The famous author, Charles Dickens once commented, 

“ There is nothing in the world so irresistibly contagious as laughter “

No statement is as true as this! You laugh and the world laughs with you.

With fast paced life, irregular working hours, improper eating habits, stress at work and at relationships, a lot of negative energy is produced which can cause damage to both physical and mental health.

Benefits of laughter

Laughter therapy is a kind of cognitive-behavioral therapy that could make physical, psychological, and social relationships healthy, ultimately improving the quality of life.

Laughter can mitigate the effects of stress by reducing the levels of stress hormones in the blood.

Laughter has a wide range of benefits, ranging from increased cognitive functions to improve respiration to enhance pain tolerance threshold to reduce stress hormones, with cumulative effects being the improved psychological well-being. Furthermore, endorphins secreted by laughter can help when people are uncomfortable or in a depressed mood.

How do we introduce laughter in our lives –

• Laughter yoga

This type of yoga is based on the belief that voluntary laughter provides similar physiological and psychological benefits as spontaneous laughter.

Laughter yoga involves gentle stretching, chanting, clapping, eye contact, and body movements. People begin a laughter yoga practice by rhythmically clapping their hands together. 

While clapping, participants chant “Ho, ho, ha, ha, ha!” This activates the diaphragm and prepares the body to breathe deeply throughout the practice. 

Laughter yoga sessions typically end with a laughter meditation.

• Socializing

Socializing is an important aspect for psychological well-being. Interacting with people, discussion, cracking some jokes and laughing – all are a part of destressing and an essential aspect of the modern world where people have no time for one another.

Making time for friends, family, having a reunion or a family get together strengthens the bonding and serves as a distraction from the daily stressors of life that help to bring down the stress hormones.

• Standup comedy

Standup comedy is gaining quite an amount of popularity with more and more people getting attracted to an evening full of fun and frolic.

A good 1-2 hours of entertainment and a break from the stresses of life that helps to reduce the cortisol levels and boost the happy hormones called serotonin. A modern way to destress!

Laughter therapy can physiologically lessen the pro-stress factors and increase the mood-elevating anti-stress factors to reduce anxiety and depression. 

Be it a laughter club or socializing or a standup comedy, it is required to unwind and destress for everyone to reduce the stress hormones and improve the overall quality of life.