Laughter and Health:
The connection
Is there a relationship between laughter and health?
There's plenty of research that supports that laughter is indeed healthy. Let's take a closer look at how laughter and health are connected.
Do you know anyone who laughs heartily and frequently? (Nervous laughing doesn't count!) Do you know anyone who rarely laughs? Compare their physical and mental health... which person is generally healthier?
Recall a time when you had a good, hearty belly laugh. How did you feel?
These examples should give you a little better reality that there is a connection between health and laughter. Maybe you just felt better temporarily. That's okay! Now imagine how you'd feel if you laughed several times per day... Do you think you'd start feeling better and better, emotionally and physically?
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Physical benefits of laughter
Laughter and health go hand-in-hand. Laughter is positive; good health is positive too. Just the physical action of laughing contributes to improving health by:
- Improving the immune system, partly by increasing lymph circulation;
Improving cardiovascular system health (heart, blood vessels and lungs);
Giving your muscles, especially core muscles surrounding the internal organs and lungs, a mini-workout;
Relieving stress, which has a negative impact on health in many ways. This includes the reduction of destructive hormones that are released during times of stress, and increases the production of hormones and other biochemical substances that are beneficial to health.
These are just a few of the benefits of laughter for physical health.
Laughter helps you handle stress
Laughter is possibly the ultimate stress buster, and it is no mystery these days that too much unhandled stress has a direct impact on health and well-being. I know this very personally - I wound up in the hospital a few times for some rather serious health problems. Although the medical doctors didn't say anything about my conditions being stress-related, I know that ultimately, too much unhandled stress got me that reservation in a hospital bed!
I've since realized that laughter and health are intimately related and laughter is back in my life. It had "disappeared" for too many years but I learned quickly. I am enjoying improved health to a great degree and it's attributable
to finding the joy and laughter in my life in addition to sound heath practices.
We all find different things funny and humorous. What makes you laugh? Find ways to get more of that into your life. If you're laughing, you have far less time to worry and be sick!
A good laugh and a long sleep are the best cures in the doctor's book. ~Irish Proverb
B. B. Martin is passionate about helping others to take charge of their own health and enable them to improve conditions through understanding health basics. For information you can actually use to improve your health. visit her at
Improving Health and Energy
What are your ideas about laughter and health?
Everyone has an opinion- and yours matters: Where are you from - do you think laughter helps your health? What makes you think that?
What Other Visitors Have to say about Laughter
Click below to see contributions from other visitors to this page...
Smiling my way to health
I completely agree with this. Sometimes it is hard to find something that makes me laugh though. If I'm feeling cruddy and need to snap out of it, I ...
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