Did you know that laughter can improve your health? In addition to obvious social benefits, laughter has been shown to trigger healthy physical and mental changes in the body. Laughter strengthens your immune system, boosts mood, diminishes pain, and protects you from the damaging effects of stress. Various studies have shown that laughter triggers the release of endorphins as well as immune system cells (T-Cells) to promote an overall sense of well-being and to help fight off sickness.
In addition, laughter can be an especially powerful tool to build healthy relationships and manage conflict when emotions are running high. Whether with significant others, friends and family, or client and colleagues, you can learn to use humor to mitigate tension, smooth over disagreements, and communicate in a way that builds up your relationships rather than breaking them down. Practice the art of leveraging ‘appropriate’ and/or self-deprecating humor to ease tensions and honor relationships.
As a child, you probably laughed hundreds of times a day. As an adult, life tends to be more serious and laughter is far less frequent. Nonetheless, just like anything else, you can practice the art of ‘laughter’ by putting routines in place to promote humor. As a result, you will improve your emotional health, strengthen your relationships, and find greater happiness.
CEEK Wellness Challenge of the month
We challenge you this month to find ways to incorporate humor into your daily and weekly routine. Turn off the nightly news in favor of your favorite sit-com. Schedule an evening with friends at the local comedy club. Subscribe to a favorite comedian’s podcast. Refresh and improve your favorite practical joke on this April Fool’s Day. Embrace your inner child and release your inhibitions. Seek out humor, share funny moments, don’t take yourself to serious, and…CEEK a Better Way®!
Quote
“What soap is to the body, laughter is to the soul.”
Old Yiddish Proverb
Suggested Resources
https://www.helpguide.org/articles/emotional-health/laughter-is-the-best-medicine.htm
http://time.com/3592134/laughing-health-benefits/
