Linton Smith

“People are not disturbed by things, but by the view they take of them.” – Epictetus

While this quote may seem like a serious piece of advice about controlling your emotions, it also opens the door to something else. How you choose to react to life’s challenges can either weigh you down or set you free. Laughter is one of the best ways to free yourself from the heaviness of stress. Laughter might seem like a small insignificant act but it’s incredibly powerful.

When we laugh, our brains release a cocktail of feel good chemicals like endorphins and serotonin which help us cope with pain and elevate our mood. On top of that, laughter actually reduces the amount of cortisol and adrenaline in our system. These two hormones are the ones that surge when we’re stressed, putting us in a state of fight or flight.

By laughing, we lower their levels which in turn reduces the physical effects of stress on our bodies.

Essentially, laughter is like hitting the reset button on our nervous system. It calms us down, makes us feel more in control and even helps us sleep better. Imagine life as a roller coaster, full of unexpected twists sudden drops and the occasional heart pounding moment that makes you question everything.

When you laugh it’s like fastening the safety harness on that roller coaster ride.

It doesn’t make the ups and downs disappear but it helps you feel secure and able to handle whatever comes next. This is exactly what laughter does for our emotions, it acts as a buffer helping us bounce back from stressful situations with a sense of resilience.

Dr. Lee Burke from Loma Linda University conducted extensive research on the effects of laughter on the human body. What he found was pretty amazing, laughter works like a natural stress reliever. His studies showed that even a few moments of genuine laughter could lower blood pressure, boost the immune system and reduce the production of stress hormones. In other words, laughter isn’t just a quick fix for a bad mood, it’s a long term strategy for protecting your health.

What if you don’t feel like laughing? What if the pressures of daily life make it hard to find joy or humor in anything?

Here’s where the stoic mindset comes in. Stoicism teaches us that, while we can’t always control the external events in our lives, we can control how we respond to them. Choosing to laugh even in tough situations is a form of control. It’s a conscious decision to look for the lighter side of life, to not let hardships drag us down completely and don’t worry.

Laughter isn’t just for those who have a naturally great sense of humour.

Anyone can benefit from it, in fact, research has shown that even forced laughter like in laughter yoga or therapy can have the same positive effects on the brain and body. Spontaneous laughter, in a study published by the journal of alternative and complementary medicine, stated that cancer patients who participated in laughter therapy reported feeling less depressed, more hopeful and better equipped to face their challenges.

Think about that for a second. People going through one of the toughest battles of their lives found relief and strength in laughter. If they can, so can you.

How can you incorporate more laughter into your daily life?

Start small, don’t wait for the perfect joke or a hilarious movie, instead find humor in the little things. Laugh at your own mistakes, laugh at the absurdity of certain situations, laugh at the memes your friends send to you, even if they’re not that funny.

The key is to let yourself experience joy and amusement as often as possible.

Every time you laugh, you’re training your brain to focus on the positive and let go of the negative even if just for a moment.