Does your day feel better when you laugh more throughout the day? Has there ever been a moment where you laughed so hard, you can't breath? Have you ever laughed until you cried? Or until your stomach hurts?
Like many people, all of these instances has happened to me before. Unfortunately, I cannot recall a moment why I laughed so hard, but I do remember the feeling of happiness and satisfaction. I've heard that laughing makes you live longer, which caused me to wonder if laughing is actually healthy.
In today's society, stress is very damaging to an individual's mental health. According to Yim, there is societal standards of competition and socio-economic interactions lead to stress (Yim, 2016). I found it amusing that Yim mentioned how laughter therapy improves the quality of life as non-pharmacological, alternative treatment for your mental health as well as your immune system. I didn't know this was a thing! Laughter decreases levels of cortisol, epinephrine, growth hormone, and a type of dopamine catabolite. In addition, it alters dopamine and serotonin activity (Yim, 2016). For instance, if you are in an awkward situation, laughter causes your body to secrete endorphins, which ultimately helps you feel better about the situation mentally.
According to the study by Zander-Schellenberg et al., the researchers tested the effect of laughter on the stress responses of college students using an intensive longitudinal method. The frequency as well as the intensity of laughter is monitored. This study is non-invasive because the researchers created an app with a questionnaire about that is prompted randomly at eight times a day. The students answered questions about the physical and mental stress symptoms, the amount of times they laughed, the intensity of their laugh, and the reason for their laughter. In conclusion, the effects of the stress symptoms decreased as the frequency of laughter increased. However, the intensity of laughter did not significantly impact the stress response (Zander-Schellenberg et al., 2020). This is interesting because I expected the intensity of laughter to decrease stress, but how would you measure the intensity of my laugh, for example, as opposed to my dad's laugh? The intensity of laughter is varied among different individuals. This study is a good starting point for more extensive research on the psychological and physiological impacts that laughter may have on stress.
Despite the fact that we are stuck inside with minimal social interactions during this time, technology allows us to pull out our phones to watch some funny videos or facetime our friends and family. Therefore, I encourage you to keep on laughing even though we are at an awkward situation in our lives with the pandemic. Laughing is free therapy after all. :)
References
Yim J. (2016). Therapeutic Benefits of Laughter in Mental Health: A Theoretical Review. The Tohoku journal of experimental medicine, 239(3), 243–249. https://doi.org/10.1620/tjem.239.243.
Zander-Schellenberg T., Collins I.M., Miché M., Guttmann C., Lieb R., et al. (2020). Does Laughing have a Stress-Buffering Effect in Daily Life? An Intensive Longitudinal Study. PLOS ONE 15(7):e0235851. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0235851
No comments:
Post a Comment