Health Benefits of Laughing : Why Should You Laugh Everyday?

Some Weird Facts That Might Surprise You About Laughing

• It is believed that human beings started to laugh millions of years back, even before they developed the strength of talking or language.
• The laughter mechanism is well entrenched in our brains that we start laughing at the infant age of merely 17 days.
• Laughter rarely comes with bonding with humor. According to a survey, out of 1200 episodes of laughing, only 10% were a success due to jokes.
• Surprisingly, even the monkeys and rats come with the ability to laugh.
• Humor apart, the couples who laugh together naturally stay together for a long time as they can share every stressful situation with ease.
• Laughter controls your brain very well. One best example of this is that when you see anyone laughing, you automatically smile without knowing the reason. This is due to the premotor cortical area of the brain that boosts the facial muscles to move, and your smile.
• Jokes apart, laughing around 15 mins in a day can help in burning around 40 calories as it increases the heart rate along with the consumption which boosts in burning calories.

Laughing – An Interesting and Healthy Thing to Do

Laughter is the best medicine. You might have heard this statement many times. But very few people actually think it is true. However, the fact is that laughter adds to both emotional and physical changes in your body in a positive way that damages the negative impact of stress. Laughing is the best way of getting back the body and mind in proper balance. Humor or laughter lights the burden on your mind, connects you with other people, inspires hope, and keeps you focused, alert, and grounded too. It also reduced the anger you carry in your mind.

Hence, laughter comes with the tremendous power of renewing and healing for facing various troubling problems, supports your emotional and physical health, and enhances your relationships too. No doubt, it wouldn’t cure your health in a single time, but it actually works when carried out naturally and daily. Laughter not only provides health benefits, but there are various social benefits to grab on like a family warmth.

Hence, there is much to obtain by merely laughing. Still, thinking if you should keep on laughing? Let’s check on the list of benefits of laughing.

What are the Health Benefits of Laughing?

No doubt, laughter doesn’t provide you with any kind of nutrients, it still helps you with a number of benefits that support your mental and physical health. Here are few salient health benefits of laughing.

1. The best stress buster

Surprisingly, when anyone smiles or laughs, there are various movements observed in the facial muscles which send the brain positive signals. These releases particular neurotransmitters known as endorphins. Endorphins are the chemicals that naturally reduce pain and stress levels that make you happy in return. The chemicals released by the brain makes you feel composed and calm. This reduces the angry and anxious levels and initiates happy thoughts in the form of parasympathetic reactions.

2. Helpful in respiration

What happens after you laugh wholeheartedly? Feel relieved? The reason behind such feeling is because laughing involves proper exhalations which are much effective in reducing the blood pressure and heart rates. This gets you to a calmer state. Laughter is similar to breathing deeply, which gives a cleansing impact that is beneficial for patients who are suffering from health issues like emphysema and various other respiratory issues.

3. Gives a boost to your immunity

Stress levels come with a negative impact on your immune system. The chemical reactions that occur when you are in stress, would make you sick both physically and mentally. When you laugh, it fuels the immune system and provides the body with various magical powers that help in fighting against various diseases. Hence, laughing would keep you energetic and healthy with a boosted immune system.

4. Good for your cardiac health

This might be shocking, but laughing is also a type of cardiac workout. Yes, health benefits of laughing include building healthy heart as well. Laughing is quite helpful for people who are not capable of carrying out any kind of physical activity due to long term injuries or illness. Laughter improves the pumping counts of the heart and also burns a good number of calories too. So, laugh properly and improve the health of your heart.

5. Good for people suffering from hypertension

Hypertension or high blood pressure is among the various results of heavy stress which can result in stroke and other heart diseases. Laughing helps in reducing the blood pressure levels to a great extent. For the people suffering from hypertension, merely going for comic sessions for around 30 minutes on a daily basis for around 8 weeks comes with a good result on the blood pressure levels compared to music and other similar tricks.

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6. Helps in improving social relations

Definitely, there are various situations when due to anger and mood swings make relationships complicated. Be it family or friends, anger and mood swings have resulted in divorce and breakups, along with other social issues. And laughter is the best way to rejuvenate social relations. It reduces the stress levels and helps in avoiding mood swings and anger which helps in improving social relations. It spreads positive energy which is also helpful in improving your relationships with others.

Having a good and friendly social circle is very important for an individuals healthy life. This implies that health benefits of laughing are not only limited to an individual but it relates to the social life as well.

7. Good for abs building

Shocked! But it’s true. For the people looking for burning calories or even building up abs, laughing would prove to be a proper mini-workout. When you start laughing, the muscles of the stomach expand and contract too, similar to that when you perform the workout for abs. Laughter is an activity that is helpful in toning the stomach as it burns a good number of calories. Laughing is carried out in various parks, gardens, yoga classes, gyms, etc. as it provides similar results as jogging. Hence, laugh for having stunning abs.

