Benefits Of Laughter

Marlo Thomas, an American actress, once said, “You know, there’s endorphins in laughter, as there are endorphins in running in the park.” There are many health benefits of laughter some may be short term while others are long. There are some that help relieve stress and some that can improve a person’s immune system, blood-sugar levels, relaxation, and sleep. Is laughter really the best medicine? Laughing doesn’t just make you feel lighter; it actually changes your body physically, as well. Some of the short-term benefits of laughter are that: it “stimulates your heart, lungs, and muscles, and increases the endorphins that are released by your brain”; it “activates and relieves your stress response”, and it “soothes tension” (“Stress Management”). The fact of so many Americans having problems with either their lungs or heart should jump out. If laughter could even remotely help, why are more doctors not employing this technique? The long-term benefits of laughter is that it “improves your immune system”, “relieves pain”, “increases personal satisfaction”, and “improves your mood” (“Stress Management”). If laughter is a “natural painkiller” (“Stress Management”) then why are so many people all over the world in pain? Why are people sick with incurable diseases? Not everyone that laughs are satisfied with their life, and not

He was dying, and he knew it. He started every visit with a joke, cartoon, or funny story. “Scientists are investigating and proving what Randall knew intuitively: laughter decreases levels of stress, activates the immune system, relaxes muscles, increases pain thresholds, and exercises the heart and respiratory system” (Facente). Randall was a dying man. Dying men believe anything they can, but Randall believed whole-heartedly in “laughter being the best medicine”. Was it just a dying man’s last hope or is that actual facts to back up his