As the saying goes, “laughter is the best medicine,” and regular practice has a number of health benefits, according to new research and practices like laughter yoga, wrote the Associated Press at the end of December.
Melanin Bee, a comedian and laughter instructor from Los Angeles, demonstrates Laughaste (from the word “laughter” in English and the Indian greeting namaste). This is a fun yoga practice that can be seen as the successor to the “Laughter Yoga” clubs that emerged in India in the 1990s and have spread to many places around the world. Bee emphasizes that laughter is beneficial, and during the practices she conducts, participants initially try to laugh on purpose, without it being spontaneous, but this laughter soon turns into a natural one.
“During practice, at first, as you laugh on purpose, you overcome your initial feeling of awkwardness and gradually discover your inner playful attitude, your childlike nature, which makes you laugh spontaneously,” says the instructor.
Studies have shown that laughter relieves stress and has benefits for the heart, immune system and general health, says cardiologist Dr. Michael Miller, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania. “As we recommend, practice laughing on purpose at least three to five times a week. And if you can, laugh heartily at least twice a week,” the doctor recommends.
The modern study of laughter, called gelotology, began in the 1960s. Psychologist William F. Frye of Stanford University discovered that laughter increases the number of immune cells. Later, Dr. Madan Kataria in Mumbai founded the first laughter club, developed breathing exercises and stretching exercises and included funny sounds to provoke spontaneous laughter.
Dr. Miller found that laughter releases endorphins and nitric oxide, which dilate blood vessels, reduce blood pressure, inflammation, and cholesterol, and act as natural painkillers.
Research shows that laughter, when we laugh on purpose, can be even more beneficial than spontaneous laughter, reducing stress levels, blood sugar, and chronic pain, while improving mood and mobility, especially in older adults.
“Laughter that starts as a purposeful exercise leads to truly childlike, unconditional laughter,” notes Kataria. He recommends incorporating moments of laughter into everyday life, and the reasons for it can even be negative experiences and not particularly pleasant everyday occurrences, such as the arrival of bills. Laughter helps us overcome the stress and negative mood that such factors can cause.
There are hundreds of exercises and free online laughter clubs recognized by the organization Laughter Yoga International, which show that joy and health go hand in hand.
Laughter as a vasodilator
The “funny” stimulus doesn’t stop in the brain. Research by scientists at Harvard University shows that laughter has a direct effect on the cardiovascular system by promoting vasodilation – the natural widening of blood vessels. In one of the early studies by Dr. Michael Miller and his team, conducted jointly between Harvard and the University of Maryland, study participants watched alternating comedy and stressful films. After the funny scenes, measurements showed up to 22% better dilation of the arteries, while after stressful clips, the arteries contracted by nearly 35%.
The mechanism is clear and extremely elegant: during laughter, endorphins are released in the body, which, in addition to improving mood, stimulate the release of nitric oxide (NO) from the endothelium (the thin inner layer of blood vessels). Nitric oxide relaxes the smooth muscles of the vascular wall and causes temporary vasodilation, which leads to a decrease in blood pressure and improved peripheral blood flow, which explains why after a good, sincere laugh we feel warmth in the face and extremities. It’s just that the blood vessels dilate and the heart pumps more easily. Scientists often compare this effect to a short session of cardio exercise, in which the heart works, but is not under strain.
In the long term, regular laughter can contribute to more flexible arteries, better blood pressure control and a lower risk of cardiovascular events. Of course, laughter does not replace physical activity or a healthy diet, but it turns out to be a great ally for cardiovascular health.
Laughter, of course, is not a miracle cure for everything. Rare side effects include temporary increases in blood pressure or pulse during a fit of laughter, as well as discomfort in people with postoperative wounds, hernias, acute rib pain, uncontrolled asthma, etc. But in such cases, the laughter does not have to be loud. The effect of a smile by activating the specific facial muscles is enough to trigger laughter signals in the brain and “trick” it into starting the cascade of biochemical processes. It is no coincidence that in many meditative practices and the face is required to be in a smiley face. This practice has also been adopted in the therapeutic sessions of many psychologists and is a fairly quick and successful way to improve mood and cope with states of severe anxiety or panic attacks.
And although it is not a panacea, laughter is a cheap, accessible and pleasant intervention with real physiological effects – lower cortisol and stress response, more endorphins and pain tolerance, better vascular reactions and social bonding. What’s more, laughter is also a strong assistant to sleep, exercise and nutrition – the three that actually build our health.
Illustrative Photo by Alena Darmel: https://www.pexels.com/photo/a-family-having-fun-7322360/
