Laughter is Good For Your Health
“Knock, knock” What’s good
for your health and costs only a smile? No joke, the answer is laughter!
“We know that exercising, not
smoking and eating foods low in saturated fat will reduce the risk of heart
disease. Perhaps, regular hearty laughter should be added to the list.”
Michael
Miller, M.D.
From your heart to your
immune system, the health benefits of laughter extend far beyond a good mood.
Researchers have found that laughter can reduce tension, depression and anger.
Amazing things can happen when you laugh. In addition to releasing
mood-elevating chemicals like serotonin and endorphins, a good belly laugh can
trigger an immediate physiological response: your heart rate increases, your
blood vessels expand and you take in more oxygen. Laughter also has many social
benefits; it is a great icebreaker and plays an important role in intimate
relationships. Undeniably, laughter is a universal language that connects
people together and it can be contagious! Want to put a little mirth in your
mood? Read on to learn how to bring more laughter into your life and reap the
amazing health benefits of a good giggle!
Since
research supports that there are many health benefits of laughter, it makes a
lot of sense to lighten up! According to the Mayo Clinic, an undisputed
authority on health and wellness, laughter has both short-term and long-term
health benefits. Laughter has the power to do more than just lighten your mood.
Since a good belly laugh enhances the
intake of oxygen-rich air, it stimulates your organs, including your heart,
lungs and muscles. Endorphins released by the brain after a good chuckle can act
as the body’s natural painkiller. Laughter reduces levels of stress hormones
such as cortisol, epinephrine and dopamine and increases health-enhancing
hormones and infection-fighting antibodies.
Laughter
can also stimulate circulation and aid muscle relaxation, all of which do
wonders to reduce physical symptoms of stress and increase resistance to
disease, not to mention an improved mood and positive outlook!
The
American Cancer Society has a webpage dedicated to humor therapy for patients
interested in a more modern and unconventional approach to dealing with
illness. Although the organization admits there is no scientific evidence to
support that laughter can cure cancer or any other diseases, it can play an
important role in helping patients cope with their physical pain and emotional
stress. Although more studies are needed
to clarify whether laughter may make its way into the mainstream as an
effective treatment for disease, we know that it has many benefits for patients
undergoing treatment, including influencing positive physiological changes,
reducing stress and increasing sense of well being.
One
doctor, who believes that laughter is the best medicine, is Dr. Madan Kataria,
a medical doctor from Mumbai. Dr. Kataria is the founder of the Laughter Yoga Clubs
movement that has grown from one meeting in a park in India in 1995 to over
6000 Laughter Yoga Clubs in 60 countries today. A cardiologist, Dr.Kataria, who
in researching the benefits of laughter, found several studies to support
profound physiological and psychological advantages of a good giggle! Laughter
Yoga Club became a way he could deliver these benefits to his patients and
others.
Marjorie
Moulin, a certified Laughter Yoga Leader and co-founder of the Richmond Hill
Laughter Yoga Club, trained with Dr.Kataria and offers laughter workshops to
corporations and to the public in York Region. The Laughter Yoga Club has been
in operation for six and a half years and now has five hundred joyful members! Instead
of waiting for a condition to laugh such a joke, a funny movie or stand up
comedy routine, Laughter Yoga uses exercises, tools and silly scenarios to
promote laughter! “The body doesn’t know if laughter is fake or real. It’s so
silly, but it becomes contagious!” says Marjorie. After regularly attending class
an average of four to five times, laughter yoga practitioners begin to discover
the inner spirit of laughter and what at first may feel forced or fake becomes
a natural response.
