Laughter- A boon for human beings

Laughter -a mysterious boon

Laughter is really the best medicine. For ages, people have been fascinated with laughter. Studies have been conducted to try to figure out why we laugh, what makes babies laugh, why we laugh when we are nervous, etc.
                                         
                                           Now I can say "Laughter is a physical reaction in humans and some other species of primate, consisting typically of rhythmical, often audible contractions of the diaphragm and other parts of the respiratory system. It is a response to certain external or internal stimuli." 

The sound of roaring laughter is far more contagious than any cough, sniffle, or sneeze. When laughter is shared, it binds people together and increases happiness and intimacy. Laughter also triggers healthy physical changes in the body. Humor and laughter strengthen your immune system, boost your energy, diminish pain, and protect you from the damaging effects of stress. This is a priceless medicine which is best of all of these.Laughter is a powerful antidote to stress, pain, and conflict. Nothing works faster or more dependably to bring your mind and body back into balance than a good laugh. Humor lightens your burdens, inspires hopes, connects you to others, and keeps you grounded, focused, and alert.Someone Says this beatiful quote about laughter-
“Your sense of humor is one of the most powerful tools you have to make certain that your daily mood and emotional state support good health.”
Laughter makes you feel good. And the good feeling that you get when you laugh remains with you even after the laughter subsides. Humor helps you keep a positive, optimistic outlook through difficult situations, disappointments, and loss.And laughter really is contagious—just hearing laughter primes your brain and readies you to smile and join in the fun.

The social benefits of humor and laughter

Humor and playful communication strengthen our relationships by triggering positive feelings and fostering emotional connection. When we laugh with one another, a positive bond is created. This bond acts as a strong buffer against stress, disagreements, and disappointment.

Bringing more humor and laughter into our life

Laughter is your birthright, a natural part of life that is innate and inborn. Infants begin smiling during the first weeks of life and laugh out loud within months of being born. Even if you did not grow up in a household where laughter was a common sound, you can learn to laugh at any stage of life.

Begin by setting aside special times to seek out humor and laughter, as you might with working out, and build from there. Eventually, you’ll want to incorporate humor and laughter into the fabric of your life, finding it naturally in everything you do.

The ability to laugh, play, and have fun with others not only makes life more enjoyable but also helps you solve problems, connect with others, and be more creative. People who incorporate humor and play into their daily lives find that it renews them and all of their relationships.

Life brings challenges that can either get the best of you or become playthings for your imagination. When you “become the problem” and take yourself too seriously, it can be hard to think outside the box and find new solutions. But when you play with the problem, you can often transform it into an opportunity for creative learning.

Inspirational Quotes On Laughter

1. A good laugh heals a lot of hurts. — Madeleine L’Engle
2. A good laugh is a mighty good thing, a rather too scarce a good thing. — Herman Melville
3. A good laugh is sunshine in the house. — William Thackeray
4. A smile is a curve that sets everything straight. — Phyllis Diller
5. A smile starts on the lips, a grin spreads to the eyes, a chuckle comes from the belly; but a good laugh bursts forth from the soul, overflows, and bubbles all around. — Carolyn Birmingham
6. A well-balanced person is one who finds both sides of an issue laughable. — Herbert Procknow
7. Against the assault of laughter, nothing can stand. — Mark Twain
8. Always laugh when you can. It is cheap medicine. — Lord Byron
9. Among those whom I like or admire, I can find no common denominator, but among those whom I love, I can: all of them make me laugh. — W. H. Auden
10. An optimist laughs to forget; a pessimist forgets to laugh. — Tom Nansbury
11. And keep a sense of humor. It doesn’t mean you have to tell jokes. If you can’t think of anything else, when you’re my age, take off your clothes and walk in front of a mirror. I guarantee you’ll get a laugh. — Art Linkletter
12. And we should consider every day lost on which we have not danced at least once. And we should call every truth false which was not accompanied by at least one laugh. — Friedrich Nietzsche
13. As soap is to the body, so laughter is to the soul. — A Jewish Proverb
14. As soon as you have made a thought, laugh at it. — Lao Tsu
15. At the height of laughter, the universe is flung into a kaleidoscope of new possibilities. — Jean Houston
16. Cancer is probably the unfunniest thing in the world, but I’m a comedian, and even cancer couldn’t stop me from seeing the humor in what I went through. — Gilda Radner
17. Each of us has a spark of life inside us, and our highest endeavor ought to be to set off that spark in one another. — Kenny Ausubel
18. Earth laughs in flowers. — Ralph Waldo Emerson
19. Even the gods love jokes — Plato
20. Everyone is so afraid of death, but the real Sufis just laugh: nothing tyrannizes their hearts. What strikes the oyster shell does not damage the pearl.” — Mevlana Rumi
21. From there to here, from here to there, funny things are everywhere. — Dr. Seuss
22. God has a smile on His face. — Psalm 42:5
23. God is a comedian playing to an audience too afraid to laugh. — Voltaire
24. Grim care, moroseness, and anxiety—all this rust of life ought to be scoured off by the oil of mirth. Mirth is God’s medicine. — Henry Ward Beecher
25. He deserves Paradise who makes his companions laugh. — Koran

