Finding Joy in Laughter

• brain
• Joy
• laughter

May First.  I have a smile on my face this morning as I am thrilled that a new month is upon us, spring is finally here!!  The flowers are blooming, the days are longer and there just seems to be more joy.  I have been thinking about laughter as it is such an expression of joy.

Last night I rented a “chic flic” and watched it with one of my best girlfriends.  I didn’t have high expectations for to movie, however, I was pleasantly surprised.  The best part, at one point we had to pause the movie because we were laughing so hard, we couldn’t breathe and were crying.  It has been a very long time since I have laughed that hard.  And you know what…I loved it.
 
Laughter is not well understood in the scientific community.  How we laugh, why we laugh, what happens to our bodies when we laugh are all areas of research.  However, it does seem pretty clear, laughter reduces stress.  Laughter changes the levels of many different hormones related to stress, fear, appetite, digestion.  We will spend a little bit of time exploring this a bit more over the next few weeks.
 
The key point I want to share with you is that it appears that laughter is stimulated in the brain region called the supplementary motor area (SMA).  The reason I find this so important is because the SMA is also very important in the fear response which underlies stress.  Evolutionarily, the SMA helps coordinate the “flight or fight” response.  So, it seems that we better balance out the SMA – not let it become too involved in fear. Find joy in laughter.
 
If you would like to read a little more about laughter and an overview of what it does to our bodies, please click here to be taken to scientific article.

 
 
 
 
 
While I do not consider myself to be a particularly funny person, I do think it important to give my readers something to smile and laugh at.  At first, it may take some work to lighten up and be able to laugh…at ourselves and at others.  But the payoff is priceless.  I still feel happy about the movie I watched last night. 
 
So, with the Royal Wedding over and the newlyweds enjoying their time together, I recommend you take two minutes to watch the T Mobile commercial spoof of the wedding.  Click here to check out the hats, the hip bumps and the dirty dancing.  You can’t help but smile and laugh as the Queen, Prince Charles, Prince Henry, Prince William and bride celebrate the wedding watched around the world.

The final quote on the commercial is “One Life is for Sharing.”  Go out and share your joy and your laughter.  Happy May Day!!