Benefits of Laughing Even When You Don’t Feel Like It
Life is full of stressors. You may feel like crying more often than you feel like laughing.
But many experts say that laughing in even the grimmest situations is good for you, both mentally and physically. Laughter releases stress, strengthens the immune system, improves sleep, diffuses tension, reduces pain and boosts “happy chemistry.”
Laughter is the nemesis of tension; you can’t hold on to tension when you laugh.
The Science of Laughter: Nothing to Joke About
Numerous scientific studies suggest that laughter is a powerful form of complementary therapeutic medicine.
Here are a few benefits:
- Stress reduction. Evidence demonstrates that spontaneous laughter is associated with greater reduction in cortisol levels as compared with usual activities. (Laughter as medicine: A systematic review and meta-analysis of interventional studies evaluating the impact of spontaneous laughter on cortisol levels)
- Blood flow. Laughter causes the tissue that forms the inner lining of blood vessels to expand in order to increase blood flow. (University of Maryland School of Medicine)
- Immune response. Humor can raise the level of infection-fighting antibodies and immune cells. (Robert Provine, professor of psychology, author of Laughter: A Scientific Investigation)
- Blood pressure. Research supports that laughter, like reducing salt, benefits blood pressure by relaxing blood vessels and boosting nitric oxide, reducing cardiovascular strain, making it a powerful, natural way to improve heart health alongside dietary changes. (Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine)
- Pain relief. For Norman Cousins, ten minutes of laughing allowed up to two hours of pain relief. In a study of patients in a rehabilitation center, 74% agreed with the statement, “sometimes, laughter works as well as a pain pill.” (New England Journal of Medicine)
Key Things to Remember
Laughing is a wonderful, cathartic process. Just because you laugh doesn’t mean you don’t care. Laughing during even saddest situations helps you deal with emotions, rather than keeping feelings bottled up. Sometimes, faking laughter may lead to tears, but that’s OK, says Sebastien Gendry, CEO of the American School of Laughter Yoga. “You cannot open up a box of emotions selectively. A good laugh may lead to a good cry. Having a good cry feels good, too. If you have unexpressed emotions, laughter will bring them out.”
Life isn’t always funny, particularly when dealing with work stress, family, aging, or illness. Laughter forces you to be at peace with who you are, where you are. No one has a perfect life. “Laughter therapy is about how you react in the face of adversity. Sometimes, you can’t control your circumstances, but you can always control your reaction. How you react is always negotiable,” Gendry says.
Learn to Live with Stress
The reality is, stress is will always be there; you can’t avoid it. But you can choose how you will deal with it. Laughter is a healthy way to cope with life’s ups and downs. You can laugh in the face of adversity.
Article adapted from agingcare.com
