The most wasted of all days is one without laughter.”
-ee cummings

I was reading material last week about the effects of laughter on our health. We all know how good it feels to laugh and the more humor we have in a day, the better we feel. No matter what the circumstance or stressful situation is, if we can introduce some humor, it always relieves stress. Laughter is something natural for us; We were born to be happy and have fun. Young children laugh an average of 400 times a day! Unfortunately, as we move into adulthood, responsibility grows and laughter diminishes. Adults average just 20 laughs per day. What a great change!

When was the last time you had a good laugh? Being with family or friends always makes me laugh. I love spending an evening with good friends sharing stories with a lot of humor. Sometimes we laugh at ourselves, which seems to happen more often as we get older! Other times we laugh at something on TV or something we read or maybe something that happened during the past week. Doesn’t seem to matter. Once the laughter starts, it continues for hours and the night flies by. It’s fun to see how relaxed everyone becomes. You can visibly see any tension in the body dissipate. After a good laugh, your blood pressure drops, your muscles relax, and your heart rate and breathing slow down. Ah… doesn’t this sound relaxing? What would your laugh meter show right now? Are you doing better or worse than average? Close your eyes and think of something or someone that makes you laugh. What happens to your body when you see this image? Wouldn’t you like to feel like this most of the time?

A good friend of mine just called as I was writing this article. In the process of catching up, she shared a funny story about herself. While she was hurriedly putting on makeup to go to a wedding, she accidentally got her mascara brush stuck in her bangs! The pictures she painted of trying to get mascara off her bangs without getting the rest of her hair wet were hilarious! We laughed a lot and I was still smiling when I hung up the phone.

Pay attention to what makes you laugh and how often you laugh over the next few days. Bring laughter back into your life by sharing funny stories with your friends and family – everyone benefits!

Who do you know that needs a good laugh right now? What could you do to bring a little lightness and laughter to this person? Maybe call and share a funny story or incident? Rent a comedy and watch it with them? Buy them a humorous gift or card? Whatever surprise you come up with, it will be perfect, and when they laugh at what you did, so will you!

Copyright October 2003 by Vicki Miller