02 Dec 6 Expert-Backed Tips to Relieve Stress With Laughter—No Matter What’s Got You Worked Up
If you can laugh in the face of adversity, you’ve won!
Laughter is one of the most powerful and also, one of the most underrated and undervalued coping strategies.
Laughter boosts happiness and wellbeing, and also helps protect against stress.
So if you’d like to learn more about utilising the power of laugher, read on …
via Well & Good by Danielle Calma
n times of stress, it often seems as though there is little to laugh about. However, a recent study found that a hearty laugh every now and again might be just what you need. The researchers suggest that laughter has therapeutic value, working to combat stress in the moment and over time. While the study centers on the positive effects of laughter during the COVID-19 pandemic, a large body of evidence suggests that, regardless of the cause, laughter can help relieve stress.
What does the research say about the potential for laughter to relieve stress?
“When we laugh, oxygen intake increases, which stimulates circulation and decreases cortisol levels,” according to David Friedman, PhD, a chiropractic neurologist and the author of Funny Bones, a book containing humorous accounts of his medical experience over 30 years. Several studies also echo Dr. Friedman’s claim.
One study found that stress reduces drastically after watching an hour-long funny video. (So, you may want to bust out that comedy special you’ve been meaning to watch.) In another randomized controlled trial published in the medical journal Stress, research also found that laughter can reduce cortisol levels that are typically released in response to difficult situations, and in another study, humor was shown to help people to endure stressful work situations. All to say, no matter the type of stress you’re experiencing, laughing may be good medicine.
How laughter therapy is being used to reduce stress
With all the positive evidence surrounding laughter’s stress-reducing effects, it’s no surprise that it’s made its way into mental health practices. For one, many therapists and psychologists have injected a healthy dose of hahas into sessions with their clients, says Dr. Friedman—“incorporating laughter into counseling sessions can physiologically lessen the pro-stress factors [as well as] reduce anxiety and depression.”
There’s also laughter yoga, a practice that is meant to induce laughter for prolonged periods of time. While you won’t be bending your body into warrior poses and downward-facing dogs, laughter yoga will leave you with a similar feeling. “[In a laughter yoga class], your diaphragm moves up and down as you laugh, and it mimics the deep breathing that you might do in a [traditional] yoga class,” says Celeste Greene, a certified laughter yoga teacher and the owner of the Laughter Club, a platform that offers free online laughter classes. “It helps you feel not only more energetic, but also more relaxed at the same time.”
Dr. Friedman agrees with Greene’s sentiment about laughter yoga: “It’s the ultimate chill pill that doesn’t require having to swallow a capsule.” He also points to a study that measured participants’ salivary cortisol immediately before and after a laughter yoga class, and 30 minutes later, and the researchers found a marked decrease in this biomarker for stress…
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