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10 Impressive Benefits Of Laughter

The health benefits of laughter include the reduction of stress hormones and blood pressure, as well as increased blood flow and oxygenation to the cells and organs. Laughing provides a natural workout for a number of muscle groups, can defend against illness, and even increase the response of beneficial tumor and disease-killing cells throughout the body. Laughter has also been shown to increase memory, intelligence, and creativity.

Nature Of Laughter
Laughter is a natural response to stimuli that our individual personalities find funny, whether in the form of images, sounds, physical sensations, or memories.

The physical response of laughter is very fast. After our senses are exposed to something “funny”, an electric current runs through our nervous system to our cerebral cortex. The higher brain functions in the left hemisphere decode the words and the syntactical structure in a very analytic approach to the information, while the more creative right hemisphere understands the humor, or “gets it”. The visual center of our brain then forms an image of the humorous idea, while our emotional (limbic) system releases chemicals that improve mood or promote happiness. Finally, our motor functioning makes us laugh, smile, or double over for a real knee-slapper.

By seeking out humorous situations or participating in activities that will stimulate laughter, you are giving your body a chance to exercise the diaphragm, as well as facial, leg, back, and abdominal muscles. Cortisol and adrenaline levels in the body, which are considered stress hormones, can be reduced through laughter, thereby adding to overall health. Also, the increase in respiration aids in the oxygenation of blood flowing to the brain and the rest of the body.

Humor is also a way to increase retention of information in academic or professional settings because of the higher number of mental connections between the information and emotional responses (laughter). The number of Gamma-interferon and T-cells, which are the disease and tumor hunters of the body, are increased through regular amounts of laughter, and other sicknesses like respiratory infections and the common cold can be inhibited and decreased if laughter is a regular part of a person’s life.

In a very general sense, laughter is a painkiller, and reduces the stress and anxiety of physical ailments through the same biological process that is outlined above.

Laughter is also a social mechanism, by which we make friends and connect with others. We often laugh at other people laughing, or at banal statements that are decidedly un-joke-like. The social phenomena of laughter is an important aspect of humor, but its’ connection to health is not widely studied, and would be better suited to anthropology than health and nutrition.

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