar to that previously found for pleasant effect.”  In effect, making a happy face is much better than making a sad face.
• Still later, research by Ekman, Levenson, and Friesen agreed, saying “Emotion-specific activity in the autonomic nervous system (ANS) was generated by constructing facial prototypes.”  The statement from these researchers confirms that changing one’s outward facial expression alters one’s internal hormonal system.  Just as negative thoughts cause the toxic stress response, smiling alone can elicit chemical changes that heal. 

 

Studies like these confirm that putting on a smile in the morning will actually improve your perception for that day.  Putting on a smile is an incredible, and completely free, gift you can give your baby while he or she grows.

 

Original studies on FFH were criticized before researchers found a way to remove the subject’s awareness of their smile.  What this means is that researchers needed to remove the placebo effect in order to accept the research as valid.  They could not allow subjects to know that they were smiling.  This compounds the potential benefits of a smile.  The most powerful combination would be to make a physical smile in addition to actually wanting to be happy.  Smile on purpose and let your baby bask in the sensation of positive peptides.  

 

Three Practical Exercises for Generating Healthy Chemistry

• Smile—Today, as you either arrive work, see your spouse, pass the neighbor, enter the supermarket, or talk on the phone, hold an almost-ridiculous smile.  TheTry this especially with a person or in a place where you normally would not.  Make it your goal to get someone to ask you, “What’s going on?” or “What’s different about you today?”  Then tell them the truth: you’re practicing creating healthier chemistry so that your baby grows optimally inside you. 
• Laugh—Today, right now where you sit, laugh out loud.  Fake it.  Let your belly roll and shake as you open your mouth and express your laughter in any way you want.  Next, you goal can be to laugh out loud together with your spouse or good friend.  In time, you can laugh out loud with less-known friends or even new acquaintances.  Eventually, people will just come to know you as a friendly and wonderful woman.   
• Dance and Sing—Today, right now wherever you are stand up, dance and sing.  Get out of your seat and move about the room, do not stay in one place.  Sing an upbeat song that makes you feel good.  Do it as though you don’t care, and fake it if you have to.  In the The Psychology of Achievement, Brian Tracy says, “It is almost impossible to remain unhappy when you’re singing.”

 

As Candace Pert, PhD, tells us, “The notion that others can make us feel good or bad is untrue.  Consciously or—more frequently—unconsciously, we are choosing how we feel at every single moment.”  In effect, it seems we are choosing our internal chemistry as well.  Smile now and be well for baby’s sake.

 

James Goodlatte, B.S. Kinesiology, is a NASM certified personal trainer and CHEK holistic health practitioner who teaches pregnant moms how to naturally nurture happier healthier babies.   He is co-founder of GetFitForBirth.com, SecretsofPainlessChildbirth.com, NaturalBirthMommies.com, YourSuperBaby.com, and can be contacted at FitForBirth@gmail.com