The Health Benefits of Humor and Laughter

A healthy sense of humor might seem like a soothing balm or a light diversion during tough times, but it is much more powerful than something that simply lulls us or calms us down. In fact, it’s an often overlooked tool in our arsenal in the battle to maintain good health.

When we’re laughing at a friend’s joke or a comedian’s monologue, the benefits of humor extend to our health. We're not only being entertained but also enhancing our physical, psychological, and social well-being. Here's how it works.

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Physical Benefits of Humor

At its most basic level, laughter affects our physical body. It exercises our diaphragm, enabling us to take in more oxygenated air and stimulating our lungs. Moments of raucous laughter also relieve tension in our muscles. This leads to several benefits.

Increases Heart Health

As we laugh at hilarious events, our cardiac health improves. Laughter provides this benefit by increasing our heart rate and lowering our blood pressure—much like how our body responds to exercise.

One study found that people who rarely or never laughed were 1.21 times more likely to have heart disease than those who laughed daily. This helps reinforce the benefits of humor on heart health.

Reduces Physical Pain

Robert Bonakdar, MD, FAAFP, FACN, director of pain management at the Scripps Center for Integrative Medicine, likes to bring laughter into the treatment room whenever possible. He commonly uses an icebreaker to help put patients at ease and hopefully bring a smile to their faces.

This approach serves multiple purposes. In addition to helping his patients feel more comfortable, he’s also contributing to lessening their perception of pain.

Let’s say we have a migraine but are watching a hysterically funny show. As we watch and laugh, we may become at least somewhat distracted from the migraine pain and discomfort. But the distraction alone isn’t what reduces our pain perception.

Proven processes are working behind the scenes in our body to increase our pain tolerance. Naturally occurring hormones called endorphins, for example, get to work. Because we’re laughing up a storm, our body produces these natural painkillers.

Improves Sleep

Laughing offers another physical benefit: it can help us sleep better. In one small-scale study, residents at a long-term care hospital engaged in 40-minute laughter therapy sessions twice a week for four weeks. Their sleep quality improved during this time, as did their feelings of depression.

Combining laughter with yoga, called laughing yoga, has also been found to improve sleep quality and help us fall asleep faster. This form of yoga involves movements and breathing exercises that make us want to laugh.

Boosts Immunity

Overall, extensive laughter supports the immune system, which makes us more resistant to disease. By laughing, we increase antibody-producing cells and enhance the effectiveness of T cells in our body. These cells act like a defense army to combat illness.

Psychological Benefits of Humor

Some benefits of humor are related to our psychological well-being.

Reduces Stress

Clinical evidence shows that humor reduces stress hormones. Cortisol is a major stress hormone that circulates throughout the body when we’re stressed out. Decreasing cortisol is important because high levels tax our immune system.

Plus, when we’re preoccupied with something funny, we can’t simultaneously focus on negativity. Humorous interludes can give us a break from worrying. That space, that place where we can let our hair down and breathe, in and of itself is beneficial.

Humor can even provide a healthy perspective. Maybe after laughing, we discover a new angle on a problem. Perhaps we realize that we’ve gotten through other difficult periods and are reassured. With a new perspective, we might view threats such as challenges and problems as opportunities.

Or we might intentionally find the funny aspects of a stressful problem. If we’re embarrassed about something or need to forgive ourselves for a mistake we made, we can use humor and laughter as a coping mechanism.

Improves Memory

Another benefit of humor that might come as a surprise relates to the brain as well. Namely, it can improve memory retention. When relevant humor is paired with a fact, we tend to have a better recollection of that fact.

Research confirms this. In a study focused on humor's relationship to politics and news, researchers found that the information had a higher chance of being remembered if the content made the participant laugh.

Social Benefits of Humor

It’s more than okay to laugh at things that are amusing, ludicrous, or absurd. Our relationships benefit in several ways when we connect with others through humor.

Brings People Together

A shared laugh creates a bond between people. Most of us remember a time when laughter became contagious and spread fast through a group. People usually feel closer to others after laughing together, too.

Adds Positivity to Conversations

Another social benefit of humor is that it creates more positive communications between people. Just by sharing a meme or telling a joke, the other person is more predisposed to want to talk with us. During tricky conversations or disagreements, humor can pave the way for a better discussion, diffusing tension and relaxing the other person.

Sharing funny stories will not only cheer up a friend, relative, or co-worker but also add to their well-being. They will likely walk away in a better mood and happier than before.

It all comes down to engaging with people in a human way. To laugh at one of our traits or poke fun at ourselves about a mistake we made requires a shared understanding of humanity.

Helps Us Understand Ourself and Others

Therapist Bianca L. Rodriguez, LMFT, underscores how the benefits of humor go beyond the physical, psychological, and social realms. It connects with our understanding of ourselves and others. “Humor is imperative to empathy and compassion," she says, "and forgiveness is a tenet of every spiritual tradition for this reason.”

Therefore, we should turn to whatever makes us laugh, especially during trying times. Those viral social media videos and funny memes are not momentary pleasures. They help us cope with anxiety, fear, and grief. At the same time, we’ll also be activating a host of health-related benefits for ourselves and others.

Summary

During times when we are barraged with economic, social, political, and health problems, we can turn to this not-so-obvious way to protect ourselves. The myriad of health benefits of humor and laughter are wide-reaching.

Laughter is more than just something that feels good in the moment, it can have real benefits for our physical, psychological, and social well-being. We can bring more humor into our lives by looking for opportunities to laugh. Seek out things that bring us joy and laughter, whether it is our favorite sitcom or silly social media posts.