Laughter is like a gentle medicine for the body and mind. Laughter is a nice antidote for stress and other pains. Nothing works faster or more reliably to restore balance between your mind and body than a good laugh. Humor eases your burdens, inspires hope, connects you with others, and keeps you down to earth. It also helps out by helping us release anger and forgive.
With so much healing and renewal power, the ability to laugh easily and often is a great resource for overcoming problems, improving relationships and supporting physical and emotional health. Best of all, this priceless drug is fun, free and easy to use.
Laughter is often called the best medicine and can instantly improve our mood. While we all know how good it feels to laugh, did you know there are some weird facts associated with laughter? From contagious laughs to laughing competitions, we’ve compiled a list of seven surprising and fun facts about laughter that you probably didn’t know. So, let’s dive in and learn more about how laughter can affect the human body and mind in unexpected ways!
1. Laughing Burns More Calories Than You Think
Laughing may just be the easiest way to burn calories that you didn’t even know about. As mentioned earlier, just ten to fifteen minutes of laughing a day can burn up to 40 calories. That’s not too shabby for something that’s also incredibly enjoyable. While laughter may not quite burn as many calories as going for a jog, it still raises energy expenditure and contributes to a healthy lifestyle. Plus, laughing has a number of other benefits, including improving cardiac health and boosting the immune system. It’s a simple and effective way to boost your overall well-being while having some fun. So why not incorporate a little laughter into your daily routine? Your body will thank you.
2. The Link Between Laughter and Health Benefits
It’s not just a saying, laughter really is the best medicine! As mentioned in previous sections, there are numerous health benefits associated with laughter. Studies have shown that laughter can boost immune function, enhance memory retention, increase pain tolerance, and improve cardiovascular health. Laughing also releases endorphins, which improve mood and act as natural painkillers. In addition to physical benefits, laughter also helps create social bonds and is a great stress reliever. So why not add some laughter to your daily routine? Not only will it feel good, but it’ll also benefit your overall health and wellbeing.
3. Endorphins and Dopamine
Endorphins and dopamine are two chemicals that contribute to our feelings of pleasure and happiness. And as it turns out, laughter is one of the best ways to trigger the release of these chemicals in our brains. When we laugh, our body releases endorphins, which can also stimulate the release of dopamine. So, not only does laughter make us feel good in the moment, it can also have long-term benefits for our mental health and wellbeing. In fact, laughter has been shown to reduce stress and anxiety, improve mood, and even strengthen social bonds. So, the next time you’re feeling down or stressed out, try watching a funny video, telling a joke, or finding some other way to make yourself laugh. Your brain and body will thank you for it.
4. Heavy Laughter Brings More Oxygen to Lungs
Heavy laughter is no laughing matter when it comes to its benefits for your body. Did you know that when you engage in a sustained bout of laughter, your body brings in more oxygen to the lungs than normal breathing would do? This is because laughter helps to expand the alveoli, the tiny air sacs in the lungs where gas exchange takes place. The more alveoli that are open during laughter, the more oxygen-rich air can enter into the lungs. As a result, this increases oxygen intake, stimulates the heart, lungs, and muscles, and boosts the release of endorphins by the brain. So, the next time you’re feeling stressed or tired, try watching a comedy show or hanging out with your funniest friends and see how your body responds to some heavy belly laughs.
5. Laughter as a Stress Reliever
Laughter is not just good for our physical health, but it is also an amazing stress reliever! When we laugh, our stress hormone levels, cortisol and adrenaline, decrease, allowing our muscles to relax and leaving us feeling less tense. Not only that, but laughing also releases endorphins, the “feel good” chemicals that help alleviate pain and create positive sensations in the body. In fact, a good belly laugh can relieve muscle tension for up to 45 minutes, which is why taking a break to watch a funny video or TV show can do wonders for your stress levels. By incorporating laughter into your daily routine, you may find yourself feeling happier, more relaxed, and better able to handle any challenges that come your way.
6. Laughter Creates Social Bonds
Laughter is not just a reaction to jokes or humor, it serves a greater purpose of creating social bonds. Studies have shown that people are 30 times more likely to laugh when in a group than alone. Laughter yoga, a practice designed to induce laughter without the need for jokes, has become increasingly popular as a tool to bring people together. When people laugh together, they feel a sense of connection and shared experience that strengthens social bonds. Additionally, laughter has been found to release feel-good chemicals like endorphins and dopamine, further enhancing positive social interactions. In fact, laughter is not solely a human trait, as chimpanzees and other primates use laughter as a means of social bonding. So next time you find yourself laughing with friends or family, know that it’s not just about the jokes, but also about building stronger social connections.
