Using Humor to Manage Your Diabetes: Building Laughter into Your Routine

Every day, Amanda goes for a walk near her San Diego home. The thirty-two year old has Type 2 diabetes, and regular exercise helps her keep healthy. "I can't say I go anywhere in particular," she said. "I just head for the beach and start walking." Along the way, she listens to audiobooks. "Only funny stuff," Amanda's quick to point out. "Right now, I'm listening to David Sedaris' latest book. Walking makes me feel good, laughing makes me feel good, so I figured why not combine the two?"

Amanda may be on to something. Humor has a vital role to play in helping people with diabetes live happier, healthier lives. Laughing regularly improves the mood and has been found to contribute toward a more positive mindset. There are also very real, very physical benefits to laughter. Enjoying humor lowers the blood pressure, improves circulation, and can even help minimizing post-meal blood sugar spikes.

Laughing regularly is an easy, fun, free way to improve your health. But sometimes those laughs don't just happen. What can you do to find the funny?
How to Laugh More: Build Enjoying Humor into Your Daily Routine

A key to making sure you laugh every day is to make sure your schedule includes exposure to funny things.  We all have busy schedules, so multi-tasking can be a very useful skill here. Amanda listens to funny audiobooks while she walks; you could do the same thing during your own workout, morning commute, or whenever you're stuck waiting.

It's okay to be deliberate in the search for humor.Set up a designated email for funny joke-of-the-day emails, and make sure to check it once a day. Do you love Twitter? Create a custom list of people (Tweeple?) who make you laugh, and read it during your lunch break.

What's your favorite way to add humor to your day?