Our instructor, Marjorie, begins our class
with everyone seated in a circle. We are instructed to introduce ourselves,
tell the group what we like about summer (it can be benign as “I don’t have to
shovel snow”), and laugh wholeheartedly at each other’s reply! My left brain is
saying all the while, “this is weird,” and, “I feel uncomfortable” but I play
along. Next we clear the chairs away and stand up to act out various scenarios
such as we just got our Visa bill and mime to our classmates the devastating amount with finger pointing and belly aching laughter as though it is funny
news! Still some discomfort, but I’m starting to play along. Between each mimed
skit, we breathe “ho, ho, ha, ha, ha,” together to oxygenate our lungs. By the
time, she turns on Gangham Style and we are instructed to pull out our best
dance grooves, I am in my element. Now warmed up, together we take turns doing
a dance move that everyone has to mimic. We finish back seated in our circle
and now take turns shaking a maraca with our chosen rhythm that the group has
to copy. By this point, our giggle reflect is well oiled and the contagious
effect of the group laughter has set in. We get silly and completely giddy and
can’t stop laughing. It’s like hanging out and recounting old stories and good
times with the best of friends, except that we are all strangers. Amazed at how
laughing together can create a connection and a bond, I leave feeling sad to
say goodbye to my new giggle buddies, but smile the whole way home!
There
are numerous benefits to Laughter Yoga according to Marjorie. “Laughter Yoga
teaches people to be playful,” she says. “Also, stress causes 70-80% of our
diseases. Normally, we only use one quarter of our lung capacity, but in
Laughter Yoga the idea is to breathe deeply which oxygenates our lungs. In
turn, we exhale carbon dioxide, reduce cortisol levels, resulting in a
reduction in stress,” says Marjorie.
“Another
benefit of Laughter Yoga is that it brings people together,” she says. Yoga
means “to connect” and when you combine laughter and yoga you have a magically
unifying practice. Laughter is especially important in intimate relationships.
“The body uses different hormones for happiness than for anger, so what happens
is that laughter diffuses anger,” says Marjorie. “It’s great for couples,” she
adds.
Laughter is great for bringing people together,
because it is a language shared by all humans. A study led by Professor Sophie
Scott at The University College London, comparing British test subjects and
people living in an isolated part of Namibia in south west Africa, supports
that basic human emotions such as happiness, anger, fear, sadness, disgust and
surprise and the sounds associated with the expression of these emotions are
universal. One positive sound that was particularly well recognized by both
groups was laughter. Subjects from both cultures agreed that laughter signified
amusement, exemplified by the feeling of being tickled. Laughter may be a
universal language shared not only by humans but also chimpanzees and other
mammals, which also laugh when they are tickled. Interestingly, this suggests that
laughter has deep evolutionary roots, possibly originating as part of playful
communication between young infants and mothers.
So
if you want to reap the many benefits of laughter, including reducing stress,
connecting with others, becoming more joyful and playful and improving your
overall health, perhaps making a commitment to Laughter Yoga is the right thing
for you. The best advice Marjorie says she can give to others is, “don’t wait
for a condition to make you laugh,” she says. “Children laugh on average 300
times per day and are naturally joyful. In contrast, adults only laugh on
average four times per day. Laughter Yoga is a commitment to make laughter
happen,” says Marjorie.
If
you are looking for other ways to improve your underdeveloped funny bone, take
heart because humor can be learned and practiced in many other ways. Try
posting photos or comic strips at home or at the office or keep funny movies or
comedy tracks on hand for a quick chuckle.” Try to find a way to laugh about
your own situations and watch as others share a laugh at your ability to be
self-deprecating. As the old saying goes, “laugh and the world laughs with
you!”
Neuroscientist
Sophie Scott decided to prove this adage, so in another study on laughter, her findings
supported that laughter is in fact contagious. “We’ve known for some time that
when we are talking to someone, we often mirror their behavior, copying the
words they use and mimicking their gestures. Now we’ve shown that the same appears
to apply to laughter, too, at least at the level of the brain,” says Scott. As
with Laughter Yoga, learning to laugh may feel forced at first, but if you
continue to practice laughing, it not only becomes more natural, but it becomes
contagious and soon you’ll find others around you responding with a smile or a
chuckle, too!
