Here’s a little experiment for you. When you are around your kids, force yourself to laugh for no reason at all. Watch the knock on effect. Your kids will laugh because they have no idea why you are laughing; you will laugh because they are laughing. This can diffuse such awkward times when there is tension in the house. From this point, your humour and theirs will come to the fore, bringing about a very pleasant atmosphere.
Laughing has so many benefits, for both you and all around you. It is an excellent form of communication and strengthens all relationships. It is the trigger of humour. Think about when you were a child, you were happy, you laughed, and the world was a game. Then something happened; we became conditioned by society and all of a sudden we started taking things very seriously, we stopped laughing, and we stopped playing. There is so much we can learn from children, things we have long since forgotten.
Why did we stop laughing? When did everything become so serious? When did we start taking life so seriously and instead of seeing it as a game, we stopped playing. When we realise that life is all a game, and we are here to play for a short time, we realise that we should be doing what makes us happy.
Some of the many benefits of laughter are:
Blood Pressure: When we laugh, our blood pressure naturally rises as we lose our breath and muscles contract, but then something magnificent happens, our blood pressure goes back to it’s baseline as we relax afterwards. This simple action of laughing brought the pressure down to a very healthy level.
Communication: Not just with your kids, but with partners, friends, colleagues and anyone at all. Laughter is a form of communication that is common across all cultures, and as long as you are not laughing at the expense of someone, it can really bring people closer together. In relationships it is an essential component. To be able to laugh together is to be able to truly understand each other.
Stress: With everything whizzing around at a million miles an hour these days, things being urgent constantly, pressure at work, pressure at home, trying to keep a balance on everything. When you are under intense stress, your muscles become tight, and you store a negative energy in you, usually in the stomach. When you laugh, you are releasing all this energy, and when you do a big belly laugh, that negative energy comes pouring out.
Pain Reduction: This one might sound strange but hear me out. When your humour kicks in, and you laugh, you release cortisol into the body, as well as endorphins. Endorphins are truly amazing, the connect the mind and body and act as a natural pain killer. They are a natural morphine, traditionally this would have been known to kick in when we are in pain or when we conduct exercise, but science now proves that laughter does the same thing.
Increased Level of Happiness: Like all other emotions, happiness is one that comes and goes. An emotion is not a thought and is not a feeling, it is a reaction that occurs within the body. As much as we can take medication to make us feel somewhat contented, laughing raises the bar naturally, and increases the stability of our minds.
With all these benefits, I encourage you this evening to look your kid or your partner in the eye, and give a smile, leading to a giggle, and watch how the situation plays out. You’ll thank me later.
I will be shortly commencing laughter therapy classes in Clonakilty and Skibbereen. If you are interested, please contact me on 083 854 3095 or email aaron@wellspringcounselling.ie