BENEFITS OF LAUGHTER

The study of humor and laughter, and its psychological and physiological effects on the human body, is called gelotology. Gelotology is the study of laughter and its effects on the body, from a psychological and physiological perspective. Laughter Therapy, aka gelotherapy: Gelotherapy is an innovative adjunctive therapeutic activity program, typically called Laughter Therapy or Therapeutic Laughter, developed by psychologist Steve Wilson (Ohio), founder of the World Laughter Tour. This is a way to help people re-connect with the natural, authentic laughter which is every human being's birthright.

A general theory that explains laughter is called the relief theory. Sigmund Freud summarized it in his theory that laughter releases tension and "psychic energy". This theory is one of the justifications of the beliefs that laughter is beneficial for one's health.  This theory explains why laughter can be as a coping mechanism for when one is upset, angry or sad.

See the following links for more information on this fascinating subject.  For copyright’s sake, the information stated above was “copied and pasted" from:     http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laughter and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gelotology 

I overheard my husband once tell someone, “Audrey loves to laugh.” It stuck in my mind because I did not know he could be so cognitive when evaluating my personality. Actually, one of the reasons I married him was that he was a “walking joke book” when he was twenty years old. He was the wittiest person that I have ever known. His mind was razor sharp and he could come up with a lightning fast quip when he deemed it necessary. However, the hardships encountered in our lives diminished this talent somewhat over the years.

My sense of humor and the ability to laugh at some of life's tragedies have sustained me through many hardships. I have a best friend named Mary that I met when I entered nursing college in 1977. We have been best friends ever since. The nursing profession can be very stressful and when Mary and I worked as nurses, going through particularly hard times, we would get on the phone and share “war stories.” Somehow, we would be able to laugh at the ludicrous situations we encountered while trying to function as registered nurses.

I am frequently talking to one of my friends on the phone but my husband told me once, “I always know when you are talking on the phone to Mary.” When I questioned how he knew that, he responded, “Because you laugh a lot.”

Mary and I have been though many hardships in our lives but we still manage to laugh a lot. I am a happy person and I give Mary some of the credit because she has always been there for me, through “thick and thin” as the old saying goes. Somehow, through the muck and mire of our troubles, we still find time to laugh at the absurdities of life that overtakes us at times.

For good physical and mental health, engage in activities and cultivate friends that make you laugh a lot.