The Best Medicine

When was the last time you laughed? I’m not talking about a snicker when you hear a funny joke. I mean when you laugh so hard that you can’t talk. When you laugh so hard you cry. When you laugh so hard you can’t even catch your breath, and maybe liquid flies out of your nose.

I remember the last two times, as they were recent.

A couple of weeks ago I met my tribe for dinner. There are 7 of us total, friends for 40+ years. Regular meetings are our religion and our therapy.

When we get together, we catch up on everything that’s happened since we last met. Weddings, babies, new jobs happening in our kids lives. Complaints about work and When can we retire? Everyone has a funny story to share, and often we will just add pieces to it (What if you had said this? Why didn’t you just do this?) until the laughter bug catches us and then we’re out of control with the laughter. Usually, I don’t even remember exactly what we were laughing about. I just remember the feeling of thoroughly enjoying the moment.

The second recent time of laughter was with some family members as we celebrated my mom’s 80th birthday on a sleepover adventure out of town. At the request of mom, we were having a game night and one game required you to give answers quickly. As the game wore on, our answers got sillier and sillier until eventually that uncontrollable laughter started. And once it starts, it is so hard to stop! Laughing is fun. Laughter just. . . well, it just feels good.

Research shows that laughter has many health benefits, both physical and mental. These include pain relief, better immunity, and more happiness. Laughter reduces the level of stress hormones like cortisol, epinephrine, and dopamine, and increases the “good” hormone endorphins. It increases the number of antibody-producing cells working for us. It makes us feel better by distracting us from anger, stress and negative emotions and helps us view challenges in a less threatening way. Laughter releases stress in our bodies and causes us to relax. It even protects your heart by improving blood flow.

Perhaps best of all, laughter provides a feeling of connectedness to the people around us, promoting group bonding, enhancing teamwork, and strengthening relationships. And it doesn’t have to be the out-of-control laughter to reap these benefits. Simple laughter at a good joke or silly face will also get your blood pumping and change your outlook on the day. Wow, all of this, and its fun too!

Sadly, we appear to lose the ability to laugh as we get older. Studies suggest that as children, we laugh up to 400 times per day. As adults, only 15. It seems to make sense that we would want to try to cultivate this phenomenon to take advantage of the many benefits of laughter.

Getting together with loved ones is often a recipe for laughter success. Sharing stories from your past in a loving environment will bring up good memories and a chuckle. So as you’re gathered around the Thanksgiving table, ask each guest to share a funny memory from a prior holiday get together, or childhood, or family vacation.

You’ve probably heard that laughter is contagious. I’ll bet you can think of a friend with a genuine laugh that always makes you smile or laugh along. The contagious feature of laughter is why TV sitcoms use laugh tracks.

Here are some more ideas to get more laughter in your life:

• Start with a smile
• Watch a funny movie
• Go to a comedy show
• Host a party or game night
• Try to laugh about minor problems instead of being frustrated
• If you can’t laugh for real, pretend; the act of pretending will at least make you smile
• Seek out laughter; at a social gathering or out in public; ask “what’s funny?”
• Spend time with funny people
• Ask a probing question: what’s the funniest thing that’s happened to you recently?
• Tell and listen to jokes, and laugh even when you don’t find them funny
• Incorporate “play” time: a toy on your desk, a funny poster or photo; skip, play pass, color
• Keep a “laughter” bank of memories that you can think about when you need a pick-me-up

So get started today making new memories and improving your physical and mental health. And don’t forget to take your medicine!