Instant stress buster
The Quickest and Strongest Stress Buster Known to Mankind
By Sam Mantell
Indeed a bold statement; you’re probably picturing a kind of hard mental sledgehammer which is strong enough to crack firm stress into little pieces. But actually, I’m referring to something very, very soft. So soft that it melts stress instantly like butter near a hot stove. Here it is: watching an infant laugh.
This is because the very structure of the infant face causes adults to bond with babies. Researchers did an experiment and showed pictures of both baby and adult faces to people using advanced technology to examine the effects on their brains. The monitors showed that the baby faces activated the part of the brain which is associated with rewarding (happy and positive) emotions, while the adult faces did not.
So, babies faces in general make us feel good, not to mention when they laugh their little heads off. You parents out there especially, know exactly what I mean. Remember coming home all tight and frustrated after a difficult day at work; but the minute you saw little Junior, your positive emotions took over while the negative ones just disappeared.
Here is a deep thought to ponder: when we look at a baby, we see ourselves. This is because we too were all once innocent children uncomprehending of the evils which are part of the reality of our world. Then, as we got older we’ve adapted to the real world and as a result a general feeling of stress takes over unless we are successful in preserving our positive selves.
Ultimately, this baby-like blissfulness is the state that we all aspire to, whether we know it or not. We know deep down inside that “we’ve lost it” and therefore we adults easily connect with babies who haven’t lost it.
This brings me back to the title: watching babies laugh with delight is the strongest stress buster because it puts us in touch with the foundation of our own minds – before we’ve learned to be so stressful. And thanks to technology, it is quick and readily available to you and me any time we need it. Just make a video of a few babies laughing and watch it at least once a day.
[via Trans4mind]