Stress Relief Humor and the Therapeutic Benefits of Laughter

Call it stress relief humor, laugh therapy, or whatever, but humor and laughter have the ability to reduce stress that cannot be denied!

Time after time we have heard that humor heals, and that laughter is the best medicine for those who are mentally or physically ill.

This is not hard to swallow, but WHY would it be so? Why would the simple act of laughing actually have health benefits for us? We do know some of the answers, but much remains a mystery.

Fortunately you don’t have to understand why it works! Humor and laughter have health benefits that science does not fully understand.

Laugh therapy is easy, you don’t have to really work on it, and the benefits are instantaneous!

Why Do We Laugh?

Interestingly, laughter is an unconscious reaction to external stimulus. We can stifle it, but we don’t have conscious control over when or why we laugh. People of all ages, races, and cultures share this uniquely human trait, the ability to laugh!

Research has shown that people often laugh not just at jokes, but in social situation where they are communicating with others. The laughter often punctuates our speech and seems to serve as a social bonding elements in our interactions with others.

Even corporations as reserved as they may seem sometimes use meeting humor to take the edge off of these otherwise boring sessions. In fact there are comedians who actually specialize in corporate comedy for private business events and retreats!

Laughter and Health

Laughing can be though of as stress relief humor, as it has a number of positive effects on the body relating to the neuroendocrine and immune systems. As you all have noticed, it is impossible to be stressed our while laughing, and this is the best indicator of how it relaxes us and allows for lessening of tension throughout the body.

Perhaps the beast feature of this laugh therapy is that it does not require us to study anything, nor to do any type of formal exercise involving posture or breathing. It comes naturally without any coaching or training, we are born with the ability to laugh!

Some of the therapeutic benefits of laughter are as follows

• Strengthens and activates the immune system
• Serves as stress relief humor by reducing levels of stress hormones
• Positive effect on brain neurotransmitters
• Lessens the perception of pain
• Can help lower blood pressure
• Can aid the healing process
• Promotes relaxation of muscles
• It completely without any negative effects

Is There a Spiritual Connection?

This is an interesting question. The ancients believed that the more positive your emotions, the higher you are vibrating in the spectrum of energy and the more your spirit or soul would be uplifted by those positive emotions.

So I find myself asking whether laugh therapy can actually be seen as spiritually uplifting as well as healthy from a medical standpoint. It would certain serve as one more reason for us to allow ourselves more humor in our lives!

Now For Your Homework!

Now comes the best part, your homework! I think you knew this was coming! I want you to institute your own stress relief humor program, and of course urge you to have as much fun doing it as possible!

Try these laugh therapy approaches and see if they don’t get you into a much better frame of mind.

• Spend some time with friends who sense of humor you really enjoy
• Rent a DVD or watch a comedy like Seinfeld or The Cosby Show
• Check out the local comedy club or improv, especially on amateur night!
• Log on to the Internet and watch some funny video clips on You Tube
• Check out a new comedy film when the theater is crowded, as its more fun when others are laughing too

There you have it, five easy ways to lessen your stress. Humor and laughter are fun ways to do it! Consider this your stress relief humor therapy and make sure you do at least one of these things every week. Your body will thank you for it!

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