Laughter

Why
Really is the Best Medicine

o you ever wonder why you feel better after

watching a really hilarious comedy? I know when
I laugh I dont only feel better psychologically, its
almost like I feel physically healthier.

Studies show that laughter stimulates your brain to release

stress relief hormones called endorphins, which cool down
your bodys response to stress. It improves your heart rate
and blood pressure, thus improving your circulation and
soothing tension.

This got me thinking Could that old saying about laughter

being the best medicine actually be true?
I mean, were constantly looking for all sorts of ways to improve our health: changing our diets, taking supplements,
going to the gym, and visiting our doctors. But what if good
health is just a laugh away?
After all, cheerful people seem to be more energetic, less
stressed, and enjoy their lives more. And Ive heard centenarians (people who love to 100 years or more) claim that
the secret to longevity lies in laughter and the ability look
trouble in the face with a twinkle in your eye.
So I decided to do some digging to find out if science bears
out this idea that laughter is actually medicine.
Today Im going to share what I discovered.

Physical Benefits of Laughter

Just try smiling right now. Do you feel the muscles and
lines of your face (especially in the forehead) suddenly relax? Imagine what a good laugh can do! Whether you are
exchanging jokes with a friend, watching a comedy show or
reading a funny comic strip, you will find that a good laugh
has great short-term effects. It instantly induces changes in
your body that can stimulate your muscles, including your
heart, and enhance the intake of oxygen into your lungs.

Laughter may actually improve your immune system function.

But if you think that these are just temporary effects, studies suggest that laughter may actually improve your immune system function. While constant negative thoughts
can induce chemical reactions that can decrease your immunity, positive thoughts have been found to result in the
release of neuropeptides that help fight chronic stress and
potentially serious illnesses.

www.rockwellnutrition.com

For people who are experiencing pain, laughter eases discomfort by causing their bodies to produce their own natural painkillers. This has been found to increase ones pain
tolerance by about 10 percent. Laughing also helps break
the cycle of pain and spasm that is common to some muscle disorders. By releasing endorphins, the bodys natural
feel-good chemicals, laughter promotes an overall sense of
well-being that can last the whole day. In addition, experts
say that these effects can help improve sleep.

It is a common observation that men have a greater ability to elicit laughter while women are more likely to laugh
more often. This implies an interaction, and some people
believe that the amount of laughter in marriage may help
determine the health of the relationship.

Can laughter be a solution to the problem of obesity? You

burn around 100 calories when you run a mile, but research
from the Vanderbilt University suggests that getting just
10-15 minutes of laughter a day can help burn up to 40 to
50 calories. You use a lot of muscles, not only in the face,
but even from the diaphragm and the rest of the body when
you get a hearty laugh, so the more you do it, the more calories you burn. One study involving people with diabetes
found that after eating a meal and watching a comedy, participants had lower blood sugar levels than they did after
listening to a tedious lecture.
Mechanisms of the cardiovascular benefits of laughter are
not clear, but by improving your blood circulation, habitual
laughter can help protect against heart attacks and other
cardiovascular problems. A recent study at the University
of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore found that compared to people who have no heart disease, those who have
suffered a heart attack or undergone coronary artery bypass surgery were more inclined to display anger and hostility and less likely to laugh or respond well to everyday
life situations, even in positive circumstances.

Emotional Benefits of Laughter

Humor generally results in an elevated mood and reduces anxiety

and depression.

Aside from joking and talking, tickling is one of the best

ways to elicit laughter. It is another form of interaction that
makes both the tickler and the tickled laugh together. You
cannot tickle yourself, and you can only tickle or get tickled by someone close to you. Therefore, there is a form of
emotional bonding when a parent tickles a child, or when
partners do it to each other. The result is fun and laughter,
which usually ends with a feeling of closeness.

www.rockwellnutrition.com

It is not difficult to imagine the emotional benefits of laughing, whether you are alone watching a funny movie or with
friends and loved ones. Humor generally results in an elevated mood and reduces anxiety and depression. It can
give you feelings of well-being by increasing energy and
vigor. It can even promote hope and optimism, as well as
self-esteem and resilience. Although laughter cannot make
your problems go away, having a positive attitude can help
you cope with your problems in a better perspective. Even
people who have chronic illnesses may feel less depressed
and more hopeful when they can connect with other people and share laughter with them.
Aside from anxiety and depression, laughter also helps
ease other negative feelings such as boredom, anger and
fear. It diverts your mind and emotions away from negative
thoughts and moods and turns them into more pleasurable
feelings.

action with friends,

enjoy group exercise,
or watch TV sitcoms
daily experience an
increase in learning
ability as well as a better quality of life. Other cognitive benefits
of laughter include
enhanced creativity,
better problem-solving ability, and increased ability to find
alternative solutions
to cope with stress.
Laughter promotes mental or cognitive abilities.

Social Benefits of Laughter

Mental Health Benefits of Laughter

Laughter does not only relieve tension and depression,
but it also promotes your mental or cognitive abilities.
Many people believe that lighthearted people who are always laughing do not take responsibilities seriously. New
research from Johns Hopkins Medical School, however,
shows that students who enjoy humor do better on their
test scores than other students.
Researchers at Loma Linda University in California also
found that healthy older adults perform better in tests for
memory recall after viewing funny videos than those who
were not allowed to talk, read or watch anything. Studies
also indicate that older adults who engage in social inter-

Humor and laughter bring health to your social relationships. It helps you become more spontaneous and less defensive. Laughter helps you forget doubts, judgments, and
criticisms. You tend to let go of your inhibitions and express
how you really feel, making you open to more social interactions.
Making people laugh and laughing with other people promotes social interactions that improve your quality of life.
Your ability to find humor in daily situations can be attractive to others and may increase friendliness toward people.
Often times you do not have to go to an expensive restaurant or travel far to enjoy the company of friends and loved
ones.

www.rockwellnutrition.com

A study from the University of Maryland found that laughter is a social activity and that you are more likely to laugh
when you are in a social setting than when you are alone.
Spending light moments in laughter can help strengthen
relationships, enhance teamwork, attract others, help resolve conflict, and promote group bonding.

to your daily routine. Having a happy disposition can make

it easier to overcome the challenges of dieting, exercising
and dealing with stressful situations. If you have a chronic
condition, your treatments are more likely to work with a
boost in your immune function, which could come from a
daily dose of laughter. But how do you find more laughter
in your life?

Positive bonds act as strong buffers against stress, disappointment, and disagreements. Shared laughter with
co-workers, family and friends is one of the most effective ways to keep your relationships fresh and exciting.
Although various forms of emotional sharing help build
strong and lasting bonds, sharing laughter and fun also
adds resilience, joy and vitality to relationships.
Humor may be used as a powerful tool to heal disagreements, hurts, and resentments. Laughter can unite people
even during difficult times. It reinforces group identity and
cohesiveness and promotes happy marriages and closer
relationships.

Bring More Laughter into Your Life

People are probably born with a natural sense of humor.
After all, it does not take much to make a baby break out
into fits of laughter. Infants begin to interact and smile
during the first few weeks of life and laugh within months.
Laughter can be contagious, too, and you will find that people tend to gather where there is merriment. But somehow,
people tend to laugh less as they grow older. You might
also notice that relationships tend to deteriorate when the
laughter is gone.
If you want to bring more health to your life, add laughter

Spend more time with friends who make you laugh.

Dont worry if you are afraid that you have an underdeveloped funny bone. Learning and developing a sense of
humor is easier than you think. There are several ways of
bringing more mirth into your life:
Practice smiling more often. A smile is contagious and
it could signal the beginning of laughter. Smile when
you look at someone or when you see something even

www.rockwellnutrition.com

slightly pleasing.
Increase positive thoughts by counting your blessings.
Make a list of the good things in your life. Some people
recommend doing this daily by writing down three to
five things you are thankful for during the day. It will
help reduce negative thoughts that block you from enjoying humor.
Increase laughter in your daily routine by looking for
things that you enjoy and make you chuckle or laugh.
Some people keep comic books, while others enjoy funny movies and TV sitcoms. Read, watch, and listen to
these jovial sources of entertainment when you need a
humor boost.

Experience the joys of playing with a pet.

