They say it’s the best medicine, so here’s how to bring more laughter into your life
By Evelyn Lewin
As an internationally recognised expert on laughter for wellbeing and positive psychology, Ros Ben-Moshe knows just how important it is to have a good chuckle. The author of the recently released The Laughter Effect: How to Build Joy, Resilience and Positivity in Your Life says laughter can bring a host of health benefits.
You can lift your mood by pasting on laughter’s ‘silent sister’, smiling. Credit: Stocky
“It’s an incredible connector; you bond with people who you share a laugh with,” Ben-Moshe says. “Then there’s all of the broad physiological effects.”
As it’s an aerobic activity, laughter, she adds, can improve oxygenation and heart-rate variability while lowering blood pressure. “Essentially, it’s really good for our heart health.”
It’s also calming. Ben-Moshe says research examining people’s brainwave activity found laughter’s effects on the brain are akin to meditation. “When you’re laughing, you’re in that present moment. You’re not thinking about what happened a minute ago, or worrying about what may happen in two minutes’ time.”
A good cackle also releases feel-good endorphins, which can help reduce pain. Ben-Moshe, who has taught psychology at La Trobe University, sees that first-hand when she facilitates Laughter Yoga sessions. She often has clients who arrived with a headache say their pain disappears during a session.
You don’t have to scour the city for hilarious comedians to get your giggle on. Ben-Moshe says a simple amusing chat with a good friend is wonderful as you’re bound to feel a “punctuation effect” – the incidental laughter that punctuates our everyday interactions.
“So, it might not be as big a guffaw as someone telling a joke,” says Ben-Moshe, “but about 80 per cent of laughter in conversations is due to this notion of the punctuation effect.”
“Sometimes I just laugh at myself in the mirror or, if I’m driving and the lights are red, I’ll choose to laugh out loud.”
Ros Ben-Moshe
Intentional laughter practices, such as Laughter Yoga, also allow you to reap the rewards of having a chuckle without relying on humour. While that might not seem as fun as spontaneously breaking into fits of giggles, Ben-Moshe says it’s equally beneficial.
Meanwhile, paying more attention to everyday humour can help you stay in a laughter-focused state of mind and “grow your humour capacity”.
For that reason, you may wish to keep a humour scrapbook, which Ben-Moshe says is like a gratitude journal, but filled with humorous anecdotes. Or you could listen to a funny podcast rather than a serious one.
You don’t have to have a big belly laugh to reap these benefits, either. Ben-Moshe says your mood is likely to lift by simply engaging in what she refers to as laughter’s “silent sister”, smiling. As a self-described big smiler, Ben-Moshe loves how it feels to both give and receive a warm smile. She places a grin on her face first thing in the morning “to set the tone for the day”.
Not a natural smiler or laugher? Ben-Moshe says that, like any exercise, it can take practice before it becomes second nature. To help grease the wheels, she recommends taking time each day to paste on a smile or have a little chuckle. “It’s about changing and developing those neural pathways towards levity and joy; the things that we want to welcome into our lives.”
Ben-Moshe takes matters into her own hands, choosing to sprinkle laughter and smiles throughout her day. “Sometimes I just laugh at myself in the mirror or, if I’m driving and the lights are red, I’ll choose to laugh out loud. It’s a real circuit breaker.”
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