Health Benefits Of Laughing

If you are reading these lines, there are two options. Either you feel like having a laugh , or crying. Assumptions aside, we are going to tell you what laughter can do for your health without even realizing it.

"Laughter has beneficial effects that we can differentiate on a physical and psychological level," says Isabel Rodero , pedagogue at the TAP Center. Advanced Psychological Treatment , developing them below.

As for the physical benefits:

• It keeps us in shape , since we work muscles that we normally don't use.
• We oxygenate our body better , since between bursts of laughter we take twice as much air as with normal breathing.
• Our body generates more antibodies, thus strengthening our immune system .

On a psychological level , laughter releases endorphins, which causes substances that fight anxiety and depression to be generated . In this way:

• Laughter makes us and the people around us happy and it activates cortical areas responsible for relationships at a social level, therefore, it improves our social relationships .
• Smiling is a form of coexistence .
• It promotes a positive state of mind and, therefore, we generate optimism .
• It helps us to relativize reality and integrate into it no matter how hard it may seem.

But there is still more. “Laughter is known to help patients recover by up to 60 percent. Hence the appearance of the Smile Doctors , who go to hospitals to help hospitalized children”, adds Isabel Serrano Rosa, psychologist and couples therapist who runs enpositivoSÍ .

What brain response causes laughter?

In the brain, laughter, says Serrano, "activates the hippocampus (memory center) and goes to the amygdala (the center of emotions), then launching the area of ​​the cortex - which is the one destined for processes intellectual - and from there to the area of ​​the brain that activates the smile or laughter (nucleus acúmbeo). This depends on the state of mind, personality or the absence of psychological disorders.

The expert comments that some studies indicate that laughing raises the number of neurotransmitter substances, and there seems to be a correlation between laughter and a decrease in Alzheimer 's disease .

It also generates endorphins, dopamine, serotonin and adrenaline, all of which are hormones that contribute to physical well-being.

As Rodero deepens, “when we laugh because we are happy, our brain releases endorphins, which produces beneficial effects for the body. Endorphins are known as hormones of happiness. Laughter also limits the production of a hormone called cortisol (responsible for stress ), and releases dopamine in the brain, a neurotransmitter associated with mental agility by improving neural connections”.

Does it delay aging?

Regarding whether laughing a lot, or at least enough, slows down aging, “there are no significant results from the studies carried out in this regard. However, professional experiences and subjective experiences are known about the effects of a positive attitude and optimistic thinking in curing diseases such as cancer , even in some pathologies of degenerative origin. We do not know for sure if this could slow down aging, but, surely -whether it is a long or short life span-, living it positively will give extra quality to our life experiences", says the pedagogue of the TAP Center.

On the other hand, “ laughter therapy promotes the awareness of paying attention to the present moment and carrying out activities with the aim of entertaining the people who practice it. For this reason, it is indicated, always as a complement, in some treatments against anxiety, stress, etc.”, says Rodero.

It also serves to increase self-esteem and produces emotional stability, adds Serrano.

Eleven tricks to laugh more often

Serrano and Rodero provide the following tricks to laugh more often:

Know and become aware of our sense of humor.

Being able to recognize what makes each person laugh in particular. It is to open ourselves to a state of consciousness where laughter has more room, to improve our state of mind, which is usually stressed in the society in which we live.

Relate to those memories and situations that...

They make us feel joyful and connect our sense of humor.

Surround ourselves with people who transmit us happiness...

And help us connect with our sense of humor. Laughter is contagious and if we surround ourselves with happy people, we will catch it.

Find moments of play and fun.

The game is a pleasant activity that helps us connect with our inner child. Playing we lose inhibitions and let our imagination and emotions flow. The game is the engine of development and can be done at any age.

Practice smiling.

Traditionally it has been believed that we smiled because we were happy; however, numerous studies have shown that this relationship works bidirectionally. That is, if we smile it is much easier for us to end up feeling happy.

The very language of laughter.

Create a shared code with compliments or funny faces.

Spread your laugh.

When we laugh with our partner we synchronize by modulating laughter. Chinese medicine uses this gymnastics: laugh with each vowel “haha, hehe, hehe, hoho, whoo”.

Take your hair.

Look in the mirror, stick out your tongue, wink at yourself, exaggerate your flaws until you burst out laughing.

Laugh at the absurd.

Play the fool. Buy a clown nose or play elephant back-to-back scratching, get back-to-back with a friend and play scratching without touching each other.

Causes laughter.

The children laugh for each other. Phrases without vowels are irresistible for this purpose.

Be careful not to go...

According to the director of enpositiveYES there are exceptions in which excessive laughter can have risks. “In states of euphoria we disconnect from ourselves, from others and from reality. We are blown up . Some people narrate that under the excitement of the moment they have signed work contracts, bought a house or got married in Las Vegas (United States) and later regretted it. Also, we can go too far in our own assessment, fattening up false joys and filling the world with vain people. With the joy triggered, we devastate and afterwards there is usually a certain feeling of emptiness”.

This psychologist says that “we find people always stuck in their role of the eternally content or the clown . As they are always in contact with joy, they seem not to suffer for anything. However, it is a form of toxic joy or emotional autism . In the end, it will end up exploding somewhere.”

Finally, to be able to sleep it is essential to slow down the rhythm of joy and thus feel tired and allow sleep to fall asleep.