Why Laughter Really Is The Best Medicine For Your Mental Health Right Now

Belly-aching chortles; reflex guffaws; contagious giggles. It sure does feel good to hear a peal of laughter. A heart-warmingly infectious element of the human condition, laughter is widely know to reduce pain (both physical and mental), boost mood and strengthen the immune system.

A good roar triggers the instant release of feel-good endorphins, a big dollop of dopamine for that short term feeling of euphoria and some added oxytocin, the empathy and love hormone. Longer term episodes of of humour in our lives can change our thought processes and help us become more positive thinkers.

Of course us therapists have cottoned on to this and the psycho-therapeutic effects of laughter have been clinically studied for many years. Being a comedian forms part of the many roles we can switch into on demand when sitting with a client. It can be one of the most potent interventions and genuinely telepathic communications of empathy, melting away barriers to relational depth and exploration.

You may remember me fangirling about this theme in my previous blogpost on Ricky Gervais’ After Life, where he uses humour so adeptly to deal with core-shaking tragedy and survive the minutiae of daily life.

Humour can reveal quite dark facets to our personality and can often appear at times we least expect, and want, it to. There is a term called ‘Gallows laughter’ which describes the inexplicable phenomenon where we laugh either subtley or excessively when talking about our own pain or suffering. We seem to think it cushions the blow.

At this time we need laughter and humour as much as possible. Beyond the grief and sadness we have seen some brilliant examples. TikTok videos of silly dance moves and cringe worthy karaoke. Borderline inappropriate memes of politicians. Slapstick Zoom fails of wardrobe malfunctions and unwelcome meeting attendees (dogs or family members, usually).

We’re not laughing at the sadness; there is nothing funny about the situation we are in. But we can use every tool in box to navigate our way through it. Collective healing is the way to take down our shared enemy and laughter is simply a social vocalisation that keeps us in this together. Our shock absorber.

We laugh because it feels good to take the edge off. We laugh because we are scared of what will happen next. We laugh because it is better than the wretched anxiety from watching the daily news briefing.

What will you get you laughing today? Go on, re-watch that funny video clip again. Pass it on.

Happy Monday 🙂

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