Tag: laughter

The Best Medicine

Photo by Reafon Gates on Pexels.com

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!

Break out the Board Games This Holiday Season

Growing up, games were always a treasured part of my family gatherings and get togethers with friends. My immediate family of my brothers, mother and myself frequently enjoyed many board games including monopoly and chess. I have a fond memory of an afternoon spent with a retired board game called Stop Thief! and some Aerosmith playing on the turntable (yes, vinyl!). And we always looked forward to holiday gatherings when we would have a big crowd around the table ( 2 leafs inserted) to play cards, bingo, or whatever new game someone suggested we try. Add in some drinks and snacks, and perhaps some penny gambling, and it was a perfect afternoon. The Thanksgiving day would fly by as we talked, laughed, strategized, and gloated or pouted, depending on the outcome. This didn’t change as I got older. My close group of friends enjoyed nothing more than an evening at home with some chocolate chip cookies and a some 45, a local card game. Sometimes these games went into the early hours of the morning. Happy times.

I still cannot resist a good board game. If I see something that looks interesting or hear people talking about a game they’ve enjoyed, I immediately want to buy it and start playing. Thinking back to those holidays as a youngster, I realize that not everyone sat around that table playing games. I had a couple of uncles and cousins who did not join in. They were content to sit in the living room watching a Christmas special or some football. I always wondered how they could prefer that to a rousing game of pokeno! These days the players are slightly different but we still have a mixture of game lovers and non-lovers. While games are best when everyone joins in, we’ve learned to let people choose the entertainment that most makes them happy.

You will believe me when I tell you that I have a lot of board games. And many of them we don’t use any more. So I recently rummaged through the basement and decided to sell an assortment of board games on Facebook marketplace. If you’ve ever used Facebook Marketplace to sell something, you know it is very easy and convenient, but can also be a little frustrating. People will message you asking if your item is still available, and then you tell them it is, and they disappear, never to be heard from again. Or worse, they schedule a time to come and pick up the item, and then don’t show.

But it is convenient, and a good way to get a couple of bucks for those items you don’t use any more, and in all likelihood would either end up in a collection bin, or the trash. Most of the games I selected for sale were in near new condition. I put about 6 or 7 out there and offered them for $3 each. They probably go for about $20 each new. I then waited for the inevitable questions: Is this still available? Will you take $1? Are any pieces missing?

So I waited. And I waited. Crickets. Usually when a listing first goes on, it sees quite a bit of activity. You can watch the “views” and respond to any messages. Frequently I find that if it doesn’t sell in about a week, it likely never will. In most cases I have been able to sell most of my listings. In this instance, not a single inquiry.

So it got me wondering. Does anyone play board games anymore?

Turns out, the answer is yes. Pandemic and supply issues aside, board games over the past 10 years have had a modest increase and are expected to continue to increase in the coming years. Although new games continue to come out every year, the longstanding classics are still best sellers. You probably won’t be surprised to see any of these names on the top 10 best selling games of all time:

  1. Chess
  2. Checkers
  3. Backgammon
  4. Monopoly
  5. Scrabble
  6. Clue
  7. Trivial Pursuit
  8. Battleship
  9. Candyland
  10. The Game of Life

In 2020 topping the list was a mixture of classic, and new:

  1. Connect Four
  2. Monopoly
  3. Codenames
  4. Spontuneous

These days, I try to be very selective about which games I buy, as we don’t play as often and so new additions must be compelling! Simple is best, with few instructions and pieces. If we have any hope of roping in the usual non-players, we don’t want to lose them with complicated rules. And since we have youngsters who like to play, we don’t usually opt for games with more mature subject matter. Recently we’ve tried Exploding Kittens and Left, Center, Right, two card games with minimal equipment (just cards, and dice), and easy to follow instructions. With larger crowds, trivia games and apples to apples are family favorites.

The benefits of gathering around a table with a board game are numerous. Most importantly, it’s fun, and usually is accompanied by laughter and feelings of happiness. In addition, you are spending quality time interacting with loved ones and stimulating those relationships. Often, a new player enters the fold as our kids bring home a new friend. Playing a board game together is a great way to get to know them better. Often during game playing you will learn something new, and your brain gets lots of exercise while you plot and strategize. You will even practice your patience as you wait for your turn, or for the perfect time to spring your attack!

As we enter the holiday season, I am looking forward to this crucial element of our celebrations and I will be strategizing about which games to place on the table, taking into account my house guests: ages, level of game adoration, likelihood of laughter. Whichever game and player combinations emerge, the game portion of our holiday get togethers is certain to add more smiles to my memory bank. So if you haven’t played a board game in a while, dust off those cardboard boxes and reintroduce this great family pasttime to your holiday parties. I suspect you won’t be disappointed!