It’s time to laugh…

When was the last time you had a really good belly laugh, the kind that’s so all-consuming, it starts to “hurt”?

I was playing with my niece and nephews the other day, and was struck by how easily they fall into that deep belly laughter that immediately changes your mood and leaves you feeling great. But as we get older and take on more responsibility – just when we could use a good laugh most – we tend to laugh less often, not more.

When it comes to health and wellness, the benefits of laughter are pretty impressive! It lowers stress, decreases blood pressure, improves memory recall, lowers anxiety, promotes bonding in relationships, decreases inflammation in the body, boosts your body’s immune response, and may even speed up your metabolism (and more!).

But we don’t really need research to know that laughter is good for us. When we laugh, we can feel how good it is for us.

Study after study show that we need laughter – especially those deep belly laughs my niece and nephews are so good at – to be our healthiest, best selves.

Read about the incredible research about laughter, see the BEST giggling in the world from my nephew Lucas, and some VERY funny videos  below.  :)

One study published in Women’s Health Magazine and conducted at John Hopkins Medical School looked at whether humor can sharpen your thinking. The professor, a psychologist and PhD himself, divided the 98 students in his graduate biostatistics class (I get sleepy just thinking about that class!) into two groups for an exam. Using the identical 57-item exam, he wrote humorous exam instructions for one group, and made sure the other group’s exam instructions were not funny. The group that took the test with humorous instructions scored significantly higher on the exam.

Another study at Linda Loma University found that laughter raised levels of disease-fighting immunoglobulins by 14 percent. A separate study at the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore monitored subjects’ blood flow as they watched a funny movie, and found that laughter increase blood circulation as much as getting on the treadmill (although for a shorter period of time, so it’s not a reason to ditch exercise ). Several studies have also found that laughter increases resistance to physical pain.

But again, we don’t need research to know that laughter is good for us. What we DO need is more laughter!

It’s time to laugh…

Here are 3 YouTube videos and a video of my nephew giggling that I can almost guarantee will make you laugh:

Post by Alex Ortner.

A little animal humor… (watch this a couple of times, because the moment Cooper goes for the ice cream is hysterical – and just watching Cooper wait for the ice cream patiently is great)

Some kid humor… (when monsters attack….)

And here’s perhaps the best one, GUARANTEED to make you laugh. Maybe the best part about laughing is that it’s contagious! Watch this daily for improved health and vitality!

How do you feel now?

If you’ve had a good laugh, notice how your laughter temporarily “washed away” your stress, anxiety, and other negative energy.

Notice how much more relaxed your body feels after laughing.

(I’m sure you’ve noticed all of these things before, but the longer you dwell on positive experiences, the more they benefit you. Dwelling on how good it feels to laugh also helps to “wire” your brain to laugh more, a process I talked about in a recent blog post.)

When we laugh, endorphins – those “feel good” chemicals – are released, creating an immediate feeling of well-being and melting away stress, fear and anxiety.

The funny thing about laughter – haha! – is that, as we get older, we often feel we don’t have time for it. Some of those beliefs may stem from childhood. Were you ever told as a child to stop laughing because you were supposed to clean up or do something “more important”? As a culture, we sometimes see laughter as a waste of time, something that’s taking us away from doing work, cleaning the house, etc.

Over time, though, all of the pressure we put on ourselves to be more productive increases our stress. That stress slows us down, interferes with our relationships, negatively impacts health, and makes us more prone to distraction, less able to focus, and more.

Since the body is so good at flooding our systems with those “feel good” chemicals (which also make us more creative and more productive) when we laugh, the only thing we need to focus on is allowing ourselves to laugh more.

So let’s do some positive tapping on laughter:

Eyebrow: Laughing feels so good!

Side of Eye: I can laugh more and get even more done

Under Eye: It’s so good for my body

Under Nose: It’s so good for my brain

Under Mouth: It’s good for every cell in my body

Collarbone: It’s good for me to let myself laugh more

Under Arm: and be healthier and happier because of it

Top of Head: I don’t have to be so serious

Eyebrow: The more I laugh, the better I feel

Side of Eye: The more I laugh, the more I get done

Under Eye: Laughing makes me healthier and happier

Under Nose: And it feels so good!

Under Mouth: I can take short humor breaks every day

Collarbone: and find something that will make me laugh

Under Arm: and feel happier and healthier right away

Top of Head: The more I laugh, the better I feel inside and out

As you go through your day, try making a habit of taking short “humor breaks.” If you feel guilty making time to laugh or feel like you’re wasting time, do more rounds of tapping, and then watch one funny video on YouTube, or listen to or read something short that makes you laugh. Commit to taking at least one humor break per day for a week, and see how it changes your mood, productivity, health, relationships, and more.

Until then, keep tapping!

Nick Ortner

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