Laugh Until it Hurts

I have always loved laughing.  At any given moment I might break out into a hysterical laugh with my family, friends or my hilarious co-workers.  I guess I am blessed because after doing a little research on laughter, I discovered that those of us who can laugh on a dime probably take it for granted, as many people apparently aren’t laughing.  People are stressed, depressed and just going through the motions of life without stopping to smell the roses.  It’s for this reason laughter researchers exist.  

According to some of the research I have encountered, laughing is always a good thing.  Further, actual research has been conducted, which has observed the blood pressure and glucose levels of people before and after being shown comedies.  The outcome of the observations has revealed both a reduction of blood pressure and glucose levels. This is great, yet; unfortunately laughing doesn’t come naturally for all.  However, it is important to practice laughing and anything else, which lowers stress levels, to ward off mental health/physical problems and to slow down the aging process.  Still not convinced? Check out the below information, I retrieved from WebMD:

Laughter’s Effects on the Body:

Blood flow:     Researchers at the University of Maryland studied the effects on blood vessels when  people were shown either comedies or dramas. After the screening, the blood vessels of  

the group who watched the comedy behaved normally-- expanding and contracting easily. But the blood vessels in people who watched the drama tended to tense up, restricting blood flow. 


Immune response: Increased stress is associated with decreased immune system response. Some studies have shown that the ability to use humor may raise the level of infection-fighting antibodies in the body and boost the levels of immune cells, as well.