{"id":12589,"date":"2023-10-30T18:47:25","date_gmt":"2023-10-30T22:47:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/?p=12589"},"modified":"2023-10-23T19:17:35","modified_gmt":"2023-10-23T23:17:35","slug":"12589","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/?p=12589","title":{"rendered":"How Laughter Supports Wellbeing"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"ember4527\" class=\"ember-view reader-content-blocks__paragraph\"><img data-opt-id=1683333448  fetchpriority=\"high\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-12590\" src=\"https:\/\/mlcmmqmgggev.i.optimole.com\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/laughing_audience.png?resize=300%2C168&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"168\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mlcmmqmgggev.i.optimole.com\/w:300\/h:4000\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/laughing_audience.png 300w, https:\/\/mlcmmqmgggev.i.optimole.com\/w:1024\/h:4000\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/laughing_audience.png 1024w, https:\/\/mlcmmqmgggev.i.optimole.com\/w:768\/h:4000\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/laughing_audience.png 768w, https:\/\/mlcmmqmgggev.i.optimole.com\/w:1092\/h:612\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/laughing_audience.png 1092w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>Growing up in small town, Alabama, the Readers Digest used to be standard literature for one specific room in our house, when you had just a couple minutes on your hands.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ember-view reader-content-blocks__paragraph\">During these times, you could find classic articles under &#8220;Quotable Quotes&#8221;, &#8220;Life in These United States&#8221;, but my favorite was &#8220;Laughter is the Best Medicine&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p id=\"ember4528\" class=\"ember-view reader-content-blocks__paragraph\">In addition to lots of laughs, it turns out this old saying has some medical merit as well.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3 id=\"ember4530\" class=\"ember-view\">We&#8217;ve all had days like these<\/h3>\n<p><img data-opt-id=677138439  fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" id=\"ember4533\" class=\"ivm-view-attr__img--centered reader-image-block__img evi-image lazy-image ember-view alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/media.licdn.com\/dms\/image\/D5612AQFdukeFI0QmdA\/article-inline_image-shrink_1000_1488\/0\/1691982824061?e=1703721600&amp;v=beta&amp;t=wEgojnMmoxrwR4YfEyPHH3EMu_htgdoUITDIAfzZQjM\" alt=\"No alt text provided for this image\" width=\"327\" height=\"327\" \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"ember4531\" class=\"ember-view reader-content-blocks__paragraph\">Sometimes, none of the dice fall your way. It&#8217;s not like just one thing goes wrong at a time, but more like they were all sitting around waiting on each other to all go wrong, all at the same time.<\/p>\n<p id=\"ember4532\" class=\"ember-view reader-content-blocks__paragraph\">It&#8217;s like the saying, &#8220;when it rains it pours&#8221;, but for your brain, because &#8230;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>the microwave decided to flake out this morning,<\/li>\n<li>then the car wouldn&#8217;t start,<\/li>\n<li>even when it did you hit a massive traffic delay,<\/li>\n<li>then your printer can&#8217;t print<\/li>\n<li>and the tech person randomly took a day off<\/li>\n<li>and your report is overdue<\/li>\n<li>and you have to pick up the kids early because [fill in the blank].<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p id=\"ember4536\" class=\"ember-view reader-content-blocks__paragraph\">You get the picture.<\/p>\n<p id=\"ember4537\" class=\"ember-view reader-content-blocks__paragraph\">We&#8217;ve all had these days &#8212; where ALL the dice come up 1&#8217;s and 2&#8217;s. On days like this, it can be so easy to slide into an abyss of despair.<\/p>\n<h3 id=\"ember4539\" class=\"ember-view\">Laughter Can Be An Emotional Guardrail<\/h3>\n<p id=\"ember4540\" class=\"ember-view reader-content-blocks__paragraph\">Finding humor, especially when it&#8217;s all hitting the fan at once, becomes a powerful weapon. It allows us to step back from the brink by finding a silly or ridiculous twist on the events. This can help flip the script on what you make it all mean.<\/p>\n<p id=\"ember4541\" class=\"ember-view reader-content-blocks__paragraph\">Of course, none of it undoes the train wreck that just happened (right after the daycare called because your child has a playground bark chip lodged up their nose &#8212; this ACTUALLY happened to me). But &#8220;flipping the script&#8221; with humor can help create some emotional separation between ourselves, and those events that happened.<\/p>\n<p id=\"ember4542\" class=\"ember-view reader-content-blocks__paragraph\">It acts like emotional guardrails. And, at a bare minimum, it keeps you on the road and out of a state of despondent desperation.<\/p>\n<h3 id=\"ember4544\" class=\"ember-view\">Practice Humor<\/h3>\n<p id=\"ember4545\" class=\"ember-view reader-content-blocks__paragraph\">If you&#8217;re not doing this already, then you&#8217;ll definitely need to practice. But even if you&#8217;re being facetious at first, do work this muscle. You will find that it becomes so helpful to you when stuff goes sideways, like it always does sooner or later, and you&#8217;re ready to throw your hands up, look up, and give up.<\/p>\n<p id=\"ember4546\" class=\"ember-view reader-content-blocks__paragraph\">To practice humor, consider these starter options:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>watch your favorite comedian, movie, or standup act<\/li>\n<li>spend time with people who make you smile or laugh<\/li>\n<li>crowd-source the solution! Share the craziness of the day with your family or friends. Let them know you need to find something at least a little bit humorous, and just listed to what they come up with.