Please welcome my guest today, Isabelle Riley, who wanted to share why laughter matters–and that’s no laughing matter… Groan, I know. Okay. First, a joke–a real joke!
What did the fish say when he swam into a wall?
Dam!
And now I hand over the reins to Isabelle. Take it away!
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Laughing is good for you. It’s the best known relief for that great modern evil, stress. It helps us to cope and survive. Laughter is a symptom of happiness and happiness is the reason we have for living. To laugh repeatedly and often is to add happiness to your life. As a form of physical exercise, it can be seen as a practice, just like any other form of yoga. Everybody has the ability to laugh, and everyone recognises the feeling of happiness that always precedes laughter.
When we are really seriously happy, we laugh. The other time we laugh is when something is funny. Comedy is like therapy in this sense, if you’re feeling stressed or your workplace is feeling tense it can be really effective to have a comedic event with a company like funny guys.
People work better when they’re happy after all. When you laugh, the tense parts of your body will automatically release, freeing any tension that you might have stored in your neck, back, shoulders, and face. Your stomach muscles will tense however, which is good for your posture and strengthens the core of your body, which keeps you upright.
This makes it a really effective form of exercise. After having laughed, you feel a residual happiness, and a lightness that lasts for a long time. Laughing regularly, and making a habit of it, will let this feeling last for a long time. The everyday tasks of life seem like less when you’re happy, and seem like next to nothing when you’re laughing.
Laughter is also anti-aging, as it releases endorphins in the brain as well as exercising your body. It will prevent Alzheimer’s disease is the elderly, research has suggested. Moreover, people with happy, open faces look younger and more beautiful than those who look sad or closed up. If your life seems harder than it should, it’s probably because you need to forget about a few things and just laugh for a while.
