Here is a very quick test to deter­mine your stress level.  Read the fol­low­ing descrip­tion com­pletely before look­ing at the picture.

The pic­ture below was used in a case study on stress lev­els at St. Mary’s Hos­pi­tal. Look at both dol­phins jump­ing out of the water. The dol­phins are iden­ti­cal. A closely mon­i­tored, sci­en­tific study revealed that, in spite of the fact that the dol­phins are iden­ti­cal, a per­son under stress would find dif­fer­ences between the two dol­phins. The more dif­fer­ences a per­son finds between the dol­phins, the more stress that per­son is experiencing.

Look at the pho­to­graph, and if you find more than one or two dif­fer­ences, you may want to take a vaca­tion or at least get a massage.

Click here to see the pic­ture before read­ing more.

How did you do? Do you need a vaca­tion?! Appar­ently I do!

Hope you got a good laugh! On a seri­ous note, laugh­ter is a great way to reduce stress and boost immune func­tion. Next time you’re feel­ing over­whelmed, call a friend who makes you chuckle or head off for a com­edy club. You’ll feel bet­ter for it!

Fur­ther Reading

• Ben­nett MP, Zeller JM, Rosen­berg L, McCann J. The effect of mirth­ful laugh­ter on stress and nat­ural killer cell activ­ity. Altern Ther Health Med. 2003;9:38–45.
• Berk LS, Tan SA, Fry WF, Napier BJ, Lee JW, Hub­bard RW, Lewis JE, Eby WC. Neu­roen­docrine and stress hor­mone changes dur­ing mirth­ful laugh­ter. Am J Med Sci. 1989;298:390–6.
• Ther­a­peu­tic Ben­e­fits of Laughter

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