Is Laughter the Best Medicine?
Is laughter the best medicine? I’m going to say yes! Last week, I attended a lunchtime webinar by the Centre for Optimism and listened to an amazing panel of experts talk about laughter, optimism, resilience and wellbeing… and I’m still buzzing!
In particular, I learned from La Trobe University’s adjunct profession Ros Ben-Moshe about the science behind laughter and we did a short but very effective laughter yoga exercise that had me grinning like a Cheshire cat for the rest of the afternoon. While still high on laughter, I signed up for Ros’ upcoming 5-week virtual course at La Trobe Laughter, Resilience and Wellbeing.
I’ve known for a while about the power of laughter to boost your mood and bring joy – it’s a bit of a no brainer really. But what I hadn’t stopped to think about for a very long time was actively integrating laughter into my week to increase my base happiness and wellbeing levels. This is going to change!
In this article, I’m exploring whether laughter really is the best medicine, and how we can use some super simple exercises to not only feel happier in the moment but to also achieve a happier life overall. Read on!
What’s the Link Between Laughter and Ongoing Wellbeing?
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The science has been pretty definite on this one for a while. Laughter truly is the best medicine. It’s not just a saying but a scientifically proven way to increase your wellbeing. For instance, laughter helps to reduce stress. The Mayo Clinic in the U.S. has a range of research and writing on the positive effects of laughter for stress reduction. For example, a good laugh can decrease your heart rate and blood pressure, it can also sooth pressure and relieve muscle tension.
Longer term, laughter has a range of other benefits, such as improving your immune system and helping you fight illness. In fact, Ros Ben-Moshe (who I mentioned above), wrote a book, called Laughing at Cancer: How to Heal with Love, Laughter and Mindfulness, in which she describes how mindful healing techniques and the power of laughter got her through her cancer diagnosis and treatment (along with good medicine of course).
Stanford University psychiatrist, William Fry, performed a series of studies over his 50-year career, finding that laughter stimulates the immune system, increases circulation and invigorates the brain. Not only that, laughter exercises muscles, so a good intense laugh can be a form of exercise!
Aside from the physical wellbeing benefits, laughter also makes us happier in the moment – I know, that’s a no-brainer. It does this by releasing endorphins in the brain that make us feel great. But did you know laughter can increase not only your short-term happiness but also your long-term happiness?
For instance, if you laugh with other people, it helps to strengthen bonds between people. When you laugh with others and all get that endorphin hit together, it creates a sense of togetherness. Not only that, but laughter spread around groups. It’s contagious. So having a good laugh around your friends and family will make them happier too. In fact, there was a study conducted to work out whether happiness can spread from person to person and whether niches of happiness form within social networks. Researchers found that:
“A friend who lives within a mile (about 1.6 km) and who becomes happy increases the probability that a person is happy by 25%. Similar effects are seen in co-resident spouses, siblings who live within a mile, and next-door neighbours.”
So, laughing with friends and family strengthens those bonds and makes the relationships more solid – and we know that relationships are a key foundation of a happy life.
Laughter and Your Happiness Set Point
How happy are you, really? Wouldn’t you like to be happier overall? Well, the current thinking about happiness is that we’re all born with a certain set point for happiness levels – meaning some people are naturally happier, while others are naturally grumpier.
Happy events – like a birthday party or graduating from college — can lead to a momentary spike in your happiness set point, just as sad events can lead to a momentary drop. But eventually, we all come back to our natural happiness level, or set point.
So, you might be thinking there’s no point in trying to be happier then, but here’s the great news: you can bring habits and routines into your life that help to increase your set point for happiness – essentially making you happier overall and increasing your wellbeing in the process.
What’s one way to increase your happiness set point? Bring more laughter into your life!
Want more? Listen to our podcast episode: Happiness is Contagious (E8)
Why Not Try Some Laughter Yoga?
Laughter yoga is a new craze that has gained steam over the past couple of decades. It involves people meeting to laugh together, often in a park or open space. That’s it. Simple. It doesn’t (necessarily) involve folding yourself into a variety of pretzel-like poses while laughing…. the ‘yoga’ part is more of a nod to the gentle breathing and movement that accompanies some laughter exercises.
There are many laughter exercises that you can practice at home by yourself, or with family, or friends. Before you start, remember that you’ll need a safe, open space where people feel comfortable and everyone is willing to be playful and childlike, letting down barriers.
Remember that some people will feel uncomfortable participating in laughter yoga exercises, so don’t pressure anyone or force them to participate – particularly if you decide to bring this into the workplace. It should be an ‘opt-in’ exercise, and who knows, once they’ve seen the benefits, maybe they’ll overcome their shyness and join in next time.
It’s also worth remembering that often people need to fake the laughter at the beginning, but very soon people end up laughing for real – it’s all about just giving it a go and getting started.
Here are three exercises you can try:
Start your day right with laughter
Add this quick 60-second exercise to your morning routine to start your day in a happy mood and set the tone for the rest of the day. Laughing with others can be a bit daunting, so this exercise is also a great starting place for people who are a bit reluctant to be vulnerable in front of other people. Here’s what you need to do…
Grab your phone and start the timer. For the first 10 seconds, laugh out loud. You don’t have to feel it, you just need to vocalise ‘ha-ha-ha’ a few times. Think of it like an acting class with really bad acting. It doesn’t have to be authentic laughter to begin with, just do it.
Once you’ve done 10-seconds of ‘ha-ha-has,’ breathe deeply for the next 10-seconds. Repeat these two steps two more times and you’re done. That’s it! It really couldn’t be more simple! The key to this exercise is to commit to doing it every morning for a couple of weeks (at least). What have you got to lose?
Use laughter to bond with friends and family
As mentioned above, one of the great things about laughter is sharing it with others. Laughing with other people is more intense and it helps to bring people closer together (so it’s great for team building exercises). So, grab some colleagues, friends, your partner or the whole family and convince them to join in this short exercise with you.
To start, get everyone into a circle and together take a deep breath in, and out. Repeat this a few times. Then, start moving around the circle to join up with a person. Then there are three steps:
- hold their hands or shake their hand,
- look them in the eye, and
- laugh for 10 seconds.
Once everyone has had 10 seconds of laughter with their partner, they should find another partner and repeat steps 1-3. Keep doing this until everyone has shared a laugh with everyone else in the group.
You’ll want someone to be the timekeeper and keep everyone on track with instructions on when to move on. You can get playful with it. Once everyone is on a roll, try doing a round where everyone has to laugh like Santa (ho-ho-ho), or be cheeky (tee-hee-hee) or put on a German, French or Russian accent, or simply throw in a good snort.
Make some noise and let loose
Ready to really let go? This is a good exercise for groups or individuals. Start by smiling and slowly move onto a giggle, then a chuckle and finish with a big belly laugh. Slowly increase the intensity and volume as you go. Once you’ve had a loud and big belly laugh for a good 10 seconds or so, bring it back down, stage by stage, to a smile.
To get a good benefit from this one, you can repeat this a few times. You can also add some movement into this one, starting small and crouched down and slowly opening up until your arms are in the air, your head is tilted back and you’re standing like a starfish.
Happy laughing!
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