The power of laughter and how a laugh can change your life

Haste, obligations and self-demand lead, on many occasions, to face pictures of anxiety and, in some cases even with the depression. Before this perspective, there are many children, young and old who go to the consultations of professionals to put their thoughts in order and obtain mechanisms to deal effectively with life’s problems.

Sometimes just with therapy and in others with drugs. However, according to studies, prolonged pharmacological interventions can have detrimental consequences for health, therefore interventions are needed. non-pharmacological ranging from massages, breathing exercises, music therapy, yoga and spiritual practices. The laughter therapy it is one of the key non-pharmacological interventions to reduce stress and anxiety, according to a study published in 2021.

The power of laughter therapy

Studies have documented the positive role of laughter in improvement of quality of life. Since ancient times it has been used to influence cognitive behavior as well as to improve and establish healthy physical, psychological and social relationships.

Laughter therapy can be used both with preventive and therapeutic purposes. Laughter may also be a clinical predictor of functional disability. An analysis of 14,233 elderly people (age ≥ 65 years), selected for the ‘Japan Gerontology Assessment Study’, demonstrated that a low frequency of laughter is associated with an increased risk of developing functional disability.

biological explanation

There is a biological explanation for how laughter reduces stress, anxiety, and depression. Laughter has been shown to exert stress-reducing effects by suppressing the bioactivities of epinephrine, cortisol, and 3,4-dihydrophenylacetic acid. Reduced activities of neurotransmitters, including norepinephrine, serotonin, and dopamine, are linked to depression, and laughter has been shown to enhance dopamine and serotonin activities.

In the same study, the researchers explain that although laughter is the natural expression of positive emotioncan be broadly grouped into five different categories:

types of laughter

• Spontaneous laughter (provoked by a positive emotion: not related to free will)
• Simulated laughter (invoked by oneself at will: self-induced)
• Stimulated laughter (triggered by physical contact: tickling)
• Induced laughter (triggered by drugs: nitrous oxide)
• Pathological laughter (triggered by neuronal damage: pseudobulbar affect)

According to different studies carried out by Scholl and Ragan, (2003); Sahakian and Frishman (2007) and Yim (2016), laughter has a wide range of benefits: ranging from increasing cognitive functions to improving breathing, increasing the pain tolerance threshold and reducing stress hormones, the cumulative effects being the improvement of psychological well-being.