7 Benefits Of Laughter: Why We All Need Laughter In Our Lives

Everyone enjoys a good laugh. Among many other things in life, I believe we all take laughter and its value for granted. There are real benefits from laughing that can help us to destress and relax as well as make us feel better. There are also physical benefits to laughing that many may not be all that aware of.

Some Obvious But Maybe Not So Obvious Benefits

• Helps to strengthen your immune system.
• Increases your mood.
• Can help to lessen physical and emotional pain.
• Helps to reduce stress.

One of the best things about laughter is that it is free, fun, and can be found in various forms. You can find something funny to read, watch or listen to.

Often times sharing things that we find funny also helps us as we may start laughing more just imagining how the other person is going to react to what has been shared with them. It also gives you a feel-good emotion to share something with someone that you know they will enjoy and feel good about.

As Adults, We Need To Seek Out Laughter

While this is not true 100% of the time, it is true that as adults we don’t laugh as much as we did when we were younger. As children, most of us could be found laughing often at some of the silliest things. As we get older though, things become more serious and we take things more seriously.

If you take the time to find things that will bring you some good laughs, you will find yourself destressing more and enjoying life more. Your mental health will improve, which will improve how you are feeling emotionally and physically.

7 Ways Laughter Improves Your Health

1) Laughing will help to relax your whole body. Having a good laugh will give you relief from physical tension and help you to lower your stress levels. This will cause your muscles to become more relaxed for a period of time.

2) Laughing will boost your immune system. When you’re laughing you will decrease your stress hormones while at the same time increasing your immune cells and your antibodies to fight off infections, which can, in turn, help your body’s ability to resist diseases.

3) Laughing will trigger the release of your endorphins. Endorphins are your body’s natural feel-good chemical. When endorphins are being released by your brain it increases your overall sense of happiness and can sometimes relieve pain temporarily.

4) Laughing protects your heart. When you are laughing, it increases the blood flow and helps to improve the function of blood vessels. This can help protect against heart attacks and other heart problems.

5) Laughing will burn calories. This isn’t to say that you don’t need to exercise if you replace it with 30 minutes of constant laughter. However, including laughter on a daily basis can help you burn calories and even lose a couple of pounds over the period of a year.

6) Laughter will help to relieve feelings of anger. Have you ever had an argument with someone and something funny comes up that you both have a good laugh about and notice that you are no longer mad at each other? Since laughing is destressing you, releasing the tension, and making you feel happier, it will often melt away feelings of anger. Obviously, this will depend on the seriousness of the situation and the level of anger you are feeling.

7) Laughing could help you live longer. While there haven’t been many studies on laughter over the course of a lifetime, there was a study done in Norway where they found people who had a stronger sense of humor tended to live longer than people who didn’t laugh as much.

Overall, and in general, laughter makes you feel better and more positive. An interesting effect of laughter is that the increased mood will stay with you for a time even after you have stopped laughing. When the laughter gives us a more positive feeling, and we start feeling better, we become more optimistic.

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This post was originally posted on my Medium Blog, 7 Benefits Of Laughter: Why We All Need Laughter In Our Lives direct link, my Medium Profile direct link.