Everyone knows the phrase, “laughter is the best medicine,” but did you know that it’s not just a saying, but it’s a fact? Read on to learn more about its scientifically proven health benefits!
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In this article:
- Laughter
- Laughter Protects Your Heart
- Laughter Reduces Stress
- Laughter Fights Depression
- Laughter Relieves Physical Pain
- Laughter Increases Resilience
- Laughter Boosts Immune System
- Laughter is Important for Relationships
- Laughter Releases Endorphin
- Laughter Promotes Brain Connectivity
- Laughter Helps Build Social Bonds
Laughter
Laughter is known to be the best way to deal with stress, and science agrees with it! Laughing is a great way to deal with stress and negativity in our lives – even if it’s forced laughter. It’s also known to be contagious and makes people look more attractive and approachable! Having a positive attitude towards negative things in life has many benefits!
Laughter Protects Your Heart
Laughter is known to protect heart muscles and blood vessels from the damages of cardiovascular diseases with its anti-inflammatory effect. It is not known how laughter exactly does this, but it’s believed that because laughter can reduce stress, it can also improve your heart health by preventing heart-related problems.
Laughter Reduces Stress
Laughing can help you feel calmer and more relaxed. Humor stimulates multiple physiological systems that decrease levels of stress hormones, such as cortisol and epinephrine, and increases the activation of the mesolimbic dopaminergic reward system.
Laughter Fights Depression
Studies reported that laughter is a great way to fight depression. Being sad and depressed all the time can become a habit if we don’t do anything to snap out of it, time to time.
Instead of being sad about things all the time and letting the situation take over, trying to find a positive or funny thing about the situation can help you get over it more easily.
Even forced laughter can improve your mood.
Laughter Relieves Physical Pain
It’s known that with laughter, the brain perceives less pain and makes you believe that you can cope with the situation. Laughter cannot be the sole solution for physical pain, but it will definitely help you get over it more easily.
Laughter Boosts Resilience
Resilience is being able to see our failures as a natural process to success rather than a negative outcome. Resilient people are known to be happier and more successful.
Being able to acknowledge mistakes and learning from them can help you feel good about yourself and your personal growth. It also plays a crucial role in developing resilience. Laughing at mistakes and trying to learn from them can give you the realization of being a human who is capable of making mistakes and outgrowing them.
Laughter is Important for Relationships
It’s been reported that laughing is important for both social and romantic relationships. According to a study, women think a sense of humor is important and rate a sense of humor as one of the top three traits for a potential partner. Men, on the other hand, rate women who laugh a lot higher than those who don’t. That is why it’s known that the couple who laugh together have a better relationship quality.
Laughter Releases Endorphin
A study has shown that laughing with other people promotes endorphin release in the brain via opioid receptors. The effect intensity highly depends on the opioid receptor numbers in the brain; more receptors in the brain means a stronger effect.
Laughter Promotes Brain Connectivity
Not all laughter is the same. Decoding laughter is more complicated than it seems. One study has studied the difference in how we perceive different types of laughter. Different types of laughter are known to activate different parts of the brain. Our brains try to decode what kind of communication is coming through via laughter.
Laughter Helps Build Social Bonds
Endorphins released with laughter is the reason why social laughter is contagious. Spreading endorphin release in a group provides a feeling of safety and unity. Each brain in a social group is a transmitter of good feelings, which helps trigger the good feelings in others’ brains by laughter. When a person starts laughing, others start laughing as well, even if they are not sure what they’re laughing about.
With all the information provided in this article, it is evident that laughter is an excellent way to deal with negativity and helps us in our social lives as well! Starting your day with a smile can help you feel better about yourself and help you have a better day too!
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