If you’ve heard the saying “Laughter Is the Best Medicine,” in times of distress, it’s no joke. The timeless saying is more than a comforting phrase — it’s rooted in science. Across cultures and generations, laughter has been recognized as a force of healing and resilience. Laughter feels good, and it helps your mental and physical well-being. Let’s explore a few pointers on how laughter psychologically and physiologically helps your life.
Table of Contents
1. Releases Endorphins
Laughter increases endorphins. Endorphins are natural chemicals that work as a pain blocker. It switches off the signal your body sends to the brain, saying it’s in pain. Increased endorphins also boost the release of dopamine.
The dopamine neurotransmitters tell your body that it feels happy and give you a sense of positivity. An increase of endorphins helps your body handle depression, anxiety and regulate your appetite.
If you want to release an influx of endorphins into your body, go for a run with friends. Exercise is the fastest way to enhance endorphins. Couples with a good laugh, your body will receive stress and temporary pain relief. There are about 20 types of endorphins in your body. Therefore, endorphins help you cope with stress and pain.
In therapeutic settings like therapy and yoga, laughter helps to manage stress that affect you mentally and physically. By incorporating laughter into your daily life, you foster better mental and physical health through endorphin and dopamine releases.
2. Increase Immune Function
A healthy immune system is crucial in preventing illness and maintaining overall well-being. Laughter’s medicine serves as an immune booster because physiological changes occur, which improve your body’s ability to fight infections. When you laugh, your stress levels are reduced and the number of immune cells increases, which helps target diseases.
Your stress levels are reduced through a decrease in cortisol. When your cortisol level is too high, it lowers your immune system — making you susceptible to illness. Physically, laughter enhances immune cells like T-cells and natural killer cells, which defend the body’s immune system. This natural immune booster increases the production of anti-infection antibodies that fight off infections like viruses, fungi, bacteria and parasites. If you laugh more, your body creates an emotional and physical balance, which makes it more difficult for you to get sick or feel stressed.
3. Helps Your Heart
Laughter helps your heart — literally and figuratively. A good laugh with friends helps combat depression by triggering endorphins, dopamine and social interaction. Endorphins also trigger the endothelium. Endothelium releases nitric oxide, which relaxes your arteries. When your blood vessels function better and your blood flow increases — promoting endothelium — your body increases blood circulation and lowers blood pressure.
Laughter is the best because it also reduces inflammation, which contributes to heart disease. When inflammation is reduced, it lowers the risk of atherosclerosis and other cardiovascular issues. Additionally, laughter reduces stress, which further reduces blood pressure and a rapid heart rate.
Laughter doesn’t replace physical exercise, which is known to combat the risks of heart disease, but it does contribute to a healthier body in a lighthearted way. To fully help your heart, incorporate a healthy diet, exercise and some laughter into your day. You will protect your heart and support your overall cardiovascular wellness.
4. Improves Mental Function
Being emotionally happy is as important as your physical happiness. Laughter uses your brain's prefrontal cortex — associated with emotional regulation and decision-making, to stimulate cognitive function. Your brain functions better after a good laugh because it activates processes like understanding, reasoning and linking concepts.
Laughter is also linked to enhanced memory and learning abilities, which improve clarity, focus and creativity. It promotes flexibility and a more relaxed state of mind, which allows for better problem-solving. Humor has also proven useful for people who have Alzheimer’s. As their cognitive abilities start to decline, some types of adaptive humor help their brains to laugh at jokes — resulting in a reduction in stress. Adaptive humor also helps older adults to foster social bonds and boost their self-confidence.
5. Builds Relationships
Most humans are social creatures, and laughter is one of the most powerful tools for building and maintaining relationships. Shared laughter fosters emotional connection, promotes trust and helps create a sense of belonging.
From casual conversations to deep friendships and relationships, humor serves as a method of binding people together. Laughter activates mirror neurons. These neurons present the same reaction in you as they would to someone else. So if you smile at someone, the likelihood is they will smile back at you. These mirror neurons play a role in social interaction as they form part of empathy and social understanding. In groups, laughter is often considered contagious because of mirror neurons. It creates a positive atmosphere and group dynamic.
6. Serves as a Relaxation Mechanism
When you laugh, your body undergoes immediate physical relaxation due to declining cortisol levels. Your muscles tend to relax throughout your body and this physical relaxation can last up to 45 minutes after a laugh. Your muscle relaxation reduces stress, anxiety and insomnia.
Laughter also encourages deep breathing, which increases oxygen intake and resets the nervous system. It results in a calmer and more balanced physiological state. Similar to meditation, laughter involves mindfulness, awareness, and stress relief. It is a safe therapeutic tool in managing conditions like anxiety, PTSD, and chronic fatigue syndrome.
Ultimately, laughter is one of the most natural and enjoyable ways to relax. By making time for humor daily, you can build emotional resilience and improve your sense of well-being.
7. Improves Sleep Quality
Quality sleep is essential for mental and physical health, yet one-third of Americans have insomnia, so they don’t sleep the recommended seven hours a night. Laughter may provide a simple solution for sleepless nights. When laughter is used as medicine, it releases endorphins, it reduces cortisol levels — which affect sleep patterns. An increased cortisol level causes irregular sleeping patterns by not adhering to your body’s circadian rhythm.
Additionally, laughter relaxes your muscles, which helps you enter a state of calmness. A relaxed body and calmed mind are more likely to enter the parasympathetic state needed for sleep. Laughter also causes your body to produce more melatonin. Melatonin is the chemical that tells your brain it’s dark in the room, so it needs to sleep. If you laugh before bed, your body relaxes, stays calm and understands it’s time to sleep.
Laughter Is the Best Medicine for Your Mind and Body
In a world filled with daily stressors, emotional strain, and health challenges, laughter emerges as an accessible form of therapy. Backed by scientific research, laughter can reduce stress, improve sleep, boost the immune system, and refine cognitive skills. It serves as a holistic impact to nurture the mind, body, and spirit without medication. When life feels overwhelming, laugh a little because laughter is the best medicine.
