Laughter: The Best Medicine for Your Mind and Body

Photo: 20th Television

You know how people say laughter is the best medicine? Well, it's true. We all have our own sense of humor. From dark humor to childish humor, most of us find something humorous. Have you ever wondered why we find some jokes hilarious while some jokes are horribly unfunny? Let's find out.

Laughter is contagious. It makes us feel good and raises our spirits when we're down. There is science behind this reaction. When something makes us laugh, the regions of the brain responsible for humor-processing (like), release feel-good chemicals like dopamine. It essentially gets you hooked on the feeling of laughter and gets you wanting to laugh again.

There are a lot of different components of humor that make something super funny:

1. Surprise - Jokes thrive on surprise. Delivering a joke or a punch line in a not-so-appropriate scenario or just by throwing someone off guard (in a good way), tickles our cognitive abilities and rewards us with laughter.
2. Setting - Where you say a joke and who you say it around plays a crucial role in humor. Even if something is super funny to you, saying it in a professional setting like work may cause the joke to fall flat. However, if you say the joke with a bunch of close friends, the joke will have a better chance of causing laughter.
3. Delivery - By exaggerating something or saying something completely absurd, most people will laugh because it's something that they wouldn't have expected.
4. Much, much more...

Humor has health benefits, reducing stress, boosting the immune system, and improving heart health. Laughter truly is the best medicine!

Sources:

https://www.apa.org/monitor/jun06/anatomy

https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/stress-management/in-depth/stress-relief/art-20044456