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Past Meetings

A Laugh-Filled Evening with the Diminutive,
Dynamic Andrée Jetté

Here's a not-so-funny statistic: most of us laugh less than 4 minutes a day.

Andrée Jetté, PMCQ's March 20^th guest speaker, reminded us that it is laughter that stimulates endorphins. Conversely, stress stimulates cortisol (adrenaline), which can make us feel as if our entire energy source has been depleted.

Adrenaline starts pumping from the moment we get out of bed in the morning. If you find yourself planning out your day while still in the shower, you can bet your adrenaline will be high before you even walk out the door…and by the time you get to work, where the "unexpected" may be occurring, stress levels are high. And that's before yet another cup of coffee! And the stress doesn't come to an end when we walk through the door at home again in the evening - children, spouses, household responsibilities - all place additional demands upon us, and we do little to lower our stress levels. Women, in fact, tend to feel guilty when they relax, and their stress may manifest itself in emotional upset. Male or female, internalizing stress leads, inevitably, to digestive problems and insomnia.

Ms. Jetté says that it is a myth that improving your quality of life takes too long - letting yourself go to enjoy a moment takes only a few seconds. Since in any given day we give 15 hours (or more) of ourselves to other people, the least we can do is to give 15 or 20 minutes to ourselves. A conversation with a friend, a relaxing soak in the tub, a funny television show, a favourite piece of music - all of these are things that will stimulate those oh-so-powerful and much-needed endorphins and lower our stress hormone levels dramatically.

Learn, too, says Andrée, to make equal use of the left and right sides of your brain. We use the left side of our brain - which controls logic - most frequently…and so often that we forget the right side of our brain, which is where our creativity and intuition originate.

"Embrace life." says Andrée. "Be good to yourself, take time for yourself - and find ways to eject negative energy."

by Patricia Brown
MANX Communications