Picture this. You walk into an elderly uncle’s home for a visit, just a quick hello and then you’ll make your escape. But you find him giggling helplessly on the ceiling! In spite of your best efforts, you just can’t help yourself. You crack a smile. You giggle. You guffaw. Suddenly, you’ve floated up to join him.
This can only mean you’ve wandered onto the set of Mary Poppins and everyone is laughing so hard they just go up! Do you remember that scene? How infectious the laughter was? I’m smiling just thinking about it. “The more I glee…the more I’m a merrier me!” 🙂 So let’s have a bit of fun today. I’m going to review some of the health benefits of laughter and then we’ll get to the real reason you’re reading this: your laughter’s the best, and we’re about to get it rolling right here, right now.
Laughter’s the best
The Mayo Clinic had some fun writing about the subject in an article linking stress relief with laughter. It says, “When it comes to relieving stress, more giggles and guffaws are just what the doctor ordered.” In the immediate moment, laughter reduces stress, soothes tense muscles, and increases the flow of oxygen to your body. In the long term, it helps lower anxiety and depression, contributes to positive thinking, relieves pain, and makes it easier to cope with difficult situations.
Another little known fact is that even forced laughter has the same health benefits as real laughter. Your body doesn’t know the difference!
According to Mental Health and Wellness coach Brett Alana Stanley, kindergarten age children laugh up to 300 times a day, while adults laugh about 17. Can you imagine how life might change if you laughed even 100 times a day?
Get your laughter rolling
As you move through your days, I hope you ponder ways you might draw laughter into your life. The easy one is playing with your kids, who love to be silly! But what else? Loving and lighthearted TV shows can be wonderful – Schitt’s Creek on Netflix had me laughing in every episode. Or laughter yoga – if you can find a laughter yoga session somewhere in your area, I encourage you to give it a shot. They’re surprisingly fun.
Last, gently learning to take yourself less seriously and even laugh at yourself can be healing and a way to have fun in your day, even when you’re all alone. Who’s to know about that silly dance party you had all on your own?!
Now, your laughter’s the best and I promised we’d get it rolling right here, right now. So if you will please follow me to the contagious laughter scene in Mary Poppins, we’ll get started right away. You also might like this video clip. Or this classic.
To your glee,
Ashley
P.s. Be sure to put a link to your own favorite funny youtube videos in the comments! Always looking for the next reason to laugh. And when you’re done, share this post to social media! Sparking smiles and laughter is the best kind of caring!