Humour is priceless! Your response to it can have many unexpected health benefits.
Have you ever thought that laughter too can be beneficial?
Here are some reported health benefits of laughter and a good sense of priceless humor:
Stress reduction – The ability to see humor, even in difficult situations, causes the reduction of stress reducing hormones in your bodies.
Elevates your mood – Laughing increases the release of endorphins in your bodies. This increases your sense of well being and improves your mood.
Boost immune system –Laughter can raise the level of hormones that produce infection-fighting antibodies in the body and boost the effectiveness of immune cells.
Enhance brain functioning – as you experience a bout of laughter, the increase in your circulation also affects movement of blood to your brain.
Reduce risk or even prevent heart disease –laughing has been found to be linked to a healthy heart. The Research study found that 40% of individuals with heart disease were less likely to life at life’s situations.
More on Human Ageing and the Mind Body Connection – Humour and the Benefits of Laughter:
- Like a mild workout- A good hearty laugh causes your pulse and respiration rate to increase, your blood pressure to go up and many of your muscles to stretch.
- Promotes relaxation- After your body stretches the muscles and the blood flow increases to the muscles of the body, you feel a sense of relaxation.
- Encourages social interactions- an individual that has a sense of humour and laughs is an individual others want to be around. Laughing is contagious. Laughing with others makes everyone feel good and experience an elevated mood. This can create decrease the stress of all involved and enhance the social interaction as well.
- Promotes an increased pain threshold- when you laugh, the increase in production of endorphins also acts as a pain reliever. Studies show that individuals suffering from pain, experience pain relief after watching comedy.
- Maintains blood sugar levels- it has been discovered that individuals diagnosed with type II diabetes experience smaller spikes in their blood levels after eating when they enjoy and experience laughter after their meal.
There is an increasing interest in the benefits of laughter and a growing industry of programmes that encourage laughing. There is laughter yoga that mixes yoga deep breathing with laughing exercises and child like playfulness.
There are even Laughter Clubs growing all over the world. The purpose of the club is to help individuals to have a more positive attitude towards life.
Laughter therapy promotes laughing as a coping skill for survival. There is even a weight loss program that promotes laugh yourself skinny! There is definitely a mind body connection with the benefits of laughter affecting human ageing. Priceless humour and enjoying a day with some laughter is better than a day without any laughter at all.