Laughing is seriously good for you! From triggering a release of dopamine, to boosting beta-endorphins and decreasing stress hormones, there’s a whole lot of great stuff that goes on inside the body and mind whenever something gives you the giggles.
Check out these 5 awesome health benefits of laughing.
There’s plenty of evidence that laughter triggers the brain’s emotional and reward centres, prompting a release of dopamine and enhancing the experience of pleasure. And for someone suffering from anxiety, winter blues, or even depression, laughter provides an opportunity to boost low moods from the inside out.
Increasing serotonin levels is another positive bodily function that occurs from laughing. As a chemical messenger that impacts everything from your emotions to your motor skills, serotonin also helps stabilise your mood.
Internally, there’s all sorts of things going on when we are stressed – including the production of stress hormones called catecholamine (say that three times fast!) and cortisol. They do their best to help regulate our body’s response to stress, but when we carry them around for too long, they can cause things like high blood pressure, anxiety, headaches, sweating, and pounding of the heart. Laughter has been proven to decrease levels of those neuroendocrine stress hormones, minimising their long-term negative effects.
Isn’t it incredible that something as simple as laughing has the potential to improve our tolerance for pain? A series of six experimental studies found that pain thresholds were increased after laughter, not just because of a change in mood but due to an endorphin-mediated opiate effect. In other words, when you laugh, your body releases feel-good endorphins which help to deal with pain sensations.
Research has correlated laughter with building immunity – even just the anticipation of it! We all have a naturally occurring human growth hormone (HG) which is produced by the pituitary gland (a tiny gland at the base of the brain), and it takes care of all sorts of important stuff – like maintaining our tissues and organs. Studies discovered that a group of people who were told they were going to be watching one of their favourite funny videos saw an increase in their HGH of 87%, which in turn helps to strengthen the immune system.
There’s nothing quite like a good laugh with a friend - but why is that? Well it just so happens there have been studies to try and understand this too, with the main outcome being that shared laughter communicates to others that you have a similar outlook on life. And this can even work with strangers too, with perceived like-mindedness playing an important part of building relationships.
So there you have it – 5 awesome health benefits of laughter! How can you make time for a belly laugh today?