8. Psychological benefits

Along with various health benefits, humor is also helpful for various psychological health issues. Laughter therapy is among the various treatments carried out for the patients of Parkinson’s disease. It is also beneficial for other psychological health issues like anxiety, depression, optimism, depression during menopause, self-esteem, etc. Humor spreads positive vibes to the body which helps in dealing with various difficult situations with ease.

9. Improving your sleep

Have you ever tried sleeping after watching a comic movie or drama? If yes, you might have observed a peaceful sleep that day. Having a good session of laughter before sleeping helps in reducing the anxiety levels which boosts improved sleep after a long and busy day. Hence, if you want to improve your sleeping hours for sound sleep, go for some comic or humor sessions before sleeping.

10. Reduces any physical pain

Difficult to digest, laughing also helps in reducing any kind of physical pain. When you laugh aloud, the muscles of the body expand and move the blood vessels that send additional blood to each and every body part. This also increases the breathing and oxygen levels in the body and the blood. Hence, it reduces any kind of stress hormones which gives a sense of joy and peace to the mind and body.

11. Improves your mental health

Yes, laughter is the best way to feel good from within. It adds positivity inside you and helps you look at the positive side of any disappointment, loss or difficult situations. Apart from saving you from pain and sadness, humor adds strength and courage which helps in discovering new hope and meaning sources. Even while passing through the most difficult phase of your life, humor helps you feel better and refresh your mind.

Hence, laughing for some time every day not only helps you stay healthy but also improves your social and mental health. In this way, laughing adds some additional days to your life in a rib-tickling way.

How Can I Add Some More Laughter to My Life?

Humor adds brightness to your life. Even the babies begin to smile during their first week and take merely a few months to laugh loud after they are born. Different stages of life provide different ways of incorporating laughter. Here is how you can add some more laughter to your life.

1. Smile as many times as you can

Smile is the initial stage of laughing, as well as it is contagious too. When you see someone smiling, or even visualize something that is quite pleasing, you are sure to smile. So, rather than getting addicted to your cell phones, look at your surroundings while you walk, or even sit at the window side, share your elevator with your co-workers, share your comic experiences, etc. This would help in adding some more humor to your life.

2. Count on your positive sides

Yes, take a paper and pen, and list down all your positive aspects related to your life. This simple act would help in eliminating all the negative thoughts and aspects from your mind and life that has been blocking laughter and humor to your life. This list of positive aspects and good memories would help you when you are feeling sad. Hence, you would not have to watch comic drama CDs or books to laugh.

3. Check on laughing opportunities

At times keep checking on where you will get laughter. People mostly share jokes or funny. Look for such groups or private groups that would provide you with humor every day to laugh on. Also, while passing through groups in office or even building compounds, whenever you hear laughter, peep in between and ask what the topic was. This would add small moments of humor to your routine.

4. Spend time with people who are fun-loving

There are two types of people in the world. One who is quite serious while the others are fun-loving. They keep on looking for small humor moments every time. They come with a playful moment and laughter and keep their surroundings full of pleasure. So, spend time with such people to keep yourself lighthearted. In this way, you would be able to add some laughter to your routine.

5. Add some laughter to your conversations

While meeting your friends, employees, or even during family get-togethers, try to add some humor to your conversations by discussing what funny activity took place in everyone’s life. In this way, you would get small episodes of humor that would add to your laughter.

So, this is some of the common ways of adding some humor to your life.

How Can I Develop My Sense of Humor?

For practicing laughter, you also need to develop your sense of humor. Admit it, we all have many times being into foolish things or life episodes. Thus, before laughing on the jokes and episodes of others, you should be capable of laughing at your own activities.

Here is how you can develop your sense of humor:

• Talk about your embarrassing moments. If you are capable of laughing on your own acts, it would be easy to convert any serious situation to normal.
• Try to laugh in any negative or bad situation for uncovering the absurdity and irony of life. This would also reduce your stress levels.
• Look for funny things to surround yourself with like funny posters, toys for car fronts, photo frames with fun moments, etc.
• Remember all the fun-loving days with your friends and family. Recall on what happened and how it turned out to humorous. Write about your mischiefs and embarrassing moments with your cousins and friends.
• Try to avoid everything that adds negativity to your life, be it people, thoughts, conversations, or even sad moments.
• Don’t let the child inside you die. Take part in games, play in the field, take things lightly, laugh on even minor things, etc. Be a child.
• Look for things that would help you turn out of stress. Play with kids, look for games, funny stories, etc. to reduce your stress levels through laughter.
• Fix around 15 to 20 minutes every day for laughing. Do any activity that would amuse you.

Apart from this, you can also add laughter through laugh yoga therapy or laughter therapies. Visit the gardens where laughter therapy is carried out and find out a reason to generate genuine laughter. Again, when you hear others laughing, it is surely going to impact your brain and force you to join the group.

Hope you loved our informative article about health benefits of laughing. Please share this article with your friends on social media and spread happiness!

Keep laughing, feel good and check on how you improve your overall health. So, how ready are you to giggle?