Laughter is a powerful way to tap positive emotions – Norman Cousins
I’ve carried out a bit of light hearted research into laughter as I considered training in laughter yoga but, ironically it all looked a bit serious. I also tried laugher yoga at a festival once and swiftly left as the activities building up to the laughter were really intense. What we need during these intense times is surely some easy ins, easy laughter as a way to ‘feel good’ naturally while in isolation.
About 8 Years ago I was in a pregnancy yoga class and my then teacher, started to laugh, out of the blue. I am sure she timed it well but, in my memory it was between asanas to catch us even more of guard. She just started to giggle with no explanation at all, no joke, no humour. Her giggle turned in to laughter, a really satisfying one, right from the belly. Of course, by this time 6 of us had gone from glancing at each other as if to say ‘Ummm did I miss something?’ to giggling and then laughing too. We must have spent a good five minutes of our class in hysterics. Towards the end of my pregnancy laughing was easy, as was crying, hormones all over the place. But this moment stays with me for two reasons, one, it was an odd but very effective way to get us all laughing and two, it proves to me how infectious laughing has the potential to be. Furthermore, no one ever finishes a belly laugh with ‘I can’t stand laughing’ my final comment is usually ‘I think I wet myself.’ One of my suggestions to you, at this time is laugh, more, and big, let’s all get down with some ‘Lockdown Laughter’.
One thing many of us have all turned to is Face Timing our family and friends. I have one app that allows us to share Pictionary, playing that with a 5, 7, 57 and 63 year old , I am guaranteed to laugh, ‘How is that a monkey?’ I shout at my Mum as my minute expires, we all burst into laughter. I leave feeling emotionally lighter, but why?
I have commandeered some interesting facts from research carried out by the Mayo Clinic who suggest that aside from lightening your load mentally, laughing actually produces physical changes in your body. Heart, lungs and muscles are all stimulated during laughter, and endorphins are released by your brain. Laughing brings relief to your stress response reducing heart rate and blood pressure. A good laugh has also been proven to assist coping in stressful situations and has been proven to further lessens depression and anxiety. The latter points a certainly encouraging me to get my Lockdown Laughter in the diary daily.
Humans laugh on average around 17 times day, questionable at the moment I know, research so far shows that we are the only species on the planet that do laugh. So I am now going to encourage you to laugh, to giggle, a little bit and see where it goes like my yoga teacher did. I urge you to do this out of the blue alone or with those you’re sharing isolation with – medical research shows no negative side effects at all, only positive, so get laughing. It seems like a free and simple way to get us through the current climate.
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