Laughter: the best medicine

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We have all heard the saying that laughter is the best medicine, so today we’ll take a look at how laughter is being used to help people deal with stressful situations. Laughter appears to be very good medicine:

"The ability to laugh -- either naturally or as learned behavior -- may have important implications in societies such as the U.S. where heart disease remains the number one killer," says Miller. "We know that exercising, not smoking and eating foods low in saturated fat will reduce the risk of heart disease. Perhaps regular, hearty laughter should be added to the list."

Laughter is the "Best Medicine" for Your Heart


Other evidence of the benefits of laughter comes from the psychiatric literature. It is well known that people with chronic anxiety, anger and depression have multiple physiological problems. Indeed, anger and depression have been linked to heart disease and gastrointestinal problems often result from anxiety. How is this connected to laughter? Simply that humans cannot experience both emotional distress and emotional uplifting at the same time. In other words, laugh and you can’t simultaneously be anxious or depressed. Even if you’re generally feeling anxious, a short bout of laughter can lessen the impact of that negative emotion.

Laughter is really good medicine

During these difficult economic times, some of us are probably laughing less or may have forgotten how to laugh at all. So if laughter is indeed the best medicine, then the first thing we need to know how is how to laugh. And, yes, they have classes to show you how to do that. Welcome to the world of Laughter Yoga International. From the self-promoting site we find these interesting laughter yoga facts:

In addition to providing a positive and secure emotional environment, laughter clubs promote personal happiness in many ways. The positive and happy attitude from laughter clubs is spread through the mechanism of emotional contagion to others that we have contact with. This is not limited to just friends, family and co-workers but also includes social contacts and even people they sit next to in a bus or in a restaurant, taxi drivers and many others.

Spiritual Benefits of Laughter Clubs

OK, now we know that laughter is very healthy for you, so where do you go to learn how to laugh? Fortunately there are laughter clubs across the globe. Here are the clubs in NY State and you can seek your location from the list:

Laughter Club Locations

It may seem odd going to a club to laugh. Maybe you still don’t feel comfortable with the idea, since you haven’t seen anything about laughter clubs outside the Laughter Yoga site. It seems that some citizens of Lubbock, TX and Buffalo, NY are fine with the laughter concept:

About 50 Lubbockites got together Sunday to have a laugh and improve their health. The free Laughter Yoga class is not about poses or stretches. Instead, participants forced laughter while thinking about different things at Covenant Health System....

First time participants said it worked out their diaphragm and helped relieve stress. "How to be more natural. How to be more childlike and not to take everything so seriously," said Sylvia Mirabal after the class.

Laughter is the best medicine


The fine people of Buffalo, NY are even getting into the laughing action:

“I wanted to bring more positive vibes in my life,” said Laughter Club member Julie Rejewski, 38, of West Seneca. “I know I need more laughter, and not to be so serious all the time.”

A typical Laughter Club meeting lasts about an hour, and leaves participants not only smiling, but sweating like they just completed a gym workout. Exercises are performed in two-minute bursts, all for the sake of laughter…..

“Laughter is contagious, and hearing it and watching other people laugh and smile causes one to laugh,” said laugh leader Dawn Werner, 58, who has practiced Laughter Yoga for three years.

Laughing matters, more than you think

Here’s a laughing yoga video to get you in the mood (it made me laugh):

Laughter Yoga on CNN

And don’t worry if you can’t make it to a laughing yoga class, you can always call in for your daily laugh:

To listen to a recorded call dial (712) 432-3903 access Codes 6071292#

If it doesn’t make you laugh, it will at least make you smile.

Now that you know the secrets of how to laugh, try it on the family, friends and pets. They will likely look at your strangely and cock their heads to one side, but I bet that after you laugh for 10 seconds, they will be following along (since they can't laugh, the pets may hide, but they'll be back). Laugh it up, it's good for you!

Tomorrow we’ll look at some other ways to lighten up.