Sarah’s Health Notes: Why it’s good to laugh - and cry!
Having a bad day? When everything’s going belly up you might just need a good (belly) laugh. So…
Think of your favourite joke or funny situation and start chuckling. Feel the corners of your mouth turning and you're your eyes crinkling. Then try expanding that to actually laughing. Feel your body shaking and your face softening. And your stress levels coming down, down, down.
Medical scientists know that laughter is a great form of stress relief and one that most of us can make use of. Last week, my email went down and the archive disappeared, possibly for good. My email is still not restored. Along with the tech side, I lost my sense of humour. Talk about gnashing of teeth and fury, as well as the realisation that I was/am completely unable to control this. At the same time, there seemed to be endless people problems, mostly around partial or no communication.
What helped me over the first few days was laughing with friends – albeit through gritted teeth – and in the middle of the night when I woke with racing brain, re-running events, thinking of my favourite funnies.
One scenario that never fails to literally make me shake with laughter is thinking of a dear friend on honeymoon in a dormobile driving away from a gas station in Switzerland, talking to his new wife in the back – where he couldn't see her. He chatted on for half an hour, taking the silence to be her wisely – and silently - nodding to what he said. Until he turned round to find – no wife… (He did go back, did find her, and they’re still married 40 years later.)
So what happens when you laugh? To start with, you take in more oxygen-rich air. When you’re tense, you tend to breathe shallowly. A good ‘belly laugh’ isn’t just for plumptious comics – it works for all of us, stimulating our circulation as well as relaxing tight muscles.
Something else interesting happens: a rollicking laugh fires up and then cools down your stress response, so increasing and then decreasing your heart rate and blood pressure.
Also: laughing increases the production and release of endorphins from your brain. These hormones are often described as a type of natural feel-good chemical, which help relieve pain, reduce stress, support your immune system and improve your sense of wellbeing.
Fascinatingly, endorphins are also released when we cry. That’s crying in response to emotion, rather than the ‘eye watering’ that’s triggered to remove the debris when we get smoke, dust or bits of mascara in our eyes.
Emotional tears ‘flush out’ stress hormones and other toxins. According to a Harvard Health Blog, ‘Researchers have established that crying releases oxytocin and endogenous opioids, also known as endorphins. These feel-good chemicals help ease both physical and emotional pain. Popular culture, for its part, has always known the value of a good cry as a way to feel better — and maybe even to experience physical pleasure. The millions of people who watched classic tearjerker films such as West Side Story or Titanic (among others) will likely attest to that fact.’
And if music sometimes makes you cry, let those tears roll. Even think about joining a choir, as GP Dr. Simon Opher and epidemiologist Dr. Daisy Fancourt recommended on a BBC Radio 3 programme linked to the Proms. You can play it again here.
You can read my article on one woman who overcame her suicidal depression through singing in a choir, here.
Finally, perhaps surprisingly, faking laughter also works, according to research. Here’s what the Mayo Clinic suggests:
‘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…’
