Have a Good Laugh! (your body will thank you.)

Christy Ewing

As we each move along on our Genesis journey we learn that there are certain things we need to do every day to nurture our body.  We eat clean food, drink lots of water, sleep, exercise and think elegantly.  Another piece of our transformation process should be to add a good dose of daily laughter, and sometimes we should just laugh whether we feel like it or not.

The strongest evidence for the health benefits of laughter comes from psychiatric research.  People with chronic anxiety, anger and depression, which have been linked to heart disease and other problems, have benefited from laughter or humor therapy.  Studies have shown that laughter blunts stress and pain, increases levels of the “happy” brain chemicals known as endorphins, reduces the levels of the stress hormone cortisol and it may even mitigate some of the damaging effects of inflammation.

Now it seems silly or unnatural to just laugh if there isn’t something funny to laugh about, however making it a point to read a funny email, watch a funny movie or just think of something in the past that made you give a good belly laugh will do your body good.  Sebastien Gendry, a teacher and founder of The American School of Laughter Yoga, believes that we all should laugh independently of our state of mind or mood, and that this has health benefits.  He says that “Laughter yoga invites you to ‘fake it’ until it becomes real”.  Laughter yoga’s link to more familiar forms of yoga is that the laughter is used as a form of breath work, and like yoga, its goals are harmony and balance.  So, even if you don’t have anything in particular to laugh about, try to take a few moments to give a hearty “Ha-ha-ha and a Hee- hee-hee.  The psychological and physiological changes your body experiences will move you to a better place.