There is a famous saying, “Laughter is the best medicine.” Is it true? Is it backed with science? We will learn whether the saying is true or false. But everyone enjoys a hearty laugh now and then. A few (or a lot) facts on laughter are not a bad deal. So, without wasting any further time, let us start with our laughter facts.
Laughter Facts 1-11
1. The saying ‘laughter is the best medicine’ does have some scientific backing. It may not be the best medicine that you have out there, but it indeed helps in keeping us healthy.
2. A good laugh can keep your muscles and nerves relaxed for 45 minutes. It reduces stress and physical tension.
3. As laughter decreases stress levels, the immune system strengthens.
4. Laughter releases endorphins – chemicals that make us feel good and happy. This feeling of happiness even dulls any physical pain.
5. It also helps in maintaining healthy blood flow and proper functioning of blood vessels. This helps in promoting good heart health and protects us against any heart diseases.
6. Laughter burns calories! Laughing for 10 to 15 minutes can burn nearly 40 calories. If you lose 40 calories every day, then you can lose 3 to 4 pounds in a year!
7. A study in Norway concluded that people with a high sense of humor outlive the one who didn’t laugh that much. The difference was starkly visible in people who battled against cancer.
8. It reduces tension and anxiety. It also uplifts our mood. It strengthens resilience, as well.
9. Just like smiling and yawning, laughing is contagious.
10. Laughter together is one of the easiest ways to keep relationships healthy, exciting, and refreshing.
11. A good laugh draws in more oxygen to the lungs than normal breathing.
Laughter Facts 12-22
12. The study of laughing is called gelotology. It studies laughter and how it affects our bodies.
13. Scientists believe that millions of years ago, humans used laughter as a way to relate/communicate with each other. Millions of years ago, humans didn’t develop lung strength for language.
14. 17-day human babies are seen to laugh. Children who are born deaf and blind can also laugh.
15. According to a study conducted at the University of Maryland, only 10% of the laughs generated in crowds are because of jokes. The rest 90% of laughs are produced in the regular interactions of individuals.
16. There are other species that can laugh apart from humans. Primates can also laugh. Jaak Panksepp, a scientist at Bowling Green State University, found out that the neck of rats is ticklish. When the scientist tickled the rat’s neck, it produced high-frequency sounds, and he interpreted the sounds as laugh.
17. According to a study conducted by Robert Levinson of the University of California, couples that laugh together tend to have a high level of satisfaction in relationships. They also stayed as a couple for a longer time than the ones who didn’t smile/laugh much.
18. The world’s longest continuous stand-up comedy show took place in Nashville. The show continued for 208 hours and 16 minutes.
19. As per a study of Northwestern University, a sense of humor is genetic.
20. Some people are afraid of laughing. The phobia of laughing is called gelotophobia.
21. People are 30 times more likely to laugh when they are in groups than alone.
22. An average adult laughs 15 to 30 times a day.
Laughter Facts 23-33
23. When you laugh, your diaphragm spams, and that is the reason why it gets difficult to draw in air.
24. Laughter and tickling is a type of bond that is formed between parents and their children. Charles Darwin noted it in the late 19th century.
25. The world’s longest stand-up comedy show performed by one individual continued for 40 hours 8 minutes. The comedian was none other than David Scott, famously known as The Midnight Swinger.
26. You can’t laugh by tickling yourself. To laugh on tickling, you need to catch your brain off guard or your brain doesn’t know for sure whether the person will tickle you or not, and when you tickle yourself, it is your brain that processed the information, and it knows that you are going to tickle yourself, and hence it doesn’t work. We can’t laugh consciously.
27. Women laugh more than men. Women laugh more at men than men laugh at women.
28. The one who speaks laughs more than the audience.
29. When we talk and laugh, 84 muscles move and stretch our faces. This helps in keeping wrinkles away.
30. Chatting with your friends for 10 minutes leads to 5 to 8 laughter doses.
31. Our brain can tell which laughter is genuine and which one is fake.
32. Laughter is a sign of goodwill among people.
33. There is something called ‘laughter yoga.’ You have to laugh consciously (we know we told that you can’t consciously laugh). You have to start laughing as an exercise. When you see others doing, the laughter will convert into genuine and provide all the health benefits mentioned above.
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