Can Humor Help with Healing Emotional Needs?

“Laughter is the best medicine.” I am sure we have heard this said before, but have we really reflected on what this means and the many health benefits it can bring? Humor can be found in daily human communication in various forms (i.e. text messages; posts; blogs; verbal; and etc.) and is a tool that does not have an age limit and can be adjusted to suit any situation and environment. 

But can something as simple as incorporating humor help in healing emotional trauma and symptoms of emotional duress? Various studies have shown that laughter in general can improve a person’s physiological and brain functions. 

Other Improvements Include:

• Laughter increases heart and respiratory rates as well as oxygen consumption over a short period. 
• Laughter affects heart function. 
• After intense laughter, muscle tone
• Watching humorous videos revs up the sympathetic nervous system (SNS). 
• Laughter lowers levels of the stress hormone, cortisol.
• Laughter activates the mesolimbic dopaminergic reward system in the brain.
• Laughter increases serum immunoglobulins A and E. I
• It raises levels of beta-endorphins (the feel-good chemicals of the body) and increases human growth hormone

A simple exercise that anybody can do to help reflect how laughter/humor can change both their physiological and mental state is to first find something that gives you a good thorough “belly laugh.” As you laugh, note what happens in your body. Ask yourself: Did laughing change my emotional state? How about my physical state? And what about my mental state?

I hope that you can find more things in your life that can bring about some humor that you can laugh about as “laughing really is the best medicine.” 

Find out more at J. Adam Rindfleisch, MPhil, MD, “The Healing Benefits of Humor and Laughter”. 

Katie Shaull, LMSW Therapy Manager and Therapist

Because Life is All About Connections

Life Connections provides in-home Behavioral Health Intervention services, Therapy services, autism (ABA) services and Children’s Mental Health waiver services in our 13 office locations and approved schools across Iowa. Life Connections was founded in March of 2009 with the intent to serve the children and families of Cedar Rapids and surrounding cities.

Life Connections is a highly professional and caring counseling and behavioral health provider. We offer a wide array of services to treat mental health issues including Applied Behavior Analysis Services,  Behavioral Health Intervention Services, mental health therapy, school-based therapy programs, and substance use treatment.

For more information, please call 319-409-6922. 

Resources:

• National Suicide Prevention Hotline 800-273-8255

• Crisis Text line text to 741741
• The Trevor Project – for LGBTQ+ young adult community 866-488-7386
• Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network 800-656-4673