Laughter 😀 ... the best medicine?

[Guest8901]

Do you feel better after having a good laugh? It's scientifically proven that laughter is a really strong medicine, and results in significant health benefits. Did you know that laughter gives your mood a boost, helps to diminish pain, protects you from the many ill-effects of stress and aids your immune system?

Kids seem to laugh a lot, but as we reach adult status we tend to become more serious and laughter becomes less frequent. No doubt everyday stresses and adult responsibilities play a large part in this transition.

But wouldn't it be nice to find ways or opportunities to seek more humour and to be able to laugh more often? In doing so, you're (apparently) on track to improve emotional health, strengthen relationships, find greater happiness and possibly even add years to your life expectancy. And perhaps best of all, laughter - as an invaluable medicine - is fun, free, and user friendly.

When we're in the depths of depression and anxiety it often seems almost impossible to find anything to laugh about. So I've opened this thread in the hope of sharing the benefits of laughter, and to provide a place we can share what makes us laugh and to discover new ways of bringing laughter back into our lives.

If you'd like to share jokes or funny stories with others here, I'd love to read them, and hopefully others will too. Please keep jokes clean and respectful, in line with the community rules.

I'd also love to hear how you're able to add a bit of lightness and humour into your life, especially when times are tough. I'll post some ideas too, as I come across some. What makes you laugh - children, pets, movies? Do you have a favourite movie, one which you can be sure will give you a real belly laugh, or at least a giggle?

Please post anything to do with laughter here. Whether it's telling a personal funny story, recommending a funny movie, how you feel laughter has helped you feel better, ways you have found to bring laughter into your life.

Remember ... laughter is seriously good medicine for your health, both physical and mental. So let's all share ways we can have more of it. 😀

Amanda

[Ggrand]

Hello Amanda,

I have been listening, just tagging.

Grandy....

[Guest8901]

Hi Grandy, and thanks for reading along. Please feel free to contribute any time. Same goes for any other readers here.

Laughter is a very effective method of stress relief. How can we allow ourselves to take advantage of this method?

Firstly deal with our stress - Stress is a major impediment to humour and laughter, so do everything you can to keep your stress levels in check. A good way to help relieve stress is to draw upon a memory which you know always makes you smile. It could be something one of your children or a pet did, or it could be a funny story you've heard or read.

Don’t let a day go by without laughing - Consider it as you would eating breakfast, exercising, cleaning your teeth or applying moisturiser - make a conscious effort each day to find something which makes you laugh. Set aside some time daily to do something that amuses you. As you become more accustomed to laughing each day, you'll find the effort required to force yourself to laugh is less and laughing becomes easier and more natural.

Here are a few puns and corny jokes for your enjoyment and (hopefully) amusement:

• I was cleaning out my spice rack and noticed they were all out of date and so I had to throw them all out. It was such a waste of thyme!
• A man who lost his luggage decided to sue the airline company. Sadly ... he lost his case.
• I noticed my husband standing on the bathroom scales while intently sucking in his stomach. I said "that isn't going to help". To which he replied "It surely will, it's the only way I can see the numbers".
• Do you want to hear a joke about paper? No. Oh well, never mind ... its tearable anyway.

Good evening all.

Amanda

[Crazy_hyper_girl]

Good jokes amanda😂

i was watching epic fails and some of the things they do are so stupid yet so funny. For example a teenage boy has a cardboard box and decides to go down the stairs inside it so he gets inside the box and decides it would be cool if one of his friends filmed his cool idea anyway he slides down the stairs and tumbles all the way down only to realise he didn’t have the door open so he hits head face first into the door😂.

there was plenty of others so I recommend watching epic fails.

maybe we need to put more those types of jokes on here Amanda

[Guest8901]

How do we develop our sense of humour? A great way to start developing our sense of humour is to learn to not take ourself too seriously and to laugh at our own mistakes and individual foibles. As much as we may choose to believe otherwise, we all do foolish or silly things from time to time. So, rather than feeling embarrassed or defensive, lets all embrace our imperfections. Naturally, some events in life are sad and do not present opportunities for laughter, however most are neither sadness or delight. They fall into a gray zone of ordinary life— which gives you the choice to laugh or not. So choose to laugh whenever you can, and this will help you to see the positives in life, as opposed to the negatives. Laughter does that for you.

Amanda

[Guest0786549]

Hi Mandy8, great post I couldn’t agree more!

Laughter has helped pull me out of some deep depression. During one period, I was crying on a daily basis. Then someone I knew got their hands on the entire DVD series of the sitcom ‘Friends’. I binged on it for months and the more I laughed, the better I felt – the better I felt, the more I was willing to get up and do things (even if it was just going outside for a little while). For me, laughter can have a ripple effect on my life.

Recently I got a cat, and he’s the quirkiest thing I’ve ever seen. I could be caught up in a whirlwind of negative thoughts, then my cat would do something totally random and funny. It’d crack me up and break me from my thoughts, which is exactly what was needed.

The more I realised how much laughter helps, the more I turned to it. Now if I feel myself getting down, I actively seek out a funny video on Youtube or fb. Stand-up comedians always work for me, especially if I’m short for time and need a quick ‘pick-me-up’. Reading daily jokes are good too.

I’ve also learned what a huge difference a smile can make, to others and myself. Those studies you mention about simulated laughter make sense to me. The act of smiling/laughing sends a positive message to the brain that controls the emotions.

