Research has shown that there are great benefits of humour. Humour can bring great happiness, help to relieve pain, and increase immunity. Unfortunately, a majority of people don’t get enough humour and laughter in their lives. Children tend to laugh more than the adults. In fact, one study suggests that healthy children laugh up to 400 times per day while adults tend to laugh only 15 times per day.

If you are among the people who rarely laugh, then you should use a little more humour and laughter in your life considering the great benefits these two can add into your life. The following are ways that humour and laughter can help you become happier and healthier.

  1. Reduces stress hormones

Humour and laughter have been shown to reduce stress hormones in the body. Even though some of these chemicals are necessary for the body, too much of them can cause an imbalance in homeostasis and can have a behavioural impact.

These hormones are called immunosuppressant hormones and can have a harmful impact on your immune system. But if the production and presence of these stress hormones are lessened through activities such as laughing, your overall health and well-being will be improved.

  1. Boost immune system

Humour and laughter can help you to stay healthy. Studies have shown that laughter can stimulate antibody cells to develop faster by changing the body’s chemistry through hormonal shifts. If there is an increase in the antibodies, then it means that the body is able to fight off infections and illness easily.

T-Cells are a type of white blood cells that are also called lymphocytes. Research has shown that the effectiveness of T-Cells is increased in somebody who laughs regularly.

  1. Regulates blood pressure

If you have high blood pressure, then you can try to laugh more, and you will notice your blood pressure decrease. Research has shown that humour and laughter causes an increase in arterial blood pressure due to the physical act of laughing, that rise is followed by a decrease to below the normal resting blood pressure.

This indeed proves that laughter improves circulation and can reduce blood pressure, which is among the major causes of cardiac and heart diseases for majority of people.

  1. Enhances the mood

The studies have shown that humour and laughter can improve mood and increase happiness. Laughter can reduce even unconscious pain thus improving mood. Interestingly, even forced laughter- without the humorous stimulus can improve the mood. Therefore, even if you don’t have any reason to laugh, just laugh a bit because it will put you in a better mood.

The brain does not register whether the stimulus is genuine or not, because people usually find unusual things funny, or they can laugh at inappropriate times.

  1. Improves memory

Besides improving the brain function, humour and laughter can improve your memory. The connections that the brain forms while learning can be widened by combining basic learning with an emotional response like humour. A sharp memory will make you more productive at work.