When was the last time you had a big, hearty laugh or gave into a giggle that you couldn’t shake?
Body-shaking hooting or tears-in-your-eyes cackling feel like nothing else – as if the waves of hilarity melt stress and self-consciousness away.
There has been absolutely too little laughing these past few years but we have never needed to laugh more than we do now.
World Laughter Day was earlier this month, founded by Dr Madan Kataria in Mumbai, India, 25 years ago.
It is marked in more than 70 nations.
Dr Kataria’s laughter yoga movement was built initially on the idea that laughter feels wonderful and doing it as a group is even better for you – and it is funnier.
Studies of the practice show that even if a person isn’t feeling particularly peppy, by emitting a few forced he-he-hes or ha-ha-has, the brain soon kicks into gear and the feel-good chemicals flow.
Help us deliver more news by registering for our FREE daily news feed. All it requires is your name and email at the bottom of this article.
The esteemed Mayo Clinic in the US, among other leading medical research institutions, found that laughter is good for a person’s organs because it enhances a person’s intake of oxygen-rich air, stimulates the heart, lungs and muscles, and releases endorphins and neuropeptides in the brain.
A rollicking laugh fires up and then cools down the stress response, increasing and then decreasing the heart rate and blood pressure.
It is the most fun a mini-workout can be and leaves behind a warm, relaxed feeling.
It has been found to improve the immune system because negativity and anxiety manifest as chemical reactions that stress the body and decrease disease resistance.
The British Council, the World Health Organisation and the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare all recognise that smiling is important to wellbeing, and that is good for our society.
In smiling, muscles contract, fire a signal back to the brain, stimulate the reward system and further raise levels of happy hormones.
Those laugh-until-your-tummy-hurts moments might not cure all diseases, but they are proven pain relievers and mental health bolsters.
Maybe doctors should prescribe a comedy film or funny podcast before putting a patient on antidepressants.
Deep-in-your-soul laughter is one infection we need to spread.
Dr Jane Stephens is a UniSC journalism lecturer, media commentator and writer.