The suggestions here are great - crazy dancing makes me laugh and feel better too!

[Guest8901]

Hi Alora, and thank you so very much for sharing all that with us. I am really happy to hear that you have been able to reap the benefits from having introducing laughter into your world.

I also loved your comment that: "I’ve also learned what a huge difference a smile can make, to others and myself." Interestingly, a smile has the same or similar benefits to laughter.

Research shows a number of health benefits attributable to both smiling and laughter. When you smile or laugh, a number of physiological changes occur in your body, mostly without you even being aware of it. Here are just a few:

1. Endorphins are released when you smile - they are triggered by muscle movements in your face, are interpreted by your brain, which then releases these chemicals. Endorphins are responsible for making us feel happy, and lower stress levels. Faking a smile or laugh works as well as the real thing, the brain doesn’t differentiate between real or fake as it interprets the positioning of the facial muscles in the same way. The more we stimulate our brain to release endorphins, the more often we feel happier and relaxed.

2. Endorphins make us feel happier and less stressed - They act as our body’s natural pain killers. For sufferers of chronic pain, laughing and smiling can be a very effective in pain management tool. Ever tried laughing off the pain when you bump a funny bone or fall over?

3. While the release of endorphins is increased, the stress hormone cortisol is reduced - Cortisol is more active when we feel stressed or anxious, so by lowering it we can reduce negative feelings.

4. Laughing expands the lungs, stretches the muscles in the body and creates equillibrium - providing all the same benefits of physical exercise.

5. A good laugh is an effective way to release emotions - it helps you release emotions, especially emotions that you tend to keep bottled up inside. Everything looks that little better after a good laugh, where life is seen from a more positive perspective.

6. Smiling is an attractive expression, and is likely to draw people to you because you appear more approachable - Interaction with others is easier and more enjoyable when smiles and laughs are shared. These behaviours are contagious, making others feel better too, and makes you more appealing and attractive to be around. This has a positive effect on your overall well-being.

So many benefits to laughter and/or smiling. We should all be seeking opportunities to do so.

Amanda

[Guest0786549]

That is absolutely fascinating, thanks Amanda

[Crazy_hyper_girl]

How can you laugh?

When its hard

When you have no one

And you feel rejected

What do you do?

[Guest8901]

Dear CHG,

Sorry I have not replied to your latest post, I have been off the forums for a while. There are no hard and fast rules about how we can allow, or bring, ourselves to laugh. Yes ... it is often very very hard. I'm sorry you feel as though you have nobody and that you feel rejected. There are times I also feel that way, so I can feel your pain. What to do? Well, we are each different, but we cannot give up CHG. We need to find ways of making our lives bearable by bringing in some joy. If that means faking a laugh until we are able to finally conjure up the genuine article, then so be it.

Here are a few ways we can try to bring some laughter into our lives, by making laughter a priority:

• Reading a funny book

• Watching a comedy movie or TV program
• Listening to your favourite comedian on YouTube
• Share laughter with friends, or spend time with other people who have fun
• Spend time with pets or children

Remember that life in general is actually kinda funny. The ability to laugh at yourself makes you attractive to others and can help relieve your own stress.

Its also important we learn to recognise what isn’t funny. Laughing at the expense of someone else is not funny. We need to ensure we laugh with, and not at, people.

Our ability to laugh is enhanced with practice so we should start by prioritizing fun. Find occasions to be silly. Remember laughter, like smiling, is never depleted when you share it.

Remember that humour can be learned. The ability to develop or refine your sense of humour may be easier than you think. Laugh and the world laughs with you, so share a laugh with others.

Couple of Jokes for you:

• When weeding your garden, there’s an easy way to tell the difference between a weed and a vegetable or flower. Pull on it, and if it refuses to come up, it’s a weed. But if it comes out easily, it’s not.

• A woman went to the doctor's office where she was seen by a new young Dr.
  Several minutes after arrival, she came rushing out screeching down the hall.
  An older Dr stopped her and asked her what the problem was.
  She managed to explain, and after listening to her, he sat her down to relax in another room.
  The older Dr then marched off and confronted the young Dr, demanding an explanation.
  "What is the matter with you?" the older Dr demanded. "Mrs. Hopkins is 71 years old, has 4 grown children and 7 grandkids., and you told her she was pregnant?"The young doctor slowly looked up and asked, "Does she still have the hiccups?"

Amanda

[Guest8901]

I'm currently badly in need of a little light and laughter, so I went looking for some jokes on-line. Here's one I hope will tickle your funny bone, as it did mine.

A woman, cranky because her husband was late coming home again decided to leave a note saying: "I've had enough and left you, don't bother coming after me" and then hid under the bed to see his reaction.

After a short while the husband comes home and she could hear him in the kitchen before he comes into the bedroom, she could see him walking towards the dresser and pick up the note.

After a few minutes he wrote something on it before picking up the phone and calling someone. The woman heard him say: "she's finally gone...yeah I know, about bl**dy time. I'm coming to pick you up, put on the sexy french negligee. I love you". Then he hung up, grabbed his keys and left.

She heard the car drive off as she came out from under the bed. Seething with rage and with tears in her eyes she grabbed the note to see what he'd written. "I can see your feet. Stop being silly. We're outta bread, please throw the kettle on, I'll be back in 5".

Amanda