“If we were selling laughter as a drug, it would sell off the shelves because it both makes you feel better, and it calms you down. And it’s accessible to everybody across the lifecycle and from all different backgrounds. And it’s free.”
That’s the assessment psychologist Dr. Eileen Anderson of Case Western Reserve University, as told to The Daily Mail. Anderson studies laughter, and she says there are a number of tangible ways laughter can help people work through what ails them, both mentally and physically.
First and foremost, laughing results in a lot of deep breaths, facilitating big intakes of oxygen into the lungs.
“When you laugh, your lungs are rid of stale air and more oxygen can enter. This is because laughter helps to expand alveoli in your lungs,” reads a post on the Canadian Lung Association’s website. “These are tiny air sacks – of which there are about 300 to 500 million! Expanding these means that the area for oxygen exchange is bigger and more oxygen enters your lungs.”
While the reason humans express joy through laughter remains a mystery, its benefits have been proven. Heart health, respiration and stress management are all aided by laughter’s gleeful eruption from the body.
Doctors also believe laughter has a positive effect on the body’s endothelium – the blood vessels’ inner lining – through the release of nitric oxide, which relaxes the arteries. Relaxed arteries are healthier arteries, less prone to spasms and allowing the smooth transportation of blood through the body.
Neurologically, laughter activates the release of dopamine and serotonin, hormones that make us feel good mentally, and endorphins, which reduce physical pain.
Anderson stressed that modern culture doesn’t put enough emphasis on making time to laugh, so it’s up to people to find that joy for themselves.
“So many other cultures just had humor built in, and joy built in and relaxation built in,” she said. “But we are like the 24/7 driving culture where you think you’re gonna fall behind if you don’t ride that wave.
“I think that’s why this research seems revolutionary,” she continued. “For us, it’s in some ways countercultural, and that’s why we can’t just know this. We have to have something called laugh therapy. We have to prescribe it. We have to have programs for it.”
