A colleague of mine once tried explaining to me how refreshing it is when she laughs from her heart. I found it funny because I tried imagining laughter from the heart and how contagious it would be, the thought of that alone was in itself funny.
Paul E. McGhee once said that: Your sense of humor is one of the most powerful tools you have to make certain that your daily mood and emotional state support good health.
Beyond the fact that laughter is contagious and it has the power to make an entire room of people happy and feeling better, Laughter also has some “healing powers”. Laughter is good for your mental health, emotional well-being and overall health of your body. Some of laughter’s health benefits include:
- Laughter enhances the body’s immune system: Laughter is said to reduce stress hormones. This is because reduction in hormone-level in your body brings about lower stress and anxiety in the body. This may also result in an improved immune system making you less susceptible to diseases and infections.
- Laughter brings about body relaxation: Laughter from the heart like my colleague calls it is capable of relieving stress, tension and anxiety. Some people say it is like a mild form of exercise, this may be due to the fact that laughter is a form of relaxing facial muscles. Laughter is also an anti-aging agent, because as you laugh, there is an increase in blood supply across your face, this serves as a form of nourishment to the skin around the face adding a little shine and glow to the face.
- Laughter may also be very useful in improving voice quality: Again when you laugh, your lungs have increased capacity and it also serves as a form of exercise of the abdominal muscles, and a mild work-out for the diaphragm.
- Laughter also makes you feel good: Laughter brings about Endorphins, the “feel-good” chemicals and it can act as a big mood-booster. These endorphins are also natural pain-killers, hence laughter may help even in relieving pain.
- Laughter is good for heart-health: As already stated, laughter helps increase blood flow and also enhances the functioning of blood vessels across the body. This serves to protect against heart diseases.
- Laughter also helps improve inter-personal relationships. It reduces tension at work, home. Laughter attracts people to us, everybody wants to be around humorous people. Laughter can even help diffuse conflicts among people, especially in the busy cities, where everyone is on the fast lane, laughter can help convert a potential fight to a mere joke.
- Laughter is good for overall health maintenance. It is said to reduce blood pressure, has a cleansing effect on the lungs, among others.
I hope I have been able to convince you that indeed laughter is the best medicine. Although some people are of the school of thought that laughter does not have scientifically proven basis on some of its health benefits, I’d ask what harm is there in laughing? At the very least, I am sure you would agree with me that laughter helps you feel good!