7. Humans Laughed Before Verbal Language
It may come as a surprise, but humans were able to laugh before developing verbal language. This makes sense when we consider that laughter is a way to communicate and bond with others, even without words. Studies have shown that laughing with friends can increase our pain threshold and create social connections. In fact, laughter has been linked to numerous health benefits, including increased oxygen intake and the release of feel-good chemicals like endorphins and dopamine. So, the next time you’re sharing a good laugh with friends, know that this behavior is deeply rooted in our evolutionary history and has been an important part of human communication since before language even existed.
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Some of laughter’s weird facts you probably didn’t know
- Relaxes the whole body. A good, friendly laugh relieves tension and stress, leaving your muscles relaxed until 45 minutes later.
- Decreases stress hormones and increases the immune cells and antibodies that fight infections, thereby improving their resistance to the disease.
- Triggers the release of endorphins, natural chemicals that feel good in the body. Endorphins promote a general feeling of well-being and can even temporarily relieve pain.
- Protects the heart. Laughter improves the function of the blood vessels and increases blood flow, which can help protect against heart attacks and other cardiovascular problems.
- Helps burns calories. Of course you’re not going to stop going to the gym but there is a study that found that if you laufh 10-15 minutes a day can burn around 40 calories, that equals out to about three or four pounds in a year. Ok, that doesn’t sound as much but hey, I’ll take a pound off my waist for just laughing any day.
- Relieves the heavy burden of anger. Nothing spreads anger and conflict faster than shared laughter. Looking at the fun side can put issues in perspective and allow you to go through confrontations without holding you back to bitterness or resentment.
- Can even help you live longer. A study in Norway found that people with a great sense of humor survived those who did not laugh as much. The difference was especially noticeable for those fighting cancer.
Check this out:
A man walks into a bar…
Sits down on a stool.
Bartender goes, “What’ll it be, buddy?”
“Seven whiskey shots and make ’em doubles,” says the man.
So the bartender does this and watches as the man slugs ’em down, one by one, till they’re all gone.
Staring in disbelief, the bartender asks: “What’s the rush?”
“You’d be in a hurry to get drunk too… if you had what I had,” he replies.
“Oh yeah? What’s that?” questions the bartender.
“I have a dollar.”
laughter lowers stress and keeps you from getting sick. Also releases “feel-good” chemicals!
Have you ever considered how no one really teaches you to laugh? How it’s a natural response that we are pretty much born with?
Laughter is an innate physical action that we acquire from very young. It is innate since there is no one to teach you how to laugh or to tell you what to do and how to produce the sounds we make while laughing.
You can see it in babies as they begin to experiment with the smile and later with the laughter, they realize that when making the reflection of a smile and their laughter, they establish a relationship with you and their surroundings. They communicate and get a response.
And why all this? Because laughter is an action that everyone and without distinction knows how to do. The difficulty is that as adults we are diminishing this ability or at least we are reducing the situations in which we let it express itself.
There is a lot more going on in an adult’s mind than a child’s, since a child is spontaneous, vital, genuine and does not question the doing or not doing, why or how. The adult thinks and sometimes over-analyses and takes time to process stuff, sometimes too much that we disconnect from feeling.
Psychological benefits of laughter
We release endorphins. When we laugh, we secrete a hormone called endorphin, which is very associated with the feeling of happiness. The greater the intensity of the laughter, the more endorphin segregation our nervous system generates, and with it the more sensation of pleasure and well-being we feel. In addition, laughter also makes us secrete dopamine and serotonin, substances that fight some mood disorders such as depression or anxiety.
Powerful as anti-stress
In addition to the hormones and their beneficial effect on our mood, laughter also has the ability to activate many muscles that, once we have stopped laughing, return to relax. This increases a state of physical and also psychological distension. A good way to combat negative thoughts and emotional ballast.
It makes us more sociable. When we share good times with friends or colleagues and laugh in this social context, we are sharing unique and positive experiences, which improves our socialization. Laughter in common can improve our interpersonal relationships.
Increase self-esteem Laughter allows us to put aside the sense of ridicule and take our lives with good humor and with more relaxation, which can lead to an improvement in our self-esteem.
Encourage our optimism. Laughter gives us a positive mood. When we are in a good mood, it is usual that we generate more positive thoughts. laughter can serve to relativize the difficulties and start creating a good mental state that leads to optimism.
So keep the fun and humor high, it’s a natural way to improve our own mental health. And the best part is that it doesn’t cost you anything to laugh or make someone laugh.
Other interesting recommended reading:
- Surviving Significant Loss and Difficulty
- Have You Ever Been Curious About Your Emotional IQ?
- Depression Hurts, But It Doesn’t Have To
- Problems Are Not Meant to Stop You. Look At It This Way Instead.
- Mind And Body Wellness Benefits And Tips
- The Mind & Body Technique That Could Help Ease Pain
