What Does Monty Python Have to do with the Heart?

I went to a cardiologist yesterday and he told me to go watch the movie Ferris Bueller's Day Off or Monthy Python... Actually that didn't happen but it could have. Watching a funny movie could be good for your heart. "Laughing may be important to maintain a healthy endothelium, and reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease,” says principal investigator Michael Miller, M.D., director of preventive cardiology at the University of Maryland Medical Center". Using laughter-provoking movies to gauge the effect of emotions on cardiovascular health, researchers at the school suggest that laughter is linked to healthy function of blood vessels. The endothelium is the inner lining of the blood vessels. You may not know it but the blood vessels can dilate (become wider). One of the signs of good cardiovascular function is the flexibility of the blood vessels to dilate. Interestingly, drugs like Viagra improve the dilation qualities of blood vessels. That is how it was discovered when scientists were looking for new heart medicines. Too much dilation can cause low blood pressure and thus the warnings about these drugs in some people, but I digress.