Turns out the old saying is true: laughter really is the best medicine.
Experts say it works wonders for physical and mental health, and an ever-expanding body of research points to its healing powers.
According to doctors, laughter can help with breathing, maintain heart health and control stress, among other benefits.
Scientists still don’t understand why we laugh, but they generally believe that laughter is a byproduct of evolution that allowed our primitive ancestors to build trust and socialize with each other with the help of the neurochemical oxytocin.
Laughing is most beneficial in social settings and is essential for building social bonds, something humans need, according to Dr. Eileen Anderson, a psychologist who studies laughter at Case Western Reserve University.
She told DailyMail.com: ‘If we sold laughter as a drug, it would be sold on shelves because it makes you feel better and calms you down. And it is accessible to everyone across the life cycle and from different backgrounds. And it’s free.’
According to doctors, laughter can help with breathing, maintain heart health and control stress, among other benefits.
When we laugh, we take many deep breaths, which allows the body to absorb more oxygen than it would otherwise, relaxing the muscles.
Canadian Lung Association says: ‘When you laugh, your lungs are freed of stale air and more oxygen can enter. This is because laughter helps expand the alveoli in the lungs.
‘These are small air pockets, of which there are between 300 and 500 million! Expanding them means that the area for oxygen exchange is larger and more oxygen enters the lungs.’
This increased oxygenation improves respiratory function by relaxing the muscles in the lungs and cardiac function by increasing circulation.
Laughing is thought to have a positive effect on the inner lining of blood vessels, called the endothelium, by helping it release nitric oxide. Nitric oxide is known to relax the arteries that carry blood from the heart.
Relaxed arteries are less likely to spasm and are more likely to stay open, allowing smooth passage of oxygenated blood to the rest of the body.
Dr. Lindsay Wilson-Barlow, a clinical psychologist at the University of Utah, saying: ‘Studies have shown that just 20 seconds of laughter has the ability to double your heart rate over the next three to five minutes.
‘As a result, (laughter advocate Norman Cousins) described laughter as “a form of running to the gut.”‘
It’s no surprise that a laugh at a comedy performance or a friend’s joke can lift dark clouds over your head during a time of mental anguish, whether it’s a bad breakup or a bout of depression.
The power of laughter reaches the neurons. Decreases levels of the stress hormone cortisol and Alters dopamine activity.the body’s reward hormone, and serotonin, the feel-good hormone.
These neurotransmitters are essential for regulating emotions and motivation to pursue goals and satisfy needs.
Even forcing yourself to laugh can have benefits, and doctors who use it with patients know it as laughter therapy. The ability to find humor in the world and allow yourself to laugh actually strengthens over time, like a muscle, Dr. Anderson told DailyMail.com.
She said: “So people who make some kind of concerted effort to try to laugh will start to tune into the funny things and find themselves laughing more throughout their lives.”
Laughing reduces levels of cortisol, the stress hormone, as well as adrenaline, modulating the body’s natural fight or flight response. It is also a crucial component in building social bonds thanks to oxytocin.
Laughing also makes it easier to manage stress. It suppresses cortisol, the hormone that fluctuates in response to stress, and adrenaline. These are critical in instigating the body’s fight or flight response.
Dr Wilson-Barlow said: “The induction of laughter initiates the fight-or-flight stress response.” However, about 20 minutes after laughter, physiological measures such as heart rate, blood pressure, and muscle tension fall below baseline levels.
“There is a feeling of physiological and psychological relaxation and calm that can last up to 45 minutes after the person’s last laugh.”
Laughing has been clinically shown to decrease the levels of cortisol and adrenaline in people’s blood. A 1989 study tested the power of “happy laughter” by dividing 10 men into two groups: one in which the men watched an hour-long funny movie and a control group that didn’t.
People who laughed saw a statistically significant decrease in circulating cortisol in their blood.
They also had significantly reduced levels of a compound that results from the breakdown of dopamine, suggesting that laughter actually slowed down the metabolism and breakdown of dopamine, allowing them to feel better.
While laughing can help us feel better emotionally, it can also help us feel better physically.
The act of laughing causes the release of endorphins in the brain, which helps control pain.
A 1995 report in the magazine. Pain He divided people into four groups of 20 and asked them to watch different movies.
One group watched a comedy movie, another watched a “repulsive” movie, the third watched a “neutral” movie, and group four watched nothing at all.
Both the humorous group and the repulsive group showed significantly higher pain tolerance when they immersed their hands in ice water to measure how long they could endure the discomfort compared to the neutral film group and the no film group.
The repulsive group demonstrated the greatest increase in pain tolerance, although the difference with the humor group was not statistically significant.
The reduction of cortisol and stress caused by laughter also relieves muscle tension.
A 1999 study in Lancet Informed laughter can cause the muscles in the body to relax.
Researchers in the Netherlands placed electrodes on the legs of volunteers to measure the H-reflex, a neurological pathway that causes muscles to contract, and then showed them a series of slides meant to provoke some reaction.
People who laughed saw muscle tension dissipate.
The researchers found that: “When the volunteers laughed out loud, their H reflex virtually disappeared, while it decreased much less when they did not laugh.”
Laughter itself can act as a kind of muscle. The ability to take advantage of it as a means to feel better emotionally or physically can be improved and strengthened.
But Americans don’t laugh enough, Dr. Anderson told this website. But that’s why more research is needed into why we laugh, what makes us laugh, and how we can best use that capacity for humor to our benefit.
SHE SAID: “A lot of other cultures just had humor built in, joy and relaxation built in. But we’re like the 24/7 driving culture where you think you’ll be left behind if you don’t get on.” to that wave.” .
‘I think that’s why this research seems revolutionary. For us, in a way it’s countercultural, and that’s why we can’t just know it, we have to have something called laughter therapy, we have to prescribe it, we have to have programs for it.’