EVERYBODY knows that laughter works.
You have often heard it said; “we had a great laugh last night”, even Facebook is getting in on the act with LOL (Laugh out Loud) and LMFAO (a little too rude to print but you can ‘google it’!).
You can even listen to the wise old saying “laughter is the best medicine”, but is this really true – I believe it absolutely is so let’s explore it in a little more detail.
I know I wrote about this in a previous article (click here) so if you have the time please have a read of this, but this time I would like to explain how and why laughter can be of real benefit to our health and may be a better tonic than any pill.
Thus the phrase “you’re a real tonic” when you make someone laugh.
Ok, let’s go visit our ancestors again and study the type of lifestyle that they led. They were happy in their immediate environment because the likelihood of imminent danger was less likely. Happiness = No danger.
The problem was the rich pickings were further out into the jungle where there was a more imminent fear of attack.
If you were attacked by ravaging lion or tiger the survival reaction would be engage the animal in a battle or to run as fast as you can to get away (fight or flight).
This is a stress on the body and this type of activity can only be maintained for short periods of time as the body is using up all of its energy resources.
Both of these responses cause an instant increase in heartbeat and adrenalin along with all the other hormones that might be necessary for defence.
This was an absolute normal survival reaction, so much so that it is automatically connected with our instinct.
It has to be an instinctual response because a split second could be the difference between life and death. There is no time even to think.
The main point I want to make is that if you were fighting or running with fear there is also no time for laughter so therefore there is an absolute absence of the hormones associated with laughter in times of danger.
The opposite is also true – if we have presence of laughter, then the corresponding hormones will be released and the body will pick this up as ‘absence of fear/danger’ and interpret it as a stress-free atmosphere.
In fact the body doesn’t care whether the reason for the laughter is real or not, it will still give the response of emitting stress-free hormones.
Even the man on the street knows that stress-free living is of huge benefit to our health so the presence of stress-free hormones (endorphins) in the body can only enhance healthy living.
These are naturally occurring hormones within the body. The beauty of this is that they are freely available within our body and can be accessed at any given moment, even, dare I say it, if the reason for genuine laughter isn’t present. (Just in the same way that fear-releasing hormones are present when real fear isn’t).
Human beings have come to realise this for themselves – that is why many people gravitate towards comedy entertainment during recession or wartime.
Laughter is used as a form of treatment, thus the presence of ‘laughter clinics’ and I believe that there are communes of ‘laughing monks’ for instance in Tibet.
The road to hell is paved with good intentions so instead of writing/talking about laughter therapy let’s do it. I’ve attached one of my favourite Youtube clips (below)
Next week I am going to write about Oneness.
• Roger Harty is a life coach and can be contacted on 087-6128336, on twitter at @Innerjoyz1 or by email rogharty@gmail.com
Love your posts!