Laughter does have positive psychological, physiological, and
immunological impacts on our health. The term for the study of
laughter and laughing and the examination of its effects on the
human body is “gelotology” — from the Greek gelos, meaning
“laughter.”
In their study “Humor and Laughter May Influence Health” in the
journal Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine,
Mary Payne Bennett and Cecile A. Lengacher report that a sense
of humor influences psychological and physiological well-being.
Among their findings:
Laughter leads to increased heart rate, respiratory rate, and
oxygen consumption, similar to aerobic exercise. After intense
laughter, body muscles relax.
Like other strong emotions, humor seems to activate the
sympathetic nervous system (SNS), which shows an increase in
such hormones as urinary epinephrine and norepinephrine, but
blood pressure remains stable. (Sad emotional stimulus results
in higher blood pressure.)
Exposure to a humorous stimulus decreased self-reported anxiety.
Laughter in response to humorous stimuli correlates with
improvement of natural killer (NK) cell activity — the immune
cells that kill cancerous cells and prevent some types of viral
illnesses.
Laughing has social benefits. Since much laughter is a social
response rather than a reaction to jokes, laughing facilitates
social reaction.
Laughter is also contagious. If you see someone laughing, you
will probably laugh, too. One reason is because the sound of
laughter is contagious: Researchers recently found that we often
mimic one another’s behavior, copying words or gestures due to
the mirroring system in the brain.
Here are some laughing exercises for you to try.
Smile with stretching: First breathe in and out through your
mouth. When you exhale, smile. Repeat few times, and then do it
while stretching. Breathe in and stretch your body, and breathe
out, smile, and relax.
Facial release: Move your facial muscles. Stretch and squeeze or
make a dance with your face. You will find your face becomes
much more relaxed and ready for laughing.
Create laughing sounds: Make laughing sounds like ha-ha-ha while
shaking your body a little bit or gently tapping your body parts
or clapping hands. Imagine all the stress is released.
Laugh out loud: Start with small laughing sounds and a little
motion, and then create bigger motions and louder laughter.
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