Laughter provides numerous health benefits. It reduces stress hormones, boosts the immune system, protects the heart, and relaxes muscles. Laughter also has mental health benefits like improving mood and enhancing resilience. Socially, laughter strengthens relationships and enhances teamwork. Evolutionarily, laughter emerged as a way to convey well-being among early humans and primates. It differs from smiling and provides unique physical and emotional release. Creating opportunities to laugh through humor, fun activities, and being around funny people can help reap the rewards of this simple yet powerful human behavior.

1. Laughter…..
……………

2. Laughter is the
most
inexpensive and
most effective
wonder drug.
Laughter is a
universal
medicine.

3. Laughter is a release of tension mediated
through the brain. When we laugh we expel
the residual air from our lungs, our heart
beats quicker, and apparently slows down to
below the starting rate once a laugh is over. In
fact, one of the most important signs of
human health is the ability to laugh.

4. Scientifically, laughter is the biological reaction
of humans to an outward expression of
amusement.
During human development, laughter is the first
social sound emitted by human infants.
Responsive smiling generally develops in
infants within the first five weeks, laughter
emerges later around the fourth month.

5. Even children who are deaf and blind by birth have
been reported to laugh. These evidences suggest
that laughter is an evolved instinct.

6. Humour associated laughter seems to be a
phenomenon unique to humans. Resent
researches show that under certain emotional
conditions animals such as chimps, dogs and
rats emit sounds that bear similarities to
human laughter. Primates such as apes exhibit
facial expression, the open mouth or `play’
face, this expression is often accompanied by
a pant-like emitting of sound during tickling
and chasing.

7. The vowel-like notes of human laughter are
performed by chopping a single expiration.
Chimpanzee laughter is a breathy panting
vocalization that is produced during brief
inspiration and expiration.

8. Evolution of laughter
It is believed, laughter in humans evolved some 5-7
million years ago, even prior to the evolution of
human language. There are evidences in human
evolution that show that laughter started when
human ancestor started walking on two legs.
Chimpanzees cannot laugh like humans because
their body inherently constrains their vocal abilities.

9. Laughter does not have the same origin and
purpose as smiling. The smile emerged from
the silent, bared-teeth display in primates and
conveys social affinity, reassurance, sympathy,
or greeting.

10. Laughter, on the other hand, emerge from the
relaxed open-mouth display in primates and
occurs during the rough-and-tumble play in
chimpanzees. Laughter and smile have a
different evolutionary background.
The need to laugh arose in early humans and
primates as a mechanism to convey the feeling
of well being and safety among companions.

11. In his book, The Expression of the Emotions in
Man and Animals, Charles Darwin(1872)
speculated that the evolutionary basis of
laughter was its function as a social
expression of happiness, and that this gave a
cohesive survival advantage to the group.

12. Humour and Laughter
Scientific studies have proved that humour and
laughter are associated with increased
positive effect and improved mood. Humour is
the most familiar cause for laughter. It is now
accepted that incongruity or paradox and
unexpectedness are the cause of almost all
instances of formal laughter-evoking humour.

13. Human infants laugh spontaneously when they
perceive unexpected situation in non-serious
context, such as looking at people making
strange faces.
The laughter evoked by tickling involves the
unpredictable stimulation of vulnerable areas
of the body by another person; we are unable
to laugh when we tickle ourselves.

14. Sense of humour is a psychological trait that
varies considerably and allows persons to
respond to different types of humorous
stimuli.

15. Laughter Therapy
Humour and laughter are being used in
therapeutic situations. Use of therapeutic
humour tells us it has the power to motivate,
alleviate stress and pain, and improve one’s
sense of well being. This new line of therapy
has even been given a name-laughter or
humour therapy.

16. Interest in humour therapy is seen generally to
have originated in the 1970s in a America
when Norman Cousins detailed his
experiences in overcoming a serious chronic
disease by laughing at favorite comedy shows
as ‘Candid Camera’ and ‘Marx Brothers’ films.
He stated that ten minutes of laughing gave him
two hours of drug-free pain relief.

17. Known to improve pain tolerance and decrease
the experience of pain, humour has been used
extensively with cancer patients.
Humour is also being used in pediatric hospitals
to help young patients cope with difficult
moments, or as an organized programme that
benefits groups of patients and families.

18. Some hospitals incorporate humour projects in
the form of humour rooms, humour carts, or
clown care programmes. Stresses of the
professional environment and the adverse
effects on personal health have led to humour
being in corporated into the workplace too.
Happier, healthier employees work better.
Humour improves employee creativity,
communications and wellness, while reducing
burnout.

19. The message is that a good