Health and Wellness Benefits of Laughing
Cardio workout—yes, laughing provides us with the same benefits as any aerobic exercise—just 10 minutes of heart laughter is equivalent to 30 minutes of being on the rowing machine! Even better, 5 minutes of laughing releases the same amount of endorphins as jogging for 1 hour does! Laughter Yoga is a great alternative for people who do not have time or full capacity to exercise.
Oxygen flowing in your body—not so fun fact: Negative emotions constrict the supply of oxygen and induce shallow breathing, resulting in lower levels of oxygen in your body.
Laughing Yoga exercises facilitate longer exhalation and deep breathing through the diaphragm. What does this mean? Laughter yoga exercises help to flush the lungs of stale residual air and increases the net supply of oxygen.
Maintains and enhances mood—Laughter Yoga frees the flow of emotions and releases pent up feelings. It can defuse feelings like fear, anger and resentment and cultivates positive emotions such as unconditional love, generosity, compassion and kindness for self and others.
Reduces/eliminates depression symptoms--Laughing increases pleasure hormones, dopamine and serotonin within the brain which actually decreases depression symptoms.
Reduces/eliminates anxiety and panic attacks—when we are experiencing a stress, our breathing often becomes faster, shallow and irregular, some people hold their breath when in a stressful emotional state, this actually lends to an accumulation of carbon dioxide in the blood. Laughter Yoga lowers the amount of residual air in the lungs, replacing it with oxygen rich air and reducing the level of carbon dioxide in the lungs, which reduces the risk of pulmonary infection.
Increases connections—Laughing yoga provides social support and leaves you with feelings of connection, belonging and general sense of well being.
Chronic Illness and Pain—Laughing yoga exercises can help to reduce the symptoms of patients with rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, diabetes, blood pressure, auto immune disorders. Laughter has been found to reduce chronic pain.