Who doesn’t enjoy a hearty laugh? It feels nice to laugh, whether you’re laughing out loud with friends or giggling alone at a sitcom on TV. Your entire body feels like it has been suddenly flooded with excitement, causing you to beam with joy and act carefree. Besides being enjoyable, laughing has many positive psychological and physiological effects and, in this article, we will examine the power of laughter: the science behind it and how laughter can improve and strengthen our immune system, mental health, and mood.
Table of contents
What is Laughter?
Laughter is a normal and natural, yet complex psychophysiological response to one’s environment, situation, and stimuli. The scientific study of laughter and its effects on the human body, known as Gelotology, started in 1964 with Dr. William Fry at Stanford University. However, it wasn’t until Norman Cousins’ 1979 publication of his research “As Anatomy of an Illness” that there was a rise in interest in laughter as a possible therapeutic option.
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One study suggests that are five distinct types of laughter: genuine or spontaneous (triggered by different external stimuli, positive emotions, or contagion); self-induced or simulated (triggered by the individual at will); stimulated (as a result of physical activity, like tickling); induced (as the consequence of the effects of specific substances, such as “laughing gas”); and pathological laughter.
Laughter is part of a universal language of basic emotions that all humans recognize and research suggests that humans’ ability to laugh preceded the ability to speak during the evolution of the brain. Despite the fact that people laugh almost every day and in a wide range of situations, psychologists disagree on the basic elements that cause people to experience laughter.
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There are more than 20 distinct theories trying to explain what causes something to be perceived as funny. A joke, for instance, may be hilarious to one person, disrespectful to another, and boring to a third. This suggests that people’s age, gender, personalities, education, experiences, and values influence how they interpret stimuli and how they understand humor.
Benefits of Laughter in social interactions and Education
Laughter and humor appreciation provide an honest signal of a person’s understanding and commitment to a variety of social, cultural, and linguistic rules. It has also social benefits because when we laugh with others, we feel a sense of bonding and belonging, which can reinforce social connections. “Learning that someone shares your sense of humor reveals that they also share your values and beliefs, and observing someone laugh with you makes you feel more similar to them,” says one study.
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Besides the positive social effects of laughter, academics have studied how humor impacts education and learning. Their research suggests that humor boosts academic achievement in kids by grabbing and holding their attention, lowering anxiety, improving involvement, and increasing motivation.
“Teaching is not just about content. (…) Teaching is a performance art. In the classroom, the teacher has the responsibility to communicate as well as engage and entertain. In this context, numerous scientific studies have documented that humor and laughter promote learning by reducing stress, anxiety, and tension while increasing self-esteem, alertness, creativity, and memory. Specifically, humor attracts and sustains attention and increases students’ motivation to focus on class material, all of which aid in the learning process. (…) Humor also develops a more constructive relationship with students and encourages positive feelings about teaching and learning,” shows their research.
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Laughter eases tension, decreases stress, and counteracts depressive symptoms. Furthermore, it can improve psychological wellness, mood as well as self-esteem. These positive effects are possible because, when we laugh, our brains release endorphins, which are natural feel-good hormones. Did you know that children laugh on average 300 times a day, while adults laugh only about 17 times a day?
Physiological Benefits of Laughter
The physiological processes involving the muscular, cardiovascular, respiratory, endocrine, and central nervous systems are affected by basic human emotions (such as anxiety, depression, fear, joy, and laughter). From our own experiences, many of us are aware that emotions alter heart rate, blood pressure, sweating, sleep patterns, and bowel movements. Emotions have an impact on our immune system as well, even if this effect isn’t directly perceivable.
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Short-term physiological benefits
A good chuckle has wonderful immediate impacts. Not only does laughing make you feel lighter mentally, but it also causes positive changes in your body, as it stimulates numerous organs. Laughter boosts the amount of oxygen-rich air you breathe in and stimulates your lungs, as well as your heart and blood flow, promoting muscular relaxation, and raising the number of endorphins your brain releases.
Long-term physiological benefits
Studies have shown that laughing can increase the production of antibodies and activate immune cells, which in turn strengthens our immunity. This means that laughing can help us fight off infections and illnesses, and can lessen the likelihood of us getting sick. Furthermore, by causing the body to produce its own natural painkillers, laughter may reduce pain.
Laughter Therapy
Laughter Therapy has a different approach from typical medical treatments since it emphasizes the idea that, both body and mind can be healthy only when the psychological aspects of the brain are changed, beyond just physical treatment. In order to achieve this well-being, Laughter Therapy uses both spontaneous and self-induced laughter as a way of non-pharmacological, alternative treatment.
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“The human brain is not able in the end to distinguish spontaneous from self-induced laughter (‘motion creates emotion’ theory); therefore, their corresponding health-related benefits are alleged to be alike. (…) Indeed, self-induced stimulated laughter may lead to a higher ‘laughter exposure’ both by achieving greater intensity and duration at will or by triggering contagious and turning into spontaneous laughter, which might create greater accompanying psychophysiological changes. As a laughter type, self-induced simulated laughter is becoming increasingly popular worldwide, as it is the foundation of the Laughter Club movement (Laughter Yoga),” shows a study.
The Laughter Prescription
“One method for putting laughter into (medical – editor’s note) practice is to discuss laughter with the patient during a visit. Providers can ask, ‘What has made you laugh recently?’ or ‘How often do you laugh?’(…) We propose that laughter prescriptions might contain detailed information as to the frequency, intensity, time, and type of laughter, much like pharmacological prescriptions and exercise prescriptions. This format aims to give patients clear and easy-to-remember guidelines,” mentions the same study from above.
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Laughter prescriptions remain largely hypothetical, but the available research shows that effective laughter “treatments” usually take place once a week or less, for 30 to 60 minutes. However, lower frequencies and times, like individual sessions lasting only 20 minutes, can still have a beneficial effect.
How would you feel if you were to receive from your family doctor a laughter prescription? It could be a good argument for watching a funny video or a comedy, reading a silly book, or sharing a joke with a friend: “How do you make an octopus laugh? With ten-tickles!” And do you know why did the Dalmatian go to the eye doctor? Write your answer in the comments!
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