Laughing is good for you. As a matter of fact, laughter should be prescribed as medicine.
It reduces stress hormones, diffuses anger, triggers endorphins – those feel-good hormones, oxygenates and massages your organs, makes you feel relaxed, aids in the elimination of toxins, and boosts your immune system. That sounds like therapy to me.
Laughter is so good for you that an Indian internist, Dr. Madan Kataria, invented laughter yoga two decades ago; the May Clinic promises laughter for stress management purposes, and it’s an excellent addition to cancer therapy because a positive outlook improves your chances for healing.
A few years ago I tried out laughter yoga when I saw that a session was offered in my area. At first, it seems quite bizarre to laugh with a bunch of people you don’t know, about nothing in particular, and do a bunch of things to get everyone to start laughing for the simple sake of getting you to laugh.
But soon enough it becomes contagious and everyone in the room goes from giggles, to laughing, to full belly laugh in no time. Soon enough you don’t know anymore why you’re laughing, because you’re not laughing at a joke or something someone did, but simply because everyone else laughs so hard. It’s very cathartic and very funny and feels very good.
When was the last time you had a really good belly laugh?
