Laughter as a Booster of Mental Health
Our health is personal. Everyone has their own perspective on health, physical, mental and social. There is a wide variation in what health means to people in different cultures and at different times in their lives. Recently there has been a shift in emphasis in the healthcare field away from the traditional (Western) view of identification and medical management of disease towards arguably a more ancient (Eastern) tradition of holistic health and prevention of disease. This shift recognises the individuality of health, providing the base for personalised medicine. This is a welcome shift towards tailoring healthcare to people’s particular needs, focussing on wellbeing.
It was an Indian medical doctor, Dr. Madan Kataria, who in 1990 was writing an article for a health magazine and decided to investigate laughter as a way of positively impacting health. He and a few friends went out into the park in the early morning and told jokes. After just a few days they began to find the jokes unfunny, and the jokes became more vulgar. He put on his thinking cap. He decided that he would try leaving out humour, forget jokes, and simply try laughing for no reason other than the fun of it. This worked much better and soon the practice became popular. Now there are laughter clubs all over the world meeting every day.
During the pandemic Laughter Lab provided twice weekly laughter sessions online to help boost people’s mood. We all had a good laugh. Even though we had to laugh online, people told us that they found it a welcome break and an effective stress buster during a challenging and sometimes lonely period. Dr. Chris Williams from Cambridge led a large study which suggested three ways of reaching vulnerable people who were shielding; laughter, mindfulness and robotic dogs. Dogs may be expensive to keep, and robotic dogs are certainly a major investment. However, laughter and mindfulness are free, portable and sustainable. Mindfulness may not be for everyone, but laughter is all around.
We all know how to laugh. We all understand that laughter makes us feel better. Sometimes we find ourselves too serious or too busy to make time for fun and laughter. That’s when we have need to be more deliberate about injecting infectious belly laughs into our lives. Sometimes re-framing an annoying situation can make us smile. Telling stories or sharing funny posts can turn up the dial on humour. Studies show that only positive humour improves our wellbeing. When humour is negative it drags us down. Laughing with kindness in the company of people we feel close to is a great way of boosting our wellbeing during these cold winter months. Making time to watch comedy programmes or comedy clips can provoke levity and laughter.
Laughter is highly contagious. People do not need to know why someone else is laughing to want to join in. We are neuro-biologically hard-wired to laugh. When we are laughing feel-good chemicals are released which boost mood and make us feel happier. A recent study in Japan has found that laughing with other people lowers the risk of functional disability. The effect is stronger when we laugh with friends and the more we laugh, the bigger the benefits. So, let’s give ourselves a lift and use uplifting comedy to provoke smiles, giggles and even laughter. Recognising and seeking out what we need to feel good and to flourish, is essential for healthy minds and bodies. Let’s dial up the volume on laughing, lighten the load of life, and boost our mental health.
Anna