Laughing can do so many good things for your body. It can help cut stress-hormone levels, boost immunity, and produce the same feel-good brain waves as intense meditation.
One of the best feelings in the world is a deep belly laugh. There are yoga classes dedicated to a full hour of laughing and doctors who prescribe laughter to anxiety ridden patients.
So why is it that we feel so good after laughing? Here are some amazing results of what daily laughter will do for your body.
[Tweet “”An optimist laughs to forget; a pessimist forgets to laugh. — Tom Nansbury””]
1. Stress
Laughter can reduce cortisol, the stress hormone, in your body while also reducing anxiety. Less stress on the body means a better functioning immune system. Even just getting a few giggles in a day is great for your body!
2. Blood Pressure
Laughing can lower your blood pressure, which will reduce your risk of having a stroke or heart attack. So grab that remote and turn on your favorite comedy.
3. Toned Abs
Want better toned abs? Laughter can help do the trick. Laughter makes the muscles in your stomach expand and contract similar to when you do crunches.
4. Burns Calories
Laughter can burn calories. Laughing raises your heart rate by about 10-20%. So you could burn about 10-40 calories by laughing for 10-15 minutes. Not the most effective way of burning calories but it still works.
Laughter is contagious. The saying, “Laugh and the whole world laughs with you,” is more than just a saying.
The sound of laughter triggers regions in the premotor cortical part of your brain, which is involved in moving your facial muscles to correspond with sound.
We should seek out laughter like we seek out the healthy food we eat, or the time we make to go to the gym. Laughter is free and there’s no such thing as too much laughter!