Some more facts:-

1. He that is of a merry heart has a continual feast. — Proverbs 15:15
2. He who binds to himself a joy Does the winged life destroy; But he who kisses the joy as it flies Lives in eternity’s sun rise. — William Blake
3. He who laughs, lasts! — Mary Pettibone Poole
4. Humor is a prelude to faith and laughter is the beginning of prayer. — Reinhold Niebuhr
5. Humor is laughing at what you haven’t got when you ought to have it. — James Langston Hughes
6. I commend mirth. — Ecclesiastes 8:15
7. I have always felt that laughter in the face of reality is probably the finest sound there is and will last until the day when the game is called on account of darkness. In this world, a good time to laugh is any time you can. — Linda Ellerbee

Some Facts on laughter

1 We laugh up to 30 times more when we are in the company of others than when we are by ourselves. When they say that laughter is contagious, they were really right!

2. Frequent and whole-hearted laughter actually helps your body to fight off harmful diseases. By altering the levels of cortisol in your body, laughing lowers our levels of stress and fights off things that might be harmful to us.

3. Although we can force smiles and trick our brains into thinking we are happy, we cannot actually force laughter. You can emit something that sounds a lot like laughter, but you are not tricking your brain whatsoever (and you’re probably not tricking those around you either!)

4. Laughing is a pretty good workout! When you laugh, you are strengthening muscles in your face, stomach, and diaphragm. It’s no substitute for the gym, but a bit of laughter does do the body good!

5. Piggy-backing on doing your body good, for every fifteen minutes of solid full-body laughing you do, you can burn up to 40 calories! Dieting? Get to laughing!

6. Some studies have reported that laughing for at least fifteen minutes can add around 2 days to your overall lifespan. Live long and…laugh!

07. Not a coffee drinker? That’s okay! Laughing shortly after you wake up can have similar effects to drinking a cup of coffee. Next time you laugh right after getting up, notice how refreshing it feels.

8. Believe it or not, there really is a science to laughing. In fact, the science of laughing and it’s effects on the body is referred to as Gelotology. 

9. Humans are not the only beings that laugh. Although less obvious to detect, many animals also experience something similar to laughter. Start watching out for your furry friends – turns out, they might actually be laughing at you after all.

10. In studies that looked at laughter in adults versus children, it was found that kids tend to laugh about three times more than adults. Think like a kid and learn to enjoy yourself a little!

11Simulating a genuine smile can boost your mood: Psychologists have found that even if you’re in bad mood, you can instantly lift your spirits by simulating (not fake, but choose to engage in)  a genuine smile.

12.It boosts your immune system: Smiling really can improve your physical health, too. Your body is more relaxed when you smile, which contributes to good health and a stronger immune system.

13Smiles are contagious: It’s not just a saying: smiling really is contagious, scientists say. In a study conducted in Sweden, people had difficulty frowning when they looked at other subjects who were smiling, and their muscles twitched into smiles all on their own.

14.Smiles Relieve Stress: Your body immediately releases endorphins when you smile, even when you force it. This sudden change in mood will help you feel better and release stress.

15.It’s a universal sign of happiness: While hand shakes, hugs, and bows all have varying meanings across cultures, smiling is known around the world and in all cultures as a sign of happiness and acceptance.

16.We still smile at work: While we smile less at work than we do at home, 30% of subjects in a research study smiled five to 20 times a day, and 28% smiled over 20 times per day at the office.

17.Smiles use from 5 to 53 facial muscles: Just smiling can require your body to use up to 53 muscles, but some smiles only use 5 muscle movements.

18.Babies are born with the ability to smile: Babies learn a lot of behaviors and sounds from watching the people around them, but scientists believe that all babies are born with the ability, since even blind babies smile.

 The video Of These Facts

                                               

Why Do We Laugh

This Question always comes in our mind to understand it see video-

We believe laughter evolved from the panting behavior of our ancient primate ancestors. Today, if we tickle chimps or gorillas, they don’t laugh “ha ha ha” but exhibit a panting sound. That’s the sound of ape laughter. And it’s the root of human laughter.

Apes laugh in conditions in which human laughter is produced, like tickle, rough and tumble play, and chasing games. Other animals produce vocalizations during play, but they are so different that it’s difficult to equate them with laughter. Rats, for example, produce high-pitch vocalizations during play and when tickled. But it’s very different in sound from human laughter.

When we laugh, we’re often communicating playful intent. So laughter has a bonding function within individuals in a group. It’s often positive, but it can be negative too. There’s a difference between “laughing with” and “laughing at.” People who laugh at others may be trying to force them to conform or casting them out of the group.

No one has actually counted how much people of different ages laugh, but young children probably laugh the most. At ages 5 and 6, we tend to see the most exuberant laughs. Adults laugh less than children, probably because they play less. And laughter is associated with play.

We have learned a lot about when and why we laugh, much of it counter-intuitive. Work now underway will tell us more about the brain mechanisms of laughter, how laughter has evolved and why we’re so susceptible to tickling — one of the most enigmatic of human behaviors.                      
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