A priest, a rabbi and a chicken walk into a bar . . . You’ve heard the jokes but did you know they could actually be saving your life? It’s true, improves both your physical and mental health. So don’t give up on your silliness just yet.
When we are stressed, we produce hormones that disrupt the balance of our immune system. Laughing lessens that production and instead produces more gamma-interferon t-cells, or disease fighting cells. Laughter occurs when a negatively charged electrical impulse is sent through the cerebral cortex - but why we laugh is much more complex. It involves several parts of your brain and also your body depending on the extent of gesturing or jiggling that your chuckling incurs. From mild giggling to doubled up, eye tearing hysteria, you are aerobically benefitted through lowered blood pressure, thus reducing your chance of a heart attack or stroke and increased oxygen intake improving your brains capability to retain and process information.
When people hear laughter, it releases a neurotransmitter to their brain that responds by triggering other neural circuits to generate more laughter. It’s contagious!
So add 20 minutes of comedy to your daily exercise regime and laugh yourself healthy. If you can’t manage that, at least smile to release some endorphins. if you don’t feel like smiling, then fake it until you make it. Just the mere physical act of curling your mouth up and a little squint to the eyes will release all sorts of happy hormones dancing through your body and before you know it you actually ARE happy!
