Wellbeing

Humour Therapy: A fun way to get happy!

Deborah Durbin finds out why having a good old giggle is beneficial for our health and wellbeing

Deborah Durbin finds out why having a good old giggle is beneficial for our health and wellbeing
The poet E E Cummings once said: “The most wasted of all days is one without laughter.” But is laughter something that comes naturally to us as adults, or is it something we have to relearn? Across the globe, laughter therapy groups are emerging in a bid to bring back the humour in our lives. It appears we take ourselves so seriously nowadays that we seem to have forgotten how to have a giggle. As we juggle stressful work lives with stressful home lives, very few of us have time to smile, let alone laugh. Is it any wonder statistics show that children laugh more than 300 times a day, whereas adults manage less than 20 times a day?

According to laughter therapist Dr Annette Goodheart, one of the most important aspects of laughing is the connection it can bring about.

She says: “Laughter therapy is the connection with yourself, with others and with the broader world around you. When you start laughing, you’ll find most people laugh along with you.” In today’s pressured world laughing is ever more important. Not only does it lighten our mood and make us feel better, it is also beneficial to our health and wellbeing. Research has shown that laughing is a cathartic process that heals emotional and physical pain. Recent studies have also shown that emotions are stored in the body, not just in the mind, so cathartic techniques that are able to release these emotions create a natural healing process in our bodies.

Health and happiness

According to studies into humour therapy, the health benefits of laughing include:

Relaxing the whole body. A hearty laugh helps to relieve physical tension and stress, leaving your muscles relaxed for up to 45 minutes after.
Boosting the immune system. Laughter decreases stress hormones and increases immune cells and infection-fighting antibodies, therefore improving your resistance to disease.
Triggering the release of endorphins, the body’s natural feel-good chemicals. Endorphins promote a sense of wellbeing and can relieve pain.
Protecting the heart. Laughter improves the function of blood vessels and increases the flow of blood, which can help protect you against a heart attack as well as other cardiovascular problems.
Reducing stress. More than 70 per cent of illnesses have some relation to stress including high blood pressure, depression, allergies, ulcers and heart disease. Laughing on a regular basis reduces stress and in turn reduces illness.

One of the most popular forms of laughter therapy is hasya yoga or laughter yoga. Dr Madan Kataria, a Mumbai yoga teacher and founder of Laughter Clubs International, began teaching laughter yoga four years ago at a park with just four members. Word began to spread and the idea soon became a popular pastime with new members joining in for a giggle.

Each session starts with deep breathing and a warm-up exercise which involves repeating “Ho, ho, ha, ha”, followed by a variety of stimulated laughter. Because laughter is infectious, Dr Kataria discovered that the more the members laughed, the more other members contributed to the merriment. Soon the park was full of smiles and the sound of laughter.

Dr Kataria says: “Our studies have shown that people suffering from a variety of diseases have benefited in some way or other by laughter therapy.”

She continues: “There is a 10 to 20mm drop in blood pressure after a 10-minute laughter session. Laughter helps to control blood pressure. Though it cannot reverse the problem, it can arrest the progress of the disease. Those suffering from heart disease who have stabilised the problem with medication will find that laughter improves the blood supply as well as the oxygen supply to the heart muscles.”

A happy glow

Added to this, researchers have found that antibodies in the mucous membranes of the nose and respiratory passages increase after a session of laughter therapy. The frequency of colds, sore throats and chest infections also reduce if we laugh on a daily basis. According to Dr Kataria, the looksconscious can take heart too: laughter can make you look younger because it tones up the muscles of your face and leads to an increase of blood supply which nourishes the facial skin and makes it glow.

“My life is so much better thanks to laughter therapy”

Computer data analyst Jonathan Fifield found laughter therapy helped him through illness: “I used to laugh all the time and I always enjoyed making others laugh. But this all changed when doctors found I had a brain tumour and needed urgent surgery and radiotherapy. I was in severe pain and in poor health. It was suggested that I try laughter therapy to help me cope. It took a lot of courage to go along to the Bristol Laughter Club, but I’m so glad I did. The group is led by laughter therapist Joe Hoare and includes things such as laughter yoga as well as physical exercises like silly freestyle walking. The first session was nerve-wracking but by the end I felt like a new man. I have been practising Joe’s smiling exercises every day since and I feel much happier inside.”

Have a laugh! Try these tips from laughter therapist Joe Hoare

Start your day with a smile

Here’s a challenge for you! Hold a genuine, good-natured smile on your face for at least 15 seconds, as early as possible in the morning. Feel the good-natured feeling the smile is encouraging you to experience. Time yourself so you do it for long enough – no cheating now! It’s a great way to start off your day.

Make yourself feel better For five minutes, walk the walk of a confident, happy person. This sends physiological messages to the brain that you’re feeling great and your brain believes them. It then sends messages to you that you’re feeling good, so in this way you set up a positive communication circuit and the end result is you start feeling better. Create negative-free zones Each day, for five minutes or longer, create a negative-free zone for yourself where you only think about positive thoughts and feel positive feelings. Why not make it a game that you play with a friend and see how many bits of good news you can swap? If you find that you enjoy doing this, do it more than once a day.

Take a break

Once a week, spend an evening when you only watch films and programmes that make you laugh. Forget about the news and current affairs. Dig out any old classics that hit the spot for you and spend some time watching your favourites.

For more information, visit bristollaughterclub.com or contact Joe Hoare via joe@joehoare.co.uk

Article by

Deborah Durbin

Article by

Deborah Durbin