Learn how to harness the powerful health benefits of laughter and humor. Laughing triggers healthy physical changes in your body and can strengthen your immune system, boost your energy, reduce pain, and protect you from the damaging effects of stress. “Your sense of humor is one of the most powerful tools you have to make certain that your daily mood and emotional state support good health.” Paul E. McGhee, Ph.D.
Having fun is not an option. It is essential to good health. When you take time for things you enjoy and laugh loudly, you build strength, boost self-esteem, and reduce stress. Laughter provides natural opiates that help suppress pain, release muscle tension, improve immunity, and increase circulation.
Research on the humor-immunity connection found that one hour of watching a funny film activated immunoglobulins and natural killer cells, which remained elevated the following day. This demonstrates the power of laughter for enhancing immunity and blocking the disease process. A more recent study by Sakai (2013) showed immunological improvement in cancer patients undergoing surgery or chemotherapy. In 2016, Hayashi et al. concluded that daily laughing is associated with a lower prevalence of cardiovascular diseases. Another 2016 study demonstrated significant improvements in well-being for adults with Parkinson’s Disease and their caregivers after attending a laughter yoga session. This is good medicine!
How to Increase Laughter
Here are some ideas for increasing daily laughter:
- Watch a funny movie or television show.
- Surround yourself with friends or coworkers who make you laugh.
- Go to a comedy club.
- Share a good joke or a funny story.
- Host game night with friends or family.
- Play with children or pets.
- Try karaoke.
- Make time for fun activities (e.g., dancing, miniature golfing).
Sanoviv recommends trying a laughter yoga class and offers this natural medicine to guests regularly. Laughter yoga is not a physical workout (except for your abdominal muscles) but a mental one that is not humor-based. Instead, it combines breathing techniques and exhalation that creates a self-induced “laugh,” such as a “ha, ha, ha.” Essentially, you are making a “fake laugh” that quickly transforms into full-blown, gut-busting laughter. Hearing others around you laughing, especially when trying to stop laughing, causes more intense laughter. Even skeptics who are uncomfortable participating but willing to observe a laughter yoga end up participating by default through the contagious silliness. How many times have you laughed today?
