Benefits of Laughing

Everybody loves to laugh, which is why comedy is the top-grossing movie genre of all time, bringing in over $40 billion in revenue over the past 20 years alone, compared to just $15 billion in revenue for thrillers. These numbers prove that laughing is serious business and it's even more serious when it comes to the physical and mental health benefits of good guffaw.

Short-Term Effects of Laughter

When you open your mouth and the hee-haws come out, it causes physical changes in your body. Laughter stimulates your heart and lung function and increases your oxygen intake. Your brain releases a truckload of endorphins, those feel-good chemicals that wash over you and lower your stress hormone levels while slightly raising your blood pressure in a good way, and it relaxes the muscles in your body. You feel calm and refreshed, like a cool summer rain has just washed away the heavy, muggy air.

Laughter also helps relieve social tension. Having a good laugh after giving a company-wide sales presentation during which you pronounce "Virginia" as "Vagina" clears the air, eases related stress caused by embarrassment, and even makes you feel a little drunk with good vibes.

Long-Term Effects of Laughter

Over time, LOLs have some pretty amazing benefits for your overall physical and mental health. It improves your immunity by releasing neuropeptides, which reduce stress for better overall health and help protect you against serious illness.

Laughter reduces sensations of pain as well. Researchers at the University of Oxford tested a group of study participants to determine their pain threshold. Then, they inflicted pain (a tight blood pressure cuff or a frozen wine-cooling sleeve) on the participants as they watched funny videos, and the researchers found that after watching 15 minutes of hilarity, participants' pain threshold increased by 10 percent, compared to no change for those watching decidedly humorless videos.

The researchers attribute the increased pain threshold to the actions of endorphins that are released in droves by laughter. Specifically, the extended exhalations that occur while you're laughing cause the physical exhaustion of the abdominal muscles, which is what triggers the endorphin release. This is similar to what happens during exercise, except that laughing is way more fun than performing abdominal crunches.

Laughter is Contagious

You know how when someone's laughing, it makes you laugh too, even though you have no idea what you're laughing at? That's because laughter spreads like a virus, infecting people with gaiety and good feelings. Turns out, people are 30 times more likely to laugh in a social situation than they are when they're alone, providing yet another reason why people who are socially active tend to be happier and healthier, both physically and mentally.

So Go Ahead, Laugh!

Laughter is the best medicine, but it has no adverse side effects, and you can't OD on it.

So surround yourself with happy people. Every day, make a point of watching something that makes you laugh - funny cat videos, videos of people falling down, your favorite SNL skits - and really let loose! The more you laugh, the better off you'll be when life hands you lemons.