Michelle Bakjac* says people who have humour in their lives are more relaxed, burn more calories and may even live longer.
We all know how good it feels to have a laugh, but it’s more than that.
Laughter can actually improve your health.
Laughter can be a very strong form of positive medicine. It draws people together in ways that trigger healthy physical and emotional changes in the body.
It strengthens your immune system, boosts mood, diminishes pain, and protects you from the damaging effects of stress.
Nothing works faster or more dependably to bring your mind and body back into balance than a good laugh.
Humour lightens your burdens, inspires hope, connects you to others, and keeps you grounded, focused, and alert.
It also helps you release anger and forgive sooner.
The ability to laugh easily and frequently is a resource for surmounting problems, enhancing relationships, and supporting both physical and emotional health.
Best of all, this priceless medicine is fun, it’s free, and it’s easy to use.
As children, we used to laugh hundreds of times a day, but as adults, life tends to be more serious and laughter more infrequent.
By seeking out more opportunities for humour and laughter, you can improve your emotional health, strengthen your relationships and find greater happiness.
You may even add years to your life.
Laughter relaxes the whole body
A good, hearty laugh relieves physical tension and stress, leaving your muscles relaxed for up to 45 minutes after.
Laughter boosts the immune system
It decreases stress hormones and increases immune cells and infection-fighting antibodies.
Laughter triggers the release of endorphins
The body’s natural feel-good chemicals, endorphins promote an overall sense of wellbeing and can even temporarily relieve pain.
Laughter protects the heart
It improves the function of blood vessels and increases blood flow, which can help protect you against cardiovascular problems.
Laughter burns calories
It’s no replacement for going to the gym, but one study found that laughing for 10-to-15 minutes a day can burn approximately 40 calories.
That could be enough to lose some kilos over the course of a year.
Laughter lightens anger’s heavy load
Nothing diffuses anger and conflict faster than a shared laugh.
Looking at the funny side can put problems into perspective and enable you to move on from confrontations without holding onto bitterness or resentment.
Laughter may even help you to live longer
A study in Norway found that people with a strong sense of humour outlived those who don’t laugh as much.
The difference was particularly notable for those battling cancer.
Laughter is a natural part of life that is innate and inborn. Infants begin smiling during the first weeks of life and laugh out loud within months of being born.
Even if you did not grow up in a household where laughter was a common sound, you can learn to laugh at any stage of life.
Begin by setting aside special times to seek out humour and laughter, as you might with exercising, and build from there.
Eventually, you’ll want to incorporate humour and laughter into the fabric of your life, finding it naturally in everything.
Here are some ways to start.
Smile
Smiling is the beginning of laughter, and like laughter, it’s contagious. When you look at someone or see something even mildly pleasing, practice smiling.
Instead of looking down at your phone, look up and smile at people you pass in the street, the person serving you a morning coffee, or the co-workers sharing your elevator.
Be thankful
Make a list of what you are grateful for. The simple act of considering the positive aspects of your life will distance you from negative thoughts.
When you’re in a state of sadness, you have further to travel to reach humour and laughter.
When you hear laughter, move toward it
Sometimes humour and laughter are private, a shared joke among a small group, but usually not.
More often, people are very happy to share something funny because it gives them an opportunity to laugh again.
When you hear laughter, seek it out and ask: “What’s funny?”
Spend time with fun, playful people
These are people who laugh easily — both at themselves and at life’s absurdities — and who routinely find the humour in everyday events.
Their playful point of view and laughter are contagious.
Even if you don’t consider yourself a light-hearted, humorous person, you can still seek out people who like to laugh and make others laugh.
Every comedian appreciates an audience.
Bring humour into conversations
Ask people: “What’s the funniest thing that happened to you today? This week? In your life?”
What if you really can’t “find the funny?”
Believe it or not, it’s possible to laugh without experiencing a funny event — and simulated laughter can be just as beneficial as the real thing.
It can even make exercise more fun and productive.
A Georgia State University study found that incorporating bouts of simulated laughter into an exercise program helped improve older adults’ mental health as well as their aerobic endurance.
Plus, hearing others laugh, even for no apparent reason, can often trigger genuine laughter.
To add simulated laughter into your life, search for laugh yoga or laugh therapy groups.
Or you can start simply by laughing at other people’s jokes, even if you don’t find them funny.
Both you and the other person will feel good, it will draw you closer together, and who knows, it may even lead to some spontaneous laughter.
So go on — just laugh out loud right now!
*Michelle Bakjac is an experienced Adelaide-based psychologist, organisational consultant, coach, speaker and facilitator and a Director of Bakjac Consulting. She can be contacted at [email protected].
This article first appeared at bakjacconsulting.com.
