Have you ever noticed that after a really good laugh, you feel better? It turns out that old saying about laughter being the best medicine is actually true! Scientists have been studying laughter for years, and they have discovered something amazing: laughing is not just fun, it is actually really good for your health.
How Laughter Helps Your Body
When you laugh, especially a big belly laugh that makes your whole-body shake, something wonderful happens inside you. Research shows laughter has real, measurable positive effects on your body PubMed Central. Your body releases special chemicals called endorphins that make you feel happy and relaxed. Laughing also lowers stress hormones like cortisol and epinephrine Mayo Clinic Press, which means you feel less worried and tense.
But that is not all! Laughing for 10 to 15 minutes each day can burn 10 to 40 extra calories VA. That might not sound like much, but it adds up over time. When you laugh really hard, your heart and breathing rates go up, and you use more oxygen VA. After you stop laughing, your whole body relaxes.
Belly Laughter and Your Heart
Big, deep belly laughs are especially healthy for your heart. Laughter makes your blood vessels get wider, which helps blood flow better through your body University of North Texas Health Science Center. This is really important because good blood flow keeps your heart healthy. Laughter has been shown to lower heart rate and blood pressure Case Western Reserve University, which helps your heart work less hard. When scientists studied people who laughed while watching funny movies, they found that these people had healthier blood vessels even 24 hours later!
Fighting Sickness with Laughter
Your immune system is like your body’s army that fights off germs and keeps you from getting sick. Guess what makes this army stronger? You got it: laughter! The act of laughing increases the production of immune cells and antibodies in your blood UCLA Health. This means when you laugh regularly, your body gets better at fighting off colds, the flu, and other illnesses.
Research shows that children laugh about 400 times a day, but adults on average laugh only about 15 times PubMed Central. That is a huge difference! Kids might be onto something because laughing so much could be one reason why they bounce back from being sick so quickly.
Laughter Helps Your Brain and Feelings
Laughing is not just good for your body. It is great for your mind too! Studies show that laughter can reduce depression, anxiety, and even help people sleep better Lifestyle Medicine. When you are stressed out about a test or worried about something, even a short time spent laughing during the day can help you think more clearly and creatively Case Western Reserve University.
Research on older adults found that laughter improved their memory, and just thinking about something funny lowered their stress hormones by nearly 50 percent Lifestyle Medicine. If it works that well for grown ups, imagine what it can do for you!
Less Pain, More Gain
Here is something really cool: laughter can actually help with pain. If you have a really good laugh that lasts for 20 to 30 minutes, your body releases natural pain relievers called endorphins and endogenous opioids Case Western Reserve University. A journalist named Norman Cousins discovered this back in the 1970s when he used laughter to help deal with his own serious pain. He watched Marx Brothers movies regularly and found that they greatly improved his pain PubMed Central.
Scientists tested this too. They showed 200 people either a funny movie or a regular movie, then tested how long they could handle painful cold water. The people who watched the funny movie could handle the pain much longer PubMed Central!
Six Attempts at Jokes to Get You Laughing
Now let me share some jokes that will hopefully get you giggling. Remember, finding things funny is different for everyone, so if one does not make you laugh, try another!
Joke 1: The Talking Dog A man sees a sign outside a house that says “Talking Dog for Sale.” He rings the doorbell and the owner tells him the dog is in the backyard. The man goes into the backyard and sees a beautiful golden retriever sitting there.
“Do you really talk?” he asks the dog.
“Sure do!” the dog says.
“Wow! So what is your story?” the man asks.
The dog looks up and says, “Well, I discovered my gift when I was pretty young. I wanted to help people, so I joined the CIA. I traveled all around the world, sitting in rooms with world leaders, because no one thought a dog would be listening. I was one of their most valuable spies for eight years. But the jet lag got to be too much, so I decided to settle down. I signed up to work at the airport doing undercover security work, sniffing out dangerous chemicals and explosives. I got a bunch of medals. Then I had a family, and now I am just retired.”
The man is amazed! He goes back inside and asks the owner, “That dog is incredible! Why on earth are you selling him for only ten dollars?”
The owner shakes his head and says, “Because he is a liar. He never did any of that stuff.”
Joke 2: The Restaurant Complaint A customer at a restaurant calls over the waiter and says, “Excuse me, but I think this chicken is bad.”
The waiter picks up the chicken, slaps it, and says, “Bad chicken! Bad, bad chicken!” Then he sets it back down on the plate and walks away.
Joke 3: The Science Test A teacher asks her class, “What is the chemical formula for water?”
A student raises his hand and confidently answers, “H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O.”
The teacher looks confused and says, “That is not even close! Where did you get that from?”
The student replies, “You said it was H to O!”
Joke 4: The Broken Refrigerator A woman calls a repairman because her refrigerator has stopped working. When he arrives, he opens the door, looks inside for a minute, then closes it and says, “Well, I found the problem.”
“What is it?” she asks.
“Your refrigerator has stopped running,” he says seriously.
“I know that! I just told you that! But WHY did it stop running?”
The repairman shrugs and says, “Maybe it got tired of you leaving the door open all the time and decided to quit.”
The woman looks annoyed. “Very funny. Can you actually fix it?”
The repairman bends down, jiggles a wire, and the refrigerator hums back to life. “That will be $200,” he says.
“$200! You were only here for five minutes and you just wiggled a wire!”
The repairman writes on his notepad and hands her the bill: “$5 for wiggling the wire. $195 for knowing which wire to wiggle.”
Joke 5: The Smart Parrot A man walks into a pet store looking to buy a parrot. The owner shows him three parrots sitting on a perch.
“The first parrot costs $500,” the owner says.
“Why so expensive?” the man asks.
“This parrot can recite every Shakespeare play from memory!”
“Wow! What about the second one?”
“That one is $1,000. It can speak five different languages fluently.”
“Amazing! And the third parrot?”
“That one is $5,000.”
The man’s eyes go wide. “What does THAT one do? Can it solve math problems? Predict the future?”
The owner shakes his head. “To be completely honest with you, I have never heard it do anything special at all.”
“Then why does it cost $5,000?!”
The owner leans in and whispers, “Because the other two parrots call him ‘Boss.'”
Joke 6: The Cookie Thief A woman is sitting in an airport waiting for her flight. She buys a bag of cookies and sits down with her book. She notices a man sitting next to her. After a few minutes, the man reaches over, opens HER bag of cookies, and eats one!
She cannot believe his rudeness, but she does not want to make a scene, so she just takes a cookie herself. A minute later, the man takes another cookie! This goes back and forth until there is only one cookie left.
The man picks up the last cookie, breaks it in half, gives her one half, eats the other half, smiles at her, and walks away.
She is absolutely fuming! What a rude, terrible person! When her flight is called, she angrily grabs her bag… and finds her own unopened bag of cookies inside. She had been eating HIS cookies the whole time.
Keep Laughing!
The science is clear: laughter really is powerful medicine. Laughter helps with your heart, your immune system, your breathing, muscle relaxation, pain relief, and blood flow Case Western Reserve University. Plus, it makes you feel happier and less stressed. The best part is that laughter is free, has no bad side effects, and you can do it anywhere!
So watch funny videos, tell jokes with your friends, read silly books, or just be goofy. Your body and mind will thank you for it. After all, when you laugh, you are giving yourself medicine that actually tastes good!
