Laughter is the best medicine

How often do you laugh each day? If the answer is not much, perhaps you should consider Laugh Yoga.

Psychology professor Charles Schaefer claims even a minute of forced laughter a day can chase away the blues. "Forced laughter is a powerful, readily available and cost-free way for many adults to regularly boost their mood and psychological wellbeing," he says.

While laughter therapy isn’t a new concept – workplace classes were taking off as long as ten years ago in Australia – the introduction of Laugh Yoga has seen renewed interest in Laughter Clubs around Australia and internationally. Laughter Yoga follows the same process as laughter sessions, adding Yoga principles to combine the positive effects of laughter with the well established health and wellbeing perks of yoga.

The biology and psychology of laughter

Cris Popp, founder of Laughter Works, a company dedicated to the art and science of laughter as therapy, comments that laughter benefits both the mind and the body by;

1)Reducing stress and produces endorphins that make you feel good.
2)Relaxing your muscles.
3)Boosting your immune system. Stress hormones and flight-or-fight compounds suppress the immune system, but laughter changes your mood and "unsuppresses" the immune system by shutting off the flight-or-fight response.
4)Providing excellent aerobic exercise. Laughing 100 times is as much a workout as 10 minutes of rowing or 15 minutes on an exercise bike.
5)Improving breathing and blood circulation. Under normal conditions a small amount of air stays in your lungs which carries more carbon dioxide and moisture. Laughing forces you to expel all the air in your lungs getting rid of excess carbon dioxide and moisture. It also loosens up and helps you expel mucus and phlegm.
6)Lowering blood pressure. Ten minutes of laughter therapy reduces blood pressure by 10-20 mm.

What a class involves

A laughter professional will build a solid rapport with the group, so you need not fear an embarrassing half spent avoiding all eye contact. Your leader is likely to take you through a round of exaggerated ‘ho ho ho’ and ‘ha ha ha’ sounds before working the group up to a genuine belly laugh – and at no time will any one person be singled out or made to look silly.

If you decide you are keen, you can join one of the many laughter clubs in WA or sign up for a workplace wellness session. Check out http://www.laughterworksaustralia.com/ for more information and local contact details.


Link: http://www.enjoytheride.wa.gov.au/slow-topics/health/laughter-is-the-best-medicine_20110604/