18 Blogs Extolling the Virtues of Laughter for Your Health

LOL, everyone knows that stands for “Laugh out loud”.  Hopefully when you type lol you really are laughing out loud because the benefits of laughter are far reaching.  Laughter comes easily to children and they tend to laugh at least 20 times more than adults do every day.  As an adult you need to make yourself laugh more to benefit your health and well-being.  It doesn’t matter if the laughter is real or fake, the body doesn’t know the difference.  Laughing can reduce pain in a couple of ways: one way is by producing endorphins which are the body’s natural pain killer and by take your mind off of the pain while you are laughing.  When you laugh you use 30 muscles in your face and by working out those facial muscles you can literally look younger.  There are other anti-aging effects of laughter like improved memory and alertness.  Often stress is blamed for a lot of the aches and pains that people suffer with, laughter can help reduce stress too. To learn more about the benefits of laughter check out these 18 blog articles.

Pain Relief

When runners talk about the feel-good endorphins or “runners high” that they get when they run it’s the same feeling that you can get from having a good laugh.  Those endorphins are nature’s way of reducing pain.  People that suffer with chronic pain had a decrease in pain after taking part in laughter therapy, for as few as eight weeks.  Take a look at these six blog posts to learn more about the benefits of laughter.

1. Health Benefits of Laughter Absolutely, Seriously! Laughing for as little as ten minutes can reduce pain for up to two hours according to this blog post.
2. 8 Health Benefits of Laughter According to this blog article it took eight weeks of laughter therapy for chronic pain sufferers to feel a benefit.
3. 13 Health Benefits of Laughing Out Loud The release of endorphins when you laugh helps reduce pain.
4. Top 10 Health Benefits of Laughter Laughing helps to distract you so that you don’t think about the pain you are in.
5. The Surprising Health Benefits of Laughter Children laugh 300 times a day whereas adults tend to laugh fewer than 20 times a day.
6. Health Benefits of Laughter Yoga/ Health Benefits of Laughter Therapy When you laugh your body produces a natural pain killer.

Anti-Aging

You may be curious as to how laughter can slow down the aging process.  Laughter improves your mood and outlook which makes you more social.  Having an active social life will keep you younger at heart.  Physically, laughing helps improve blood flow and oxygen levels in your body which helps improve your heart function as well as other organs in your body.  Engaging in laughter also helps keep your mind sharp and improves your alertness.  These are just a few of the benefits that you can find in these six blog entries.

1. Human Aging and the Benefits of Laughter / Humor Keeps You Young at Heart Laughter can keep you young at heart along with helping to strengthen your heart in other ways.
2. Benefits of Laughter This blog entry explains that humor or laughter helps improve memory, brain health and aging.
3. The Science of Laughter When your body hears laughter your brain gets ready to experience laughter too.
4. Humor is Healthy During Anti-Aging Therapy Laughter helps promote blood circulation and it reduces stress which reduces the ailments caused by stress.
5. The Feel-Good Benefits of Laughter As a result of laughter, the body experiences an improved immune system that is able to fight off illness and disease.
6. Another 10 Anti-Aging Tips That Promote Peace, Harmony, and Longevity Try laughter yoga to improve your immune system and to reduce your chances of depression.

Stress Relief

One of the easiest benefits to believe about laughter is a reduction in stress.  You can physically feel some of the tightness going out of your shoulders as an overall feeling of well-being floods your body when you experience a tear jerking session of laughter.  Doctors are quick to tell their patients that stress is causing a lot of their physical problems.  Why not try laughing as a free method of treating your stress.  These six blog postings will explain in more detail how laughter helps reduce stress.

1. The Stress Management and Health Benefits of Laughter Laughing will create hormones in your body that will help you relax and enjoy yourself.
2. Laughter is Stress-Free Medicine Not only will laughter help you physically it will help you psychologically according to this blog post.
3. Benefits of Laughing Yoga Laughing will help reduce stress because the act of laughing actually brings in more oxygen into your body and within minutes there is a drop in stress.
4. Laughter and Stress Management Laughing releases feel good endorphins which helps the body to relax.
5. Stress Relief with Humor A physical and emotional release of the tension you have been feeling comes out when you laugh.
6. Monty Python’s John Cleese Illustrates the Benefits of Laughter Yoga. Try It! Watch this video to get a laugh and find out what Laughter Yoga is all about.

Originally posted on Kenny Myers.