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p id=\"ember4549\" class=\"ember-view reader-content-blocks__paragraph\">And just in case you don&#8217;t have Readers Digest in your &#8220;reading room&#8221;, here&#8217;s some research you can peruse.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a class=\"app-aware-link \" href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/pii\/S266594412100016X\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener\" data-test-app-aware-link=\"\">2021 research<\/a> found that people who showed both humor and optimism had better well-being when faced with challenges related to COVID lockdown<\/li>\n<li>A <a class=\"app-aware-link \" href=\"https:\/\/synapse.koreamed.org\/articles\/1096448\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener\" data-test-app-aware-link=\"\">2017 study<\/a> found that laughter therapy reduced symptoms of depression<\/li>\n<li>A <a class=\"app-aware-link \" href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC7444838\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener\" data-test-app-aware-link=\"\">similar study in 2020<\/a> reported that those who told jokes and played fun games with one another had reduced depressive symptoms<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<p id=\"ember4552\" class=\"ember-view reader-content-blocks__paragraph\">Pls do SHARE with someone who perhaps could use this information on humor and health.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Growing up in small town, Alabama, the Readers Digest used to be standard literature for one specific room in our house, when you had just a couple minutes on your &hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":12590,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[560,559],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12589","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-brain-health","category-mental-health"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/mlcmmqmgggev.i.optimole.com\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/laughing_audience.png?fit=1092%2C612&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/s7Qv5g-12589","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2589,"url":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/?p=2589","url_meta":{"origin":12589,"position":0},"title":"No Joke &#8230; Laughter Loves The Heart","author":"Will Clower","date":"April 20, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"If you could bottle laughter, and prescribe it to patients, you would make a gazillion dollars.According to this report, laughing (basically) gets rid bad chemicals and encourages good ones.Dr. Lee Berk, at the Oak Crest Health Research Institute in Loma Linda, assigned 20 adults with type 2 diabetes, average age\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Articles&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Articles","link":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/?cat=494"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12602,"url":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/?p=12602","url_meta":{"origin":12589,"position":1},"title":"The connection between your immune\u2026","author":"Will Clower","date":"November 2, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"The connection between your immune system and laughter is not humerus (that's your arm bone), it's humorous (that's funny). But -- just to be anatomically correct -- a humorous humerus is simply your funny bone. Aaaaand moving on. You know that laughter and good humor create the neurochemical daiquiri in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Brain Health&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Brain Health","link":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/?cat=560"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/mlcmmqmgggev.i.optimole.com\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/man_happy_immune_cells_fighting_illness.png?fit=1092%2C612&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/mlcmmqmgggev.i.optimole.com\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/man_happy_immune_cells_fighting_illness.png?fit=1092%2C612&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/mlcmmqmgggev.i.optimole.com\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/man_happy_immune_cells_fighting_illness.png?fit=1092%2C612&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/mlcmmqmgggev.i.optimole.com\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/man_happy_immune_cells_fighting_illness.png?fit=1092%2C612&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/mlcmmqmgggev.i.optimole.com\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/man_happy_immune_cells_fighting_illness.png?fit=1092%2C612&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":12605,"url":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/?p=12605","url_meta":{"origin":12589,"position":2},"title":"Laughter and Connection","author":"Will Clower","date":"May 10, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Remember \"Esperanto\"? No worries, nobody else does either. This was supposed to be a universal 2nd language for planet Earth, created to tie us all together. How do you say \"face-plant\" in Esperanto? Fortunately for us, we already have a universal form of communication that extends across all languages, all\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Mental Health&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Mental