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Study Suggests Laughter Is Good for the Heart
Written by - Cynthia Kirk
24 May 2005
  

I’m Gwen Outen with the VOA Special English Health Report.

 
Study says: laughter is the best medicine.
Have you heard the old saying that laughter is the best medicine?  Then listen to this.  Seriously, research has already shown that mental stress can restrict blood flow to the heart.  But now a study has linked laughter to increased blood flow.  Laughter appears to cause the tissue inside blood vessels to expand.  As a result, laughing may be important to reduce the risk of heart disease.

So says Doctor Michael Miller of the University of Maryland Medical Center.  He led a study of twenty men and women, all healthy.  To get them to laugh, they watched part of the movie “Kingpin,” a nineteen ninety-six comedy.  To create the opposite emotions, they watched the opening battle in the nineteen ninety-eight war movie “Saving Private Ryan.”  

The researchers used ultrasound technology to measure changes in blood flow through an artery in the arm. 

Blood flow increased in nineteen of the twenty people after they watched "Kingpin."  The increase was an average of twenty-two percent.  Doctor Miller says that is similar to the effects of aerobic exercise. 

Blood flow decreased in fourteen of the twenty people after they watched "Saving Private Ryan."  The decrease was an average of thirty-five percent.

Studies have shown that stress can reduce the body’s ability to fight disease.  When the body is under stress, it produces hormones such as adrenalin and cortisol.  Cortisol is related to fear; adrenalin prepares the body to react.  But too much of these hormones can be harmful.

Doctor Miller noted that the study could not explain how laughter is responsible for the effects observed.  Do the effects come from the movement of muscles, or from a chemical release?

The researchers say laughter may cause the body to release pleasure chemicals, just as when a person exercises.  Doctor Miller says these endorphins may block the effect of stress hormones and cause the blood vessels to expand.  Laughter may also influence the release of nitric oxide, which too expands blood passages.

The results were presented at a meeting of the American College of Cardiology.  Doctor Miller does not advise people to replace exercise with laughter.  But, based on the results, he does suggest fifteen minutes of laughter each day.

This VOA Special English Health Report was written by Cynthia Kirk.  Our reports are online at voaspecialenglish.com.  I'm Gwen Outen.

The Guitar: an Instrument for Any Kind of Music
Written by - Paul Thompson
24 May 2005
 

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

I’m Steve Ember.

VOICE TWO:

And I’m Phoebe Zimmermann with Explorations in VOA Special English.  Today we tell about a very popular musical instrument.  Listen and see if you can guess what it is.

(MUSIC: "LITTLE MARTHA" BY THE ALLMAN BROTHERS)

VOICE ONE:

 
The guitar is an ancient instrument.
If you guessed it was a guitar, you are correct. Probably no other musical instrument is as popular around the world as the guitar.  Musicians use the guitar for almost every kind of music.  Country and western music would not be the same without a guitar.  The traditional Spanish folk music called Flamenco could not exist without a guitar.  The sound of American blues music would not be the same without the sad cry of the guitar.  And rock and roll music would almost be impossible without this instrument.

VOICE TWO:

Music experts do not agree about where the guitar first was played.  Most agree it is ancient.  Some experts say an instrument very much like a guitar was played in Egypt more than one thousand years ago.

Some other experts say that the ancestor of the modern guitar was brought to Spain from Persia sometime in the twelfth century.  The guitar continued to develop in Spain.  In the seventeen hundreds it became similar to the instrument we know today. 

Many famous musicians played the instrument.  The famous Italian violinist Niccolo Paganinni played and wrote music for the guitar in the early eighteen hundreds.   Franz Schubert used the guitar to write some of his famous works.  In modern times Spanish guitarist Andres Segovia helped make the instrument extremely popular. 

One kind of music for the guitar developed in the southern area of Spain called Adalusia.  It will always be strongly linked with the Spanish guitar.  It is called Flamenco.  Carlos Montoya was a Spanish Gypsy.  Listen as he plays a Flamenco song called “Jerez.”

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

In the nineteen thirties, Les Paul began experimenting with ways to make an electric guitar. He invented the solid body electric guitar in nineteen forty-six.  The Gibson Guitar Company began producing its famous Les Paul Guitar in nineteen fifty-two. It became a powerful influence in popular music.  The instrument has the same shape and the same six strings as the traditional guitar, but it sounds very different.

Les Paul produced a series of extremely popular recordings that introduced the public to his music.  They included Paul playing as many as six musical parts at the same time.  Listen to this Les Paul recording.  It was the fifth most popular song in the United States in nineteen fifty-two.  It is called “Meet Mister Callaghan.”

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

The guitar has always been important to blues music.  The electric guitar Les Paul helped develop made modern blues music possible.  There have been many great blues guitarists.  Yet, music experts say all blues guitar players are measured against one man and his famous guitar. That man is B.B. King.  Every blues fan knows that years ago B.B. King named his guitar Lucille.  Here B.B. King plays Lucille on his famous recording of “The Thrill Is Gone”.

(MUSIC)

Lucille, B. B. King’s large, beautiful black guitar, is important to American music. Visitors can see King’s very first guitar at the Rock and Soul Museum in Memphis, Tennessee.  The museum is the only permanent exhibit organized by the Smithsonian Institution outside Washington, D.C. and New York City.  

VOICE ONE:

Another famous guitar in American music also has a name.  It belongs to country music star Willie Nelson.  His guitar is as famous in country music as Lucille is in blues music.  Its name is Trigger.

Trigger is really a very ugly guitar.  It looks like an old, broken instrument someone threw away.  Several famous people have written their names on it.  A huge hole was torn in the front of it a long time ago.  It looks severely damaged.  But the huge hole, the names and other marks seem to add to its sound.  Listen while Willie Nelson plays  “Angel Flying Too Close To the Ground.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

Many rock and roll performers are very good with a guitar.  One of the best is Chuck Berry.  Berry’s method of playing the guitar very fast was extremely popular when rock music began.  He still is an important influence on rock and roll music.   Listen as Chuck Berry plays and sings one of his hit songs.  He recorded it in nineteen fifty-seven.  The song is about a guitar player named  “Johnny B. Goode.” 

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

There are almost as many different kinds of guitar music as there are musicians.  We cannot play them all in one program.  So we leave you with one guitar player who often mixes several kinds of music.

His name is Jose Feliciano.  Here he plays a song that is based on traditional Spanish guitar music.  He mixes this with a little jazz and a little blues and adds a Latin sound.  Here is “Bamboleo.”

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

This program was written by Paul Thompson.  It was produced by Mario Ritter.  I’m Phoebe Zimmermann.

VOICE ONE:

And I’m Steve Ember.   Join us again next week for another EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English.

(MUSIC)

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