As we age, do we laugh less? If we do laugh less, that is making us less healthy. So how does laughter help improve our health?
Short Term Benefits of Laughter
Laughter doesn’t just help us mentally, there are actual physical changes that occur. Laughter can:
- Stimulate many of our organs. Laughter stimulates the heart, lungs and muscles. It increases the endorphins released by our brain and increases the oxygen in our blood stream.
- Activate and relieve our stress response. Laughter increases our stress response and then decelerates that stress. After a good laugh, we become relaxed.
- Soothes tension in our body. Laughter stimulates circulation by increasing the heart rate and helps our muscles relax.
Long Term Effects of Laughter
Laughter may improve your physical health by:
- Improving your immune system. Negative thoughts cause chemical reactions within our bodies and brings more stress into our entire body system and decreases our immunity. Positive thoughts and laughter can release neuropeptides that help fight stress and other illnesses.
- Relieving pain. The endorphins released by the brain are our own body’s painkiller.
- Improving our coping mechanisms. Laughter helps you connect with other people and makes it easier for us to cope with stress in our lives.
- Improving our mood. Sometime in our life, we may experience depression. Laughter helps reduce the stress in our lives and can help with depression and/or anxiety.
How to Find Laughter in our Lives?
- Search for humor. Find funny cards that make you laugh out loud. Hang them up at the office or on the refrigerator. Select some funny movies. Watch funny videos online, such as this video of laughing babies — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L49VXZwfup8
- Find a way to laugh at yourself. We are not perfect. If you can laugh at yourself, your stress will actually decrease.
- Share laughter. Find your friends who make you laugh. Spend some time with them.
- Know what isn’t funny. Some forms of humor are not appropriate.
So until we meet again next week, watch the video of the laughing babies, make a friend laugh, find something funny to share with your friends and family, and smile more— it takes fewer muscles to smile than it does to frown.
Warm Regards,
Dr. Mike
References:
https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/stress-management/in-depth/stress-relief/art-20044456