Laughter as Medicine - By Kate Ottrando
Laughter as Medicine
Laughter is the best medicine. - Milton Berle
By Kate Ottrando, Student Worker with The WELL
It turns out that there are many health and wellness benefits of laughing. Can you think of a time when you laughed really hard? Do you recall feeling a sense of wellness after you laughed? Here is a list of 21 benefits of laughter:
1. Relaxes the Whole Body
2. Boosts the Immune System 3.Triggers the Release of Endorphins 4. Protects the Heart
5. Lowers Stress
6. Relaxes Muscles
7. Enhances Resilience
8. Adds Joy to Life
9. Improves Mood
10. Enhances Teamwork
11. Helps Defuse Conflict
12. Eases Anxiety and Fear
13. Lowers Blood Pressure
14. Increases Memory
15. Helps Oxygen Flow to the Brain 16. Maintains Healthy Blood Sugar 17. Promotes Better Sleep
18. Improves Alertness
19. Increases Creativity
20. Gives You More Energy
21. Improves Relationships
Pretty amazing, isn’t it? Having a sense of humor can make life so much more peaceful and enjoyable, and it truly can promote our health. Making time to watch or listen to something funny is therefore an excellent use of time.
Here is a video from Mayo Clinic about the health benefits of laughter:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqGnsTK41-o
If you find reasons to laugh throughout the day, you will be supporting your mental health and wellbeing. For me personally, I love to watch comedies and sitcoms, because they always make me laugh. But everyone has their own preferences when it comes to humor. I hope that we will all find ways to smile and laugh, so we can experience these wonderful 21 wellness benefits. I am starting to see laughter as an important component of mental health and as something that can relieve stress. That being said, there are so many factors that contribute to mental health and wellness, and it is always important to feel our true emotions: such as sadness and grief. But it is also nice to know the laughter promotes feelings of wellness, and that there are scientific explanations to support this phenomenon.