Laughter Is Definitely The Best Medicine, But Why?
Laughter Is The Best Medicine
It’s fun, it’s easy, anyone can learn to laugh. We see laughter everywhere, in all cultures, all people, all ages. Laughter is a great way to help yourself to feel better. You can not be depressed, anxious or stressed when you’re laughing.
Laughing seems to have far-reaching health benefits:
- It gives your heart and lunges a good workout;
- It dilates your blood vessels;
- It can lower your blood pressure;
- It may even protect you from heart disease.
Did you ever notice how when you’re stressed you feel like eating more? That’s because stress drives up hormones like cortisol and this increases our appetite. Laughter reduces our stress hormones.
In fact, a good laughter like 10-15 minutes can burn about 50 calories. How great is that?
Laughter also seems to help our immune system. When we laugh we produce more antibodies to protect us from infections like cold and flu. People who laugh a lot and find joy in their lives may find themselves also getting sick less often.
If you’re someone who has chronic pain, you may not feel like laughing much. The good news though is that laughter can help reduce your pain. Laughter seems to increase the body’s production of natural painkillers called endorphins. I think 30 minutes of funny videos every day will make you feel much better.
To reap the health benefits of laughter, you gotta laugh deeply and laugh a lot. How do you do that? Well, the good news is there’s tones of resources out there. You can take laughter classes. There are even yoga classes now that focus on laughter. Or you can rent funny videos, hang out with friends that you love their laugh with. Or there is YouTube guys, have fun with it!
Let me leave you with some food for thought: research shows that kids laugh 300-400 times per day. Not because they have some amazing sense of humor, but just because they’re joyful. On the other hand, adults laugh about 12-15 times per day. So find the joy in your life again, it’s there, just waiting for you to find it.
