Immy chats about the benefits of having a good laugh.
What’s the best medicine? It’s not a pill or a special syrup. It’s not paracetamol or ibuprofen. It’s laughter. Laughter can boost your immune system, lower stress hormones, reduce pain, relax muscles and even help against heart disease. It can also benefit your mental health by easing anxiety and tension, relieving stress, improving your mood and strengthening your resilience. To top it all off, laughter can even have powerful social benefits, by helping to strengthen relationships, enhance teamwork, diffuse conflict and bring people together.
Laughter has all these incredible benefits, yet babies laugh around 300 times a day, whilst adults only laugh around 17 times. So, how can we bring more laughter into our daily lives? You can seek out humour and make a habit of surrounding yourself with things that make you laugh. This could be funny books, movies or sitcoms, maybe one that includes an orange sofa and coffee at Central Perk.
You can also use laughter to connect with others. I always say I want to make the people around me laugh every day. You never know what someone might be going through, so if you can help someone laugh, even for one moment, you may have brightened their day. In doing this, you can strengthen your connection and improve your relationship.
We all face stresses and challenges in our daily lives, but I love to see the funnier side of things and find the laughter in the small moments. Be on the lookout for moments of humour as you go about your day. If you do, you might be surprised by what you notice (things you would usually miss!) Even during challenging times, having something to laugh about can help lift your mood again.
We all need this ‘special medicine’ every day, not just for ourselves, but for the people around us too. Laughter shouldn’t be saved for special occasions. It should be part of our everyday lives. So, make it a habit to do something each day that doesn’t just make you smile, but makes you belly laugh.
What makes you belly laugh?