"An optimist laughs to forget, a pessimist forgets to laugh"

Driving home on a Friday afternoon is always enough to make me at least smile, but how about laughing? As an adult, I often miss the easy and deep laughter experienced as a child. Even now my best times are spent in moments of laughing. So how many times have you laughed today? When is the last time you had that deep, stomach aching, tears watering, child-like excited laugh? Has it been awhile?

Thanks to the surge of endorphins released in our brains, we’re quickly aware of that feel-good release we get when laughing, but we may not realize the further benefits. The Mayo Clinic discusses stress reduction, tension relief, stimulation of our organs as a result of increased oxygen intake, decreased pain, and improved immune system as all benefits of laughter. Of course we want these benefits, that feel-good feeling is enough to make you want to laugh, but what if we’re not exposed to funny events, television, or people??? Actually, research shows thats not a problem!!! We can still get all the benefits even if our laugh is not prompted by something funny. In fact, our brains are unable to differentiate between a laugh caused by a real-something and one caused by something entirely fake! 

Following this discovery, Dr. Madan Kataris founded Laughter Therapy; a therapy structured around using laughter and yoga to improve one's overall health and personal happiness (Click here to learn more).

Check out this video aired on the Discovery Channel further describing what Laughter Yoga is all about! (It’s almost impossible to watch and not at least smile)!

Here is a slightly longer Ted Talk featuring Dr. Kataris's use of laughter.

Take a few minutes every day to just laugh, real or fake, it doesn't matter!

Until Next Time ~ Be Well

We don't laugh because we're happy – we're happy because we laugh.

--William James