I am sure we can all think of a time where a day felt like it was crashing down around us. We woke up late, spilled coffee on our clothes, the kids missed the bus, it was raining, we forgot our lunch on the kitchen table, and so on and so on and so on. And then like a light in the dark we share a laugh with a friend or a co-worker, one of those really good belly laughs, where you lose your breath for a moment, and your sides hurt from laughing so hard and you can feel the fog begin to lift. The laugh didn’t make everything go away, or magically erase the mornings events, but it did shift something just enough where you can see out from under the cloud and breath a little easier.
It turns out there is some real science behind this. A science we often feel and know deep in ourselves, but also a science that real legitimate white coat wearing researchers can now confirm. Laughter is in fact a great medicine. Many of us are in a constant state of fight or flight, where we activate our sympathetic nervous system that tells us there is an emergency and we need to act quick (like when we wake up and realize we overslept). In that state our breathing is shallow, our heart is pumping, and overall, we feel in a state of panic. Over the long term this constant activation wears on our stress levels, exacerbates anxiety and has detrimental impacts on our health. Laughter on the contrary activates our parasympathetic nervous system, or our chill zone. This is where we know we are safe and our higher-level functioning comes back online. We take deeper breaths, we relax our muscles, and we can think more clearly.
Laughter has some incredible short and long-term benefits. In the short-term laughter can (as noted in this excerpt taken from the Mayo Clinic):
- Stimulate organs. Laughter enhances your intake of oxygen-rich air, stimulates your heart, lungs and muscles, and increases the endorphins that are released by your brain.
- Activate and relieve your stress response. A rollicking laugh fires up and then cools down your stress response, and it can increase and then decrease your heart rate and blood pressure. The result? A good, relaxed feeling.
- Soothe tension. Laughter can also stimulate circulation and aid muscle relaxation, both of which can help reduce some of the physical symptoms of stress.
Over the long-term laughter has increased benefit such as:
- Improve your immune system. Negative thoughts manifest into chemical reactions that can affect your body by bringing more stress into your system and decreasing your immunity. By contrast, positive thoughts can actually release neuropeptides that help fight stress and potentially more-serious illnesses.
- Relieve pain. Laughter may ease pain by causing the body to produce its own natural painkillers.
- Increase personal satisfaction. Laughter can also make it easier to cope with difficult situations. It also helps you connect with other people.
- Improve your mood. Many people experience depression, sometimes due to chronic illnesses. Laughter can help lessen your stress, depression and anxiety and may make you feel happier. It can also improve your self-esteem.
- I have been a lifelong believer that laugher is the best medicine and a strong practitioner who takes regular doses of laughter as often as possible. Some of my best memories are connected to laughter with loved ones. So how can we ensure we get all the health benefits we can? Seek out laughter wherever you can find it, in children, with friends, watching a funny movie, lean into your silly side, go on a ride you haven’t enjoyed since you were a child, try something new and give yourself grace to be hysterically bad at it. Laughter is out there if we open up and lean in. I hope you all get as much in as you can, and maybe we can share a laugh together someday soon.
In laughter together, Caitlin
https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/stress-management/in-depth/stress-relief/art-20044456
https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/01/health/laughter-mind-body-wellness-partner/index.html
