This week You! takes a look at the benefits of laughter...
Laughter is something that elevates one’s mood and lightens up the atmosphere. However, laughter is more than just about uplifting the mood and also triggers healthy physical changes in the body. Yes, laughter is a powerful antidote to stress, pain, and conflict. Nothing works faster than a good laugh to bring your mind and body back into balance. This is because humour lightens your burdens, inspires hope, connects you to others, and keeps you grounded, focused, and alert. Best of all, this priceless medicine is fun, free, and easy to use. Read on to find out more...
Benefits of laughter
1) Good for your health:
Laughter relaxes the whole body. A good, hearty laugh relieves physical tension and stress, leaving your muscles relaxed for up to 45 minutes.
* It boosts the immune system. Laughter decreases stress hormones and increases immune cells and infection-fighting antibodies, thus improving your resistance to disease.
It triggers the release of endorphins, the body’s natural feel-good chemicals. Endorphins promote an overall sense of well-being and can even temporarily relieve pain.
Laughter protects the heart. Laughter improves the function of blood vessels and increases blood flow, which can help protect you against a heart attack and other cardiovascular problems.
2) Mental health benefits:
Laughter dissolves distressing emotions. You can’t feel anxious, angry, or sad when you’re laughing.
Laughter helps you relax and recharge. It reduces stress and increases energy, enabling you to stay focused and accomplish more.
Humour shifts perspective, allowing you to see situations in a more realistic, less threatening light. A humorous perspective creates psychological distance, which can help you avoid feeling overwhelmed.
3) Social benefits:
Humour and playful communication strengthen our relationships by triggering positive feelings and fostering emotional connection. When we laugh with one another, a positive bond is created. This bond acts as a strong buffer against stress, disagreements and disappointment. It also attracts others to us and promotes group bonding
4) Help you stay emotionally healthy
The good feeling that you get when you laugh remains with you even after the laughter subsides. Humour helps you keep a positive, optimistic outlook through difficult situations, disappointments and loss.
More than just a respite from sadness and pain, laughter gives you the courage and strength to find new sources of meaning and hope. Even in the most difficult of times, a laugh- or even simply a smile - can go a long way toward making you feel better.
5) Laugh away:
Laughter is your birthright, a natural part of life that is innate and inborn. Infants begin smiling during the first weeks of life and laugh out loud within months of being born. Even if you did not grow up in a household where laughter was a common sound, you can learn to laugh at any stage of life. Begin by setting aside special times to seek out humour and laughter, as you might with working out, and build from there. Eventually, you will want to incorporate humour and laughter into the fabric of your life, finding it naturally in everything you do. Here are some ways to start:
Smile. Smiling is the beginning of laughter. Like laughter, it is contagious. Pioneers in ‘laugh therapy’ find it possible to laugh without even experiencing a funny event. The same holds for smiling. When you look at someone or see something even mildly pleasing, practice smiling.
Count your blessings. Literally make a list. The simple act of considering the good things in your life will distance you from negative thoughts that are a barrier to humour and laughter.
When you hear laughter, move towards it. Sometimes humour and laughter are private, a shared joke among a small group, but usually not. More often, people are very happy to share something funny because it gives them an opportunity to laugh again and feed off the humour you find in it. When you hear laughter, seek it out and ask, “What’s funny?”
Spend time with fun and playful people. These are people who laugh easily - both at themselves and at life’s absurdities - and who routinely find the humour in everyday events. Their playful point of view and laughter are contagious.
Bring humour into conversations. Ask people, “What’s the funniest thing that happened to you today? This week? In your life?”
Get a pet. Most of us have experienced the joy of playing with a furry friend, and pets are a rewarding way to bring more laughter and joy into your life. But did you know that having a pet is good for your mental and physical health. Studies show that pets can protect you depression, stress, and even heart disease.
