Clapping is proving to be a sure-shot way of improving heart health and managing stress.
As the world has entered the third year of the pandemic, people are looking for effective remedies to beat stress.
There are many traditional ways to reduce stress by taking proper rest and sleep. Healthy eating and physical activity are also known to reduce stress levels.
Recently, actress Bhagyashree offered an interesting and slightly unique solution. The 52-year-old actress took to Instagram to make a case for clapping. “Yes, you read that right — the simple act of bringing your palms together can help manage stress,’’ she said.
She shared an informative video, writing in the caption, “Clapping is appreciative, positive and compounded with health benefits, too.” Recommending clapping as a “simple method to alleviate stress, anxiety and blood pressure”, Bhagyashree said, “It also helps in enhancing cognitive memory.”
In the accompanying video, the actress said that clapping improves heart health and even reduces stress, anxiety and blood pressure in adults. It also boosts the memory and cognitive powers of children.
Cognitive behaviour therapy practitioner Sukanya Biswas notes that there are about “30+ acupressure points in the palms, which are activated when you are clapping”.
“Clapping is known to improve the overall heart health and improve blood pressure. [It] helps immunity by boosting white cells, which are essential for fighting germs and, therefore, reduces the occurrence of frequent infections. Regular clapping is also shown to have benefits on improved bone health in cases of arthritis and associated pains… For mental illnesses like depression and anxiety, clapping can be very easy to do exercise that costs actually nothing,” says Biswas.
In pre-COVID times when people moved around without any restrictions, it was not uncommon to find senior citizens laughing out loud and clapping while sitting on benches in parks in different cities across India. Yoga groups of different age groups could also be spotted clapping in parks. Perhaps, they have benefitted from clapping.
