Do you have fun everyday? The kind of fun that Cyndi Lauper knew that girls wanted to have, although she chose to ignore the poor guys! The fun that makes you run out on a sunny day and play in the park, with or without children? Or that makes you crank up the stereo and go dancing through the house bellowing at the top of your lungs, despite the fact that dogs are howling outside? If you dont do this on occasion youre really missing out! In fact, you could be self-sabotaging your everyday goals by not incorporating fun into your daily existence. Yes, you read correctly, I did say daily!

Im sure that youve heard the old adage about it taking three times the number of facial muscles to frown than to laugh, right? If you havent, it does take 43 muscles to frown and 17 muscles to laugh, but here are a few other facts about fun and laughter.

Fun resulting in laughter activates the immune system
Laughter boosts the number and activity level of killer cells. Those that attack viral infections and some cancer and tumor cells
Laughter decreases stress hormones
Laughter decreases epinephrine levels and decrease dopamine levels which are associated with high blood pressure
Laughter relaxes muscles

The most startling tidbit is that were born with a sense of fun. Did you know that the average preschooler laughs or smiles about 400 times per day? By the time he or she grows up, the number decreases to a mere 15 times per day! Thats awful! Amazing how we allow ourselves to take something that comes naturally and suppress it due to daily environment, outside influences, or preconceptions. Just because preschoolers grow up into adults does not mean the fun has to disappear on the journey. Fun can and should, mature as well.

John and Raquel are parents of two very active preschoolers. They both work, him from home and her as an accountant outside of the home. They love their children, but one night when they got together with a neighboring family, they realized how serious their lives had become. They did their work, did the grocery shopping, took the kids to daycare, picked them up, did things together as a family, ate together, and had a nighttime ritual, but they did not really have F-U-N together. When John and Raquel witnessed how much laughter was present and how much less discord there was, they were intrigued. So they decided to get back to some of the fun things they used to do as a couple, to incorporate the family into what they could, and to find some things that the kids like. To start they began bike riding with the children, began making weekly outings to fun, but educational spots, started going dancing again, and began walking the neighborhood in the evenings for the exercise and the family time. The results were pretty dramatic, right from the start. They laughed and smiled more, bickered less, the children talked more (perhaps not a plus when you have two preschoolers), John and Raquel reconnected as a couple, and they reconnected as a family of four. The biggest surprise they found was mood elevation, and the positive affect their moods had on their careers. They vowed to keep fun in their lives and to keep it growing with the children.

John and Raquel learned firsthand how much of a positive affect fun had on both their family and work environments.

Whether you have a family or not, the next time someone interrupts your workflow with a joke, or youre in a supreme funk, just allow some humor and fun into your day. Despite the fact that you may feel like youre goofing off, in reality youre merely taking steps towards success from the inside out. Youll be nurturing your body, mind, and spirit with a natural high that does so much to promote great health and good feelings. And the best partIts even FREE!