Health","link":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/?cat=559"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/mlcmmqmgggev.i.optimole.com\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/connections_between_friends.png?fit=1092%2C612&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/mlcmmqmgggev.i.optimole.com\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/connections_between_friends.png?fit=1092%2C612&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/mlcmmqmgggev.i.optimole.com\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/connections_between_friends.png?fit=1092%2C612&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/mlcmmqmgggev.i.optimole.com\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/connections_between_friends.png?fit=1092%2C612&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/mlcmmqmgggev.i.optimole.com\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/connections_between_friends.png?fit=1092%2C612&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":12021,"url":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/?p=12021","url_meta":{"origin":12589,"position":3},"title":"5 Wellbeing Benefits of Laughter","author":"Will Clower","date":"February 21, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"If \"laughter is the best medicine\", then what are those symptoms that laughter would be improving? The number of positive benefits in the body may surprise you! 1. The University of Oxford showed that laughing can actually increase pain tolerance. This may be because a good solid belly laugh releases\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Articles&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Articles","link":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/?cat=494"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adorable baby laughing","src":"https:\/\/mlcmmqmgggev.i.optimole.com\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Baby-Laughing.jpg?fit=1200%2C798&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/mlcmmqmgggev.i.optimole.com\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Baby-Laughing.jpg?fit=1200%2C798&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/mlcmmqmgggev.i.optimole.com\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Baby-Laughing.jpg?fit=1200%2C798&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/mlcmmqmgggev.i.optimole.com\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Baby-Laughing.jpg?fit=1200%2C798&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/mlcmmqmgggev.i.optimole.com\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Baby-Laughing.jpg?fit=1200%2C798&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":12594,"url":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/?p=12594","url_meta":{"origin":12589,"position":4},"title":"Laughter. It&#8217;s No Laughing Matter.","author":"Will Clower","date":"October 31, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Funnily enough, scientists study laughter now. A lot. And one of the key findings is that laughter has a buffering effect on mental and emotional struggles like Burnout and even PTSD! In other words, laughter helps you to distance yourself emotionally from the stressful event(s) that just happened. When you\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Articles&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Articles","link":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/?cat=494"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/mlcmmqmgggev.i.optimole.com\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/laughing_construction_worker.png?fit=1092%2C612&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/mlcmmqmgggev.i.optimole.com\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/laughing_construction_worker.png?fit=1092%2C612&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/mlcmmqmgggev.i.optimole.com\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/laughing_construction_worker.png?fit=1092%2C612&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/mlcmmqmgggev.i.optimole.com\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/laughing_construction_worker.png?fit=1092%2C612&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/mlcmmqmgggev.i.optimole.com\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/laughing_construction_worker.png?fit=1092%2C612&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1892,"url":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/?p=1892","url_meta":{"origin":12589,"position":5},"title":"More (Emotional) Heart Happiness = Less (Physical) Heart Crappiness","author":"Will Clower","date":"December 30, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"There's an exception to every rule ... except for the rule that there's an exception to every rule.\u00a0For example, self-medication is almost never recommended. But in this case, these two drugs are so effective and infectious that you would do well to dose up and get started right away.\u00a0Follow @willclowerHappiness.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Articles&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Articles","link":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/?cat=494"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/mlcmmqmgggev.i.optimole.com\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.willclower.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/happiness2Bsign.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12589","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12589"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12589\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12593,"href":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12589\/revisions\/12593"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/12590"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12589"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12589"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12589"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}