Why You Should Laugh Out Loud

IN BRIEF: Besides everybody repeating how laughter is the best medicine, here we look at why it is so. Can laughter cure problems? May be, may be not, but is sure does help us deal with the tumble and tussle of life.

Laughter is universal and is enjoyed by individuals across the globe without barriers of age, gender, race, ethnicity, etc. Here are ten reasons to laugh out loud.

Laugh For Your Physical Well-Being

• It keeps your heart happy. That is due to the release of hormones called Endorphins which is responsible for being ‘happy’ and even induces a feeling of being loved and cared. Endorphins help beat stress and increase the supply of Oxygen rich blood to the heart.
• Laughter relaxes the muscles making you feel relieved and tension free physically as well as emotionally. It gives a good workout for the abdomen, shoulders, legs, facial muscles.
• Laughter will enrich your immunity and make you less vulnerable to respiratory infections (cough and cold being the common ones) by increasing Immunoglobulins in your Saliva.
• It reduces stress generating hormones and reduces pain too, both emotional and physical, and this is one of the many reasons it is used as therapy for cancer patients and is known to enhance their quality of life.

Laugh For Your Psychological Well-Being

• Humour in class increases attention, helps learn and remember things better. So, it’s good for memory as well as learning.
• Helps you to feel more positive about yourself and builds resilience against stressful events.
• Laughter therapy helps relieve agitation and distress in patients with dementia, depression, as well as psychotic disorders.

Laugh For Your Social Well-Being

• It creates an upward spiral of positive energy which enhances your mood as well as that of those around you. It thus helps you form good relationships. Laughter is contagious too.
• When working in groups or as a team in office, college, community service, laughter helps to strengthen the bond you share with group members, and acts as an energy booster.
  It helps reduce conflict in relationships (personal as well as at work).

Here is a short clip from the movie GOOD MORNING VIETNAM. Here you see Robin Williams who play a DJ in war torn Vietnam. Observe how he highlights the absurd among the serious aspects of the time. There are so many people who are extremely funny. Hunt for such people and listen to them, read about them, and discover new limits of laughter.