Someone says they have a funny joke to tell you. As you listen to the set up of the joke, a laugh begins to grow inside of you. As the punch line approaches, your whole body is poised to bust out with a hearty laugh, and then it happens. Not just one laugh, but several laughs bursting forth, until your sides are almost painful from the pulling action that laughing places on muscles in the body. Pain from laughing too much is the only kind of pain that could be considered to be a good thing. A really funny joke can stick with you for a long time, and provide you with more laughs when it comes to mind. You can also share laughter and the health benefits of laughter with others.
Laughing is so important to your health and here are some reasons why. Having a good sense of humor and finding the opportunity to laugh often, even when facing difficult situations in your life has been proven to offer health benefits such as resistance to illnesses and can even help those facing the seriousness of cancer and cancer treatment to battle this devastating disease better, even resulting in higher survival rates because of it.
Laughing, even the building stages of laughter, causes certain changes to occur in the body. One of the changes that happens in the body due to the building up of laughter, and laughter itself, is the bridging of the immune system with other parts of the body. This bridge creates a strong connection for the entire body to better combat successfully against invading germs and bacteria that enter the body. This is how healthy people are able to stay healthy and avoid the number of colds and other illnesses that strike those with weaker immune systems and poorly constructed bridges throughout the body.
The act of laughing causes an instantaneous production of hormones such as endorphins serotonin, and other hormones in the body that are associated with feelings of contentment and happiness. Laughing can instantly change your bad mood to good because of the increase of these hormones. Laughing is infectious, if you doubt this, pay attention to the others around you the next time you gather in a group, and watch their reactions as funny things are said. As one person begins to laugh, the stimulus of seeing and hearing someone laugh causes a laugh response, naturally and without effort for the next person, who then continues the passing of the stimulus produced by laughter, to the others in the group. For this reason, laughter is very important to emotional health, yours and for those around you.
Emotional health allows you to face crisis moments in your life without becoming overwhelmed by emotions such as shock, fear, sadness, anger, confusion, and disbelief that are common in moments of crisis. This will enable you to take whatever actions you need to in order to move safely through and beyond a crisis.
Get yourself a plentiful supply of funny books and videos and find the opportunity to laugh, and laugh as often as you can, because laughing is so important to your health. Share humorous anecdotes with friends and coworkers for shared health benefits. Know that with the right outlook you can find humor in almost every situation. Maybe not at the moment it happens, but somewhere down the line. I know of a mother and daughter who were able to find laughing moments, as the mother faced chemotherapy treatments for breast cancer, and the daughter accompanied her. Laughing enabled the mother to live longer than doctors had expected. Proving that even in the worst of times, laughing is possible, and also has positive health benefits.
