Jul 203 min read

Laugh Your Way to Health: The Holistic Benefits of Laughter on Well-being

-Teesha Ahlawat

Intern, Nov- Dec 2023

Laughter is a physical reaction characterized by facial expressions, sounds, and contraction of muscle groups. There are five types of laughter: genuine or spontaneous, self-induced or simulated, stimulated, elicited, and pathological.

Laughter has many health benefits. Laughter can strengthen the immune system, relax muscles, promote circulation, and protect against heart disease. It can improve mental health, laughter can reduce anxiety, release tension, improve mood, and promote resilience. A simple laugh can make life more manageable by masking pain, sharpening your ability to remember things, and relieving everyday stress.

Humor can also act as adaptive self-defense, allowing people to see the comic absurdity in very difficult situations. In this regard, humor functions both as a defense mechanism and a means of coping with difficulties. Hope can be a powerful mechanism by which humans bring relief to patients, as research into the effects of humor on terminally ill patients has shown. (Herth, 1990). The results of this study showed that 85% of patients believed that humor helped them face reality by strengthening hope.

Some important benefits of laughter for mental and emotional health include:

Fighting depression. Laughter increases serotonin levels in the body. A 2015 study on depression in middle-aged women found that laughter increased serotonin levels in women in all three groups—non-depressed, mildly depressed, and severely depressed women. Serotonin increases the most in people with severe depression. Serotonin is a neurotransmitter known as the "happy chemical".
To relieve stress. Laughter reduces the amount of stress hormones in the blood. It also causes the production of anti-stress hormones. A 2019 study found that developing a sense of humor significantly reduced the stress experienced by nurses.
Reduces unpleasant emotions such as tension, anxiety, anger, and rage. Laughter does this by triggering the production of neurochemicals like dopamine, which calm you down.
Improving endurance
Improving cognitive function by increasing the frequency of EEG gamma waves in the brain. In a 2014 study at Loma Linda University, 20 healthy seniors watched a funny video for 20 minutes without distraction, while a control group sat quietly without the video. After that, they did memory tests. Those who watched the funny video did better on memory tests than those who sat quiet
Improve sleep, especially in elderly patients. In a 2017 study, 42 nursing home residents were divided into two groups, one of whom received 40 minutes of laughter therapy twice a week for four weeks. Those who participated in laughter therapy had significantly fewer sleep disturbances than those who did not.
Helps in addiction recovery. Patients have a lot of serious work ahead of them in early recovery. Laughter therapy helps them avoid taking themselves too seriously. Taking yourself too seriously can waste the energy you need to heal. Humor can also reduce confrontation in addiction group therapy.
Improve the symptoms of schizophrenia by reducing hostility and lowering levels of psychopathology.
Helps to relax.

Laughter and Therapy

Laughter therapy has been used for centuries. In the 14th century, the French surgeon Henri De Mondeville believed that patients benefit from visiting relatives and friends to tell them jokes.

Humor therapy involves group sessions where funny books, TV shows, stories, movies, or cartoons are used to

encourage laughter. At the same time, the Therapist encourages the participants to discuss their humorous experiences and think about what they found funny. The challenge in this type of therapy is to find material that all group members find funny because humor tastes are personal and can be cultural.

Laughter meditation is similar to traditional meditation, But the point is to laugh and focus on the moment. The process involves stretching, laughing, or crying with meditative silence. For some, laughter helps relieve stress and clear the mind. It can also act as a bridge to help them sink into inner silence and stillness. While some people find this helpful, others struggle to laugh without stimulation.

Laughter Yoga or Hasya Yoga (Sanskrit for laughter) is similar to its traditional counterpart and involves a combination of yogic breathing, stretching, and laughter. Laughter exercises usually last about 30-45 minutes. One of these exercises is the greeting, where the participants approach each other in the room with hands clasped in Namaste and smile while looking into each other's eyes. Another is the lion's laugh. Practitioners stick out their tongues, widen their eyes, and extend their hands like claws while laughing. With silent laughter, practitioners open their mouths and laugh silently. Then they look into the eyes of others and make funny gestures.

Laughter yoga includes four things: