Day 11: Grateful for having a laugh

What makes you laugh? Think about how laughing makes you feel. Good right? Well here’s a little reminder that you can never have too much laughter in your life. 

Laughing is good for you. It is good for the immune system, it lowers your stress response and can relieve pain. It also impacts on keeping you in a positive frame of mind. 

Here’s a weird scientific fact – babies laugh 300 times a day, while adults laugh only 20 times and laughter peaks at around five years of age. Time to bring out the inner child, we say! 

It’s also scientifically proven that laughter is contagious. The sound of laughter primes your facial muscles to smile and for you to laugh in response. Do you remember catching laughter off your classmates at school and being powerless to stop it? These are the sort of memories we need to recall. 

So when laughing is so good for you, how come we are doing it so little? 

Maybe in our busy lives it takes a little more effort to put yourself in a situation where you could be laughing out loud, but there are opportunities if you look. 

The internet is full of funny clips, humorous stories, hilarious blogs and all for free. (See, watching funny cats on the internet could actually be good for you!) 

Don’t forget funny books, movies and comedy shows, all accessible easily and just what the doctor ordered. 

Get together with friends, watch a funny movie and give yourselves a case of the giggles… it’s for a good cause – you!