Laughter is the best medicine.

I am going to blame my lack of witty subject matter on the fact that our “summer” has been messing with my brain. We all depend on the months of May through August to bring us tons of sunshine and hot weather that in turn equips us to survive the long bitter winter. Not so much this year. More the reason to head outside into the sunshine and catch some Fringe activity. The Winnipeg Fringe Festival is all about unconventional creativity and a large portion of the performances are comedies. Perfect!

There have been countless studies done on the benefits of laughter, most recently by the Loma Linda University School of Medicine. The results show that laughter has an effect on lowering serum levels of cortisol, epinephrine and dopac, all stress hormones. Stress hormones are shown to block creativity and reduce productivity levels. Certainly this is not something you want happening in the Advertising business.

So what better way to reduce stress, get over feeling sorry for ourselves that we’re not the ones on holidays and build up that store of great summer sunshine (that’s the forecast) than by heading to Old Market Square in the Exchange District and have a few belly laughs. Tell the boss you are doing this all for them.

To read more about the Loma Linda University study go to: http://myllu.llu.edu/newsoftheweek/story/?id=16173
For more information about the Fringe Festival go to:
http://www.winnipegfringe.com