Practice laughing about your own situations and your

stress will begin to fade away. It may feel forced at first, but
it will do your body a lot of good.
Spend more time with friends who make you laugh. Do

your share by contributing your own funny stories and

jokes with people around you.
Remember when you used to enjoy sharing knockknock jokes with your friends? People were always
alert for new versions and it kept everyone sharp and
creative. Well, one is never too old for jokes like these,
and these are the type of jokes everyone from all ages
can enjoy.
Some jokes are not funny and laughing at the expense
of others may be inappropriate. Use your best judgment to distinguish good jokes from those that are bad
or hurtful to others.
Experience the joys of playing with a pet. Studies show
that caring for pets can protect you from stress, depression, and heart disease. They can even make you laugh!
Join in the laughter. When you hear people sharing
jokes and laughter, move toward them. Most people
are happy to share something funny because doing
so makes them laugh again. So the next time you hear
laughter, ask them, Whats funny?
Spend some time with people who are fun to be with,
who are able to laugh at themselves and even at lifes absurdities. These people find humor in everyday events
and their spirited point of view can be contagious.
Take yourself less seriously. Although some events in
our lives are obviously sad, most events do not bear an
overwhelming sense of sadness. Always try to see the
lighter side of life, first by laughing at yourself, especially after an embarrassing moment occurs.
Try to laugh at situations rather than complain about
them. Take every opportunity to look for something
funny in a bad situation. This will allow you to discover
the ironies and absurdities of life, which can help improve your mood as well as those around you.
Surround yourself with things that remind you to light-

www.rockwellnutrition.com

en up. Whether it is a cute toy on your desk, a cheerful poster in your office, photos of your fun vacation,
or a silly computer screensaver that makes you laugh,
cheery objects remind you to smile more often during
the day, especially during stressful moments.
Keep things in proper perspective. Most things in life
are outside your control, especially other peoples behavior. Focus on things that are within your power to
improve.
Learn to manage your stress. Stress blocks you from experiencing humor in your life.
When it comes to fun and laughter, children are experts.
Try to spend more time with them playing, laughing, and
taking things lightly.

sounds until they feel vibrations in their bodies. Although it

may start out as forced laughing sounds, the exercise ends
up with everybody laughing so hard that it becomes contagious.

Laughter Therapy
If you still want to get more laughter and its benefits into
your life, join a laughter therapy group. Laughter therapy,
or humor therapy, uses humor to promote overall health
and wellness. It uses the natural physiological processes
associated with laughter to relieve physical and emotional stress or discomfort. This type of treatment is now becoming more popular among people with chronic illnesses
because experts believe that laughter has healing powers
related to its ability to boost immune function.
When used with conventional treatment, laughter therapy helps in the overall healing process of cancer patients.
For example, it is used at the Cancer Treatment Centers of
America (CTCA), where experts help patients fight cancer
using an integrative approach. However, their Laughter
Club does not use humor or jokes to promote laughter. Instead, instructors use laughter as a physical exercise that
involves patients making repetitious ha ha and hee hee

When used with conventional treatment, laughter therapy helps in

the overall healing process of cancer patients.

Other forms of laughter therapy include laughter meditation and laughter yoga. Laughter meditation is not strictly a
form of therapy, but participants are taught how to achieve
laughter while focusing on the moment. It involves stretching, crying, or laughing accompanied by a meditative silence. Laughter yoga, on the other hand, involves stretching, laughter and breathing exercises similar to regular
yoga. Laughter exercises last up to 45 minutes and may be

www.rockwellnutrition.com

used both as a psychological therapy and a form of physical

exercise.

fits-laughter

References:

Cancer Treatment Centers of America. Laughter therapy.

http://www.cancercenter.com/treatments/laughter-therapy/

WebMD. Give Your Body a Boost With Laughter. http://

www.webmd.com/balance/features/give-your-bodyboost-with-laughter
Mayo Clinic. Stress management. http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-living/stress-management/in-depth/
stress-relief/art-20044456
University of Maryland Medical Center. Laughter is the
Best Medicine for Your Heart. http://umm.edu/news-andevents/news-releases/2009/laughter-is-the-best-medicine-for-your-heart

For more information, please visit

Rockwell Nutritions blog at

http://rnblog.rockwellnutrition.com/.

Placebo Effects. 9 Benefits of Laughter: Why Laughter Really is the Best Medicine. http://blog.placeboeffect.com/
benefits-of-laughter/
HuffingtonPost. New Study Proves That Laughter Really Is The Best Medicine. http://www.huffingtonpost.
com/2014/04/22/laughter-and-memory_n_5192086.html
HelpGuide.org. Laughter is the Best Medicine. http://www.
helpguide.org/articles/emotional-health/laughter-is-thebest-medicine.htm
PBS. Benefits of Humor. http://www.pbs.org/thisemotionallife/topic/humor/benefits-humor
Psychology Today. The Benefits of Laughter. https://
www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200304/the-bene-

www.rockwellnutrition.com