Laughter is the Best Medicine

Whether you’re guiltily guffawing at an episode of “Family Guy” or quietly giggling at a joke told by a friend, laughing does you good. Laughter is a great form of stress relief, and that’s no joke. Medically speaking, laughter helps the pituitary gland release its own pain-suppressing opiates.

What can laughter do?:

Lower blood pressure
Increase vascular blood flow and oxygenation of the blood
Give a workout to the diaphragm and abdominal, respiratory, facial, leg, and back muscles
Reduce certain stress hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline
Increase the response of tumor- and disease-killing cells such as Gamma-interferon and T-cells
Defend against respiratory infections–even reducing the frequency of colds–by immunoglobulon in saliva.
Increase memory and learning; in a study at Johns Hopkins University Medical School, humor during instruction led to increased test scores

Improve alertness, creativity, and memory

Overall, laughter is the best medicine. Go ahead and give it a try. Turn the corners of your mouth up into a smile and then give a laugh, even if it feels a little forced. Once you’ve had your chuckle, take stock of how you’re feeling. Are your muscles a little less tense? Do you feel more relaxed or buoyant? That’s the natural wonder of laughing at work.

Don’t forget to checkout a list of comedians who makes a living at making you laugh. Enjoy!

: “If a woman tells you she’s twenty and looks sixteen, she’s twelve. If she tells you she’s twenty-six and looks twenty-six, she’s damn near forty.”

: I DON’T have EX’s! I have Y’s. Like ‘Y the hell did I date you?!’

: Some people name their kids a word, like Sunshine or Battery or something like that. I like to name my kid a whole phrase, something like Ladies and Gentlemen. That would be a great name for a kid, you know. ‘This is my son, Ladies and Gentlemen.’