Laugh Your Troubles Away

Ever heard of the age-old adage, " Laughter is the Best Medicine"? Well, surprisingly enough, that may very well be true. I know you probably already read or heard somewhere how Laughter reduces stress in our daily lives but, in actuality, it does so much more. Ok, here's the deal: I am a sincere believer of alternative medicine that offer real life solutions, meaning they are applicable and actually work when applied to the daily   health issues that continue to cripple us, preventing us from living our lives to the utmost. Although many and varied in their categories, alternative forms of medicine are increasingly being practiced by clinicians and even take it up as a sub-specialization. How does laughing some more and more often factor in in all of this? quite simply, it's the cheapest form of alternative medicine you can be doing now. It's free and you can do it as often as you like, when you like , and feel like it. Ok, as I have done in my past posts which has something to do with anything medical, I will list the benefits down first and then we'll delve into each and everyone of them in detail as to why they are so. Although there are many literature on how laughter benefits us, the conclusions are rather iffy at best. No two schools of thought arrives at the same conclusion. This is because the benefits of laughter can't be proved scientifically(yet) and the studies conducted on its benefits are merely to support theories. However, what science can't, or is incapable as of yet, prove doesn't necessarily mean it has no merit. Studies show laughing indeed has beneficial effects and although we can't gauge what those are, we can certainly see clearly how our body responds accordingly.The Benefits of Laughter are:

1.   Laughter reduces Stress
2.   Laughter strengthens your immune response
3.   Laughter as a form of exercise
4.   Laughter is beneficial for better mental health
5.   Laughter as a social tool
6.   Laughter increases our sense of focus and alertness
7.   Laughter lets you sleep more soundly
8.   Laughter lowers your chances of acquiring lifestyle diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, and cancer.
9.   Laughter  prolongs your life
10. Laughter helps detoxify our bodies

There are very few constants in life and one of those that we can be sure of is Stress. There are many forms of stress whether it be physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual stress. What we need to understand about stress, firstly, is what causes it and how our body responds to it. Stress is caused by a number of stressors or triggering mechanisms. It is how we perceive these stressors, and more importantly, how we process their potential effects, whether they be short term or long term which dictates how we respond accordingly. When we see a potential threat to imbalance us our body responds by increasing production of  hormones. In other words, we adapt to engage in a fight or flight response. Hormones which increase in their levels during stressful situations are aptly called stress hormones. Opioids produced by our body such as Corticotrophin, and Cortisol as well as Catecholamines such as Epinephrine and Norepinephrine act by preparing our body for a "fight or flight" response in the face of stressful events such as a life threatening situation. There's a lot of physiologic changes going on during a fight or flight response and they are geared to adapt our body to these situations. These hormones reduce stress and relieve pain. How does laughter factor in in all of these? Well, laughter increases the production of another set of hormones called endorphins. Although there are many types of endorphins, the one that has the most benefit in terms of pain is the type called beta-Endorphin. By blocking pain receptors, these hormones essentially modulate how we feel pain. Laughter, however,has a two-fold effect on stress. The first we have just covered and that has something so do with endorphin production. In this regard, we can modulate pain as it comes to us. The other,perhaps more important, role of laughter in stress management is it's ability to fine tune our focus by increasing our level of attention and awareness in any given situation, allowing us to develop a keener sense of observation. This helps in assessing a stressful situation such as a threat, and modulating our response to it depending on it's gravity.

How then does laughter improve our immune response? Without going into the vast field of Immunology it is suffice for us to know that some immune cells are inherently affected in terms of their function and production when the body experiences stress. Antibody production goes down as well as antibody producing cells ( your B-cells). Laughter boosts our immune response for reasons being unclear but the key point is that we strengthen our immune defense against antigens and infections in general when we are happy and full of laughter in our lives. Another benefit of laughter is a rather not so obvious one. When we laugh our body does indeed get a workout. There's a reason why your stomach muscles hurt when you laugh excessively. With this workout you can see and feel your abdominal muscles tense as well as your other respiratory muscles such as the diaphragm, for instance. Of course, with this form of unassuming workout you can expect your heart rate to go up, delivering much needed oxygen to our tissues, in essence giving them a boost. Another benefit is that diabetics are shown to have a lower blood sugar level when subjected to laughing ( have them watch a stand up comedy session ) and this is partly due to the increased tissue delivery of nutrients I mentioned earlier when our heart rate does increase.

One other health benefit of laughter is it's ability to negate depression. Depression, you see has far reaching effects besides our emotions. When we are depressed our bodies produce a lot of radicals and as you know free radical production damages our cells and it is perhaps the sole reason why we age. A healthy daily dose of laughter can indeed  make you feel and look young by decreasing free radical production. This free detoxification process is readily available and indeed life-saving. When practiced daily along with proper breathing exercises ( you'd be surprised to know that not a whole lot of people know how to breath properly ) helps our organs function optimally in terms of oxygenation, nutrient acquisition, and waste removal. One important health benefit of laughter that needs mentioning is how it affects our mental state. Beyond its psychological standpoint, laughter increases our level of awareness and sense of focus aptly increasing our capacity for better decision hence improving our decision making skills.

Perhaps the most obvious affect of laughter, as most people would agree on, is that it is indeed contagious. It is a social tool in that it binds people together, making fuller and richer relationships, easing tensions, and promotes a conducive environment towards positivity. We don't have to talk about how that enriches our lives because it's pretty obvious  how it does so. On that note let me include, however, that lesser tension means better sleep. On a later post we will cover how sleep affects our daily lives and why we must realize its untapped potential.

The question then boils down to how do we incorporate a little laughter in our lives? Well, to start we should establish some practices which promote humor. There are a lot of things we can do and a prime example is try renting out some comedy movies for a change during movie night. Practice silliness daily. By making someone laugh you are actually doing them some good ( now that you know how). Avoid negative people because negativity only breeds negativity. Lastly, keep an open mind and learn to let go. What I mean by that is learn to not take your problems so seriously. Don't fret over the small stuff and you'll do fine. I hope this post has helped you in your quest for a better and fuller life. Glad to be of help. email me if you need to talk to me about anything any comment would be appreciated. Once again, JowelMD signing off. Until our next post. Take care and feel better today. You deserve it.