When was the last time you had a good laugh? It was silly, you may think, but what a great feeling you had afterwards. Laughing often is as important as exercise and eating healthy, some say. The reason: it helps you cope with life, it makes life not only bearable but enjoyable.
People who find reason to laugh are more relaxed, they are optimistic and hence have a better quality of life. ‘Laughter is the human gift for coping and for survival,’ says Enda Jenkins, laughter therapist (yes, there is such a job.) She recommends that people find reasons to laugh every day, even when you have to almost force yourself to do so.
Think about it: when you are with your loved ones and having a gloomy day, it’s often enough for your kids and your partner to do something silly and unintentionally funny and the rest will giggle. The mood gets better and no matter what squabbles dominated the day until then, everyone will have an easier time communicating after sharing a laugh.
How to find laughter? Jenkins suggests looking for funny signs and situations in your day to day life, laugh with people who laugh, even share embarrassing moments other people. Most importantly, go through your day smiling, she suggests simply because ‘it puts you closer to laughing.’
It is sad that laughter does not come naturally for many these days and often time snot even for children, though it was children that hold the key to incessant, delicious giggling and belly laughing. The thing is, you cannot make a troubling situation go away, but you can diffuse the stress by laughing and that might lower the stress levels enough for you to find a solution.
No friends or family to laugh with? No problem. Watch a comedy or search for the silliest, goofiest funny videos you can find. Try it today and see how you feel.
Make an effort to laugh even when you don’t feel like it. Fake it till you make it, Jenkins advises, and do it for up to five minutes a day.
At the end of February the American Heart Association (AHA) recommended that depression be added as a risk factor for heart disease along diabetes, hypertension, diabetes and smoking. It may just be that the solutions to some of the most pervasive problems of today’s world are at your fingertips after all: exercise and laughter.
The best of it yet? You are in charge of your own well-being and that’s as empowering as can be.
Tags: health, laughter, well-being
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