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Written by: Dr. Brent Vaughan, Senior Vice President of Research and Development
Stop me if you’ve heard this one.
What do you give a man who has everything?
Penicillin.
Did you laugh?
How about this one…
How do you make an egg roll?
You push it.
A chuckle? At least a smirk?
Did you know that laughter can have a measurable impact on your immune system function? You’ve probably heard the old adage: “Laughter is the best medicine.” Well, it turns out that this may be very true. More and more studies are showing the positive effects of laughter in multiple aspects of health and wellbeing.1,2
While many studies talk about the psychological (mental) benefits of laughter3, a few also make a link to physiological (health) benefits as well. Laughter can lower cortisol and other stress hormone levels.4,5,6 These stress hormones are known to suppress immune system function.
Science has known for a long time that high levels of stress, whether mental, physical, or emotional, can reduce immune function. Prolonged stress will also have a negative effect on other aspects of your health. Laughter helps offset or reduce the effects of prolonged stress on various systems in the body.
Laughter impacts several aspects of immune function. Laughter increased levels of secretory IgA, key antibodies in your body’s defenses, and NK cell activity, important first responder immune cells.7,8,9,10 There’s even some indication that laughter might help with allergies.11 These studies show some rather broad effects on immune function. It’s not just one area or one cell type.
What’s more, laughter’s effects on the immune system were shown to last for up to 12 hours after a single laughing--session.12 In other words, a couple good sessions of laughter may have you covered all day long.
As you can see, there are many benefits of a couple chuckles each day. No matter how difficult life becomes, take time to put some laughter in each day. Your body, mind, and immune system will thank you.
Here’s a little something to get you started:
Two hunters are out in the woods when one of them collapses. He’s not breathing, and his eyes are empty. The other guy whips out his phone and calls 911.
“I think my friend is dead,” he yells.
“What should I do?”
The operator says, “Calm down. First, let’s make sure he’s really dead.”
There’s silence, then a shot. Back on the phone the guy says, “Okay, now what?”
Sources:
1. Associations of Frequency of Laughter With Risk of All-Cause Mortality and Cardiovascular Disease
2. A 15-Year Follow-Up Study of Sense of Humor and Causes of Mortality
3. Therapeutic Benefits of Laughter in Mental Health: A Theoretical Review
4. Psychological, immunological and physiological effects of a Laughing Qigong Program (LQP) on adolescents
5. Effect of laughter on salivary flow rates and levels of chromogranin A in young adults and elderly people
6. Effect of laughter on salivary endocrinological stress marker chromogranin A
7. Humor and Laughter May Influence Health IV. Humor and Immune Function
8. Laughter up-regulates the genes related to NK cell activity in diabetes
9. The effect of mirthful laughter on stress and natural killer cell activity
10. The elevation of natural killer cell activity induced by laughter in a crossover designed study
11. Differential effects of laughter on allergen-specific immunoglobulin and neurotrophin levels in tears
12. Modulation of neuroimmune parameters during the eustress of humor-associated mirthful laughter
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