Hearty laughter is contagious.
Smiling people seem more open, more likeable.
Laughter shows humor and joy.
Women answer more often than average when asked for what reason they fell in love with their partner:
"He makes me laugh."
Is there a better feeling than being made to laugh?
Joking can ease worries and fears, and make hard times more bearable.
Remember the numerous jokes about Corona that made us laugh at the beginning of the pandemic, despite the uncertain situation.
The teenager who got a rejection from his peers or the student who got a bad grade can carry and handle the situation much better with humor.
This also applies to extreme situations:
By means of humor, soldiers in war can maintain a certain inner strength.
If one looks at oneself and one's own problems with cheerful composure, other perspectives can open up.
Humor challenges reason and creates associative freedom in the thought process.
That's why new ideas often seem funny!
Humor also plays an important role in friendships. Humor can relax conflicts, it welds together, and often shows the true character of a person.
People who succeed in bringing humor into serious situations often accomplish a feat with it.
However, it takes a certain amount of courage.
Because humor is always a tightrope walk.
Not everyone is receptive to any kind of humor.
Laughter liberates, laughter relaxes
So the fact that laughter is healthy is not just a cliché.
Our mental health can demonstrably benefit from it.
The reason for this is the released happiness hormones serotonin and endorphin.
These hormones ensure that the sensation of pain is alleviated and blood pressure is lowered,
which can make us less susceptible to stress.
Laughter helps us cope with negative experiences and unpleasant thoughts.
Overall, this can reduce the risk of mental illnesses such as depression and burnout.
Increased release of the happiness hormone serotonin automatically lifts our mood.
It also restricts the production of stress hormones, creating a mixture that is excellent as a natural antidepressant.
With laughter comes a sense of well-being.
While we laugh, we tense up to 300 different muscles and take in a lot of oxygen.
This increases the exchange of oxygen in the brain,
which in turn increases our ability to concentrate.
Our circulation and digestion get going, and environmental stimuli are better processed.
Our immune system benefits greatly from this.
Studies show that laughter triggers mechanisms that are even said to protect us from cancer.
For some years now, a new medical field has been established in the form of "gelotology", the science of laughter (also known as humor research):
Here, the positive effects of laughter on body and psyche are studied.
In the case of mental illnesses such as depression, conscious laughter became established as an accompanying treatment approach.
Prof. William Fry founded an institute for humor research at Stanford University in California in 1964.
He found that 20 seconds of laughter is at least as demanding on the body as three minutes of jogging.
Laughing challenges the body and exercises the cardiovascular system.
Psycho-neuroimmunology is also concerned with humor as the medicine that is easiest to take and costs the least.
Psycho-neuroimmunologists such as the American Lee S. Berk study the interactions between the psyche and the immune system.
In the mid-1990s, Lee S. Berk proved that laughter strengthens the immune system, that in laughing people the levels of the body's own "defense police" rise:
Both T-lymphocytes (which destroy infected cells) and gamma interferors (which are responsible for the production of the body's own defense substances) were found to increase.
Laughter comes in our performance-oriented and fast-paced time much too short!
Studies from happiness research have shown that about 50 years ago people laughed three times more than we laugh today!
Perhaps we should take an example from children: They laugh up to 400 times a day, while we adults laugh only 15 times.
There are many reasons
which speak for MORE laughter!
Summarized:
Laughter has a sympathetic effect.
A laughing person is perceived as more attractive than a person with a serious face.
The body releases happiness hormones when laughing.
The endorphins released have an anti-inflammatory and analgesic effect.
Laughter stimulates digestion and metabolism.
Several studies have concluded that people who laugh frequently are less likely to have a heart attack and suffer from depression.
Laughter reduces tension and inhibitions, it "breaks the ice".
Regular laughter strengthens the immune system.
Laughter reduces stress.
One minute of laughter is said to have as positive an effect on health as 10 minutes of jogging or 45 minutes of meditation.
Laughter increases the exchange of oxygen in the brain and thus increases the ability to concentrate.
Laughter relaxes and increases well-being.
Laughter creates closeness to people
Aren't these good reasons to laugh more?
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