Back when school wasn’t taught online, taking a sick day meant staying home in your pajamas, curled up on the living room couch, watching cartoons on cable. Kids would eat soup and drink ginger-ale to settle their stomachs, and try not to laugh too loudly at the TV show lest they hear the old parental warning, “if you’re well enough to laugh then you’re well enough to go to school!”
The great irony, as it turns out, is that laughing may very well make you well enough to go to school. The action of laughing activates all kinds of muscles and responses in our bodies and brains that translate into a positive physical and mental effect that we can actually feel – and that makes us feel better.
Laughter has been formally studied in the context of health since the 1980s when the “father of laughter therapy” Norman Cousins discovered his chronic pain subsided when TV shows made him laugh. Thanks to Cousins and many studies since, there is a wealth of scholarship on the positive physical and mental effects of laughter.
Laughter has been found to decrease the stress-making hormones of the blood and increase dopamine, serotonin, and endorphin activity. This naturally reduces feelings of pain and stress. Laughter also lowers blood pressure, raises blood sugar, and multiples white blood cells which strengthens the immune system.
It is widely accepted that laughter strengthens our relationships, but it also strengthens our bodies by exercising select muscles in the. It also causes us to feel less tension, anxiety, anger, and other negative emotions while improving our memories, creativity, problem-solving cognition, breathing, blood circulation, and overall moods.
Laughter therapy “focuses on the approach that both body and mind can be healthy only when the psychological aspects of the brain are changed, beyond just physical treatment.” It is used today to improve immunity, relationships, moods, symptoms of depression and stress, and overall quality of life, positive effects on which were even found after fake laughing was practiced and repeated to lead to real laughter. This is also the theory behind laughter yoga, a combination of yoga-like exercise, laughter therapy, and group play that culminates in feelings of happiness and release, especially from anxiety and stress. Though the exercises may not be very strict yoga, yogic principles of breathing and concentrating on being in your body (instead of your head) focus on getting oxygen to your muscles and expelling the tension of the day, helping in the overall goal of mood improvement and feeling good.
The general idea of all health care that involves laughter is that making someone happy never hurts. Laughter is an inexpensive, non-invasive, instant treatment for many modern ailments. Whether it’s a big-time movie star dressing up as a superhero to make sick kids’ days, or watching comedy TV from your couch, laughter is a form of therapy we can safely and freely indulge in, and even give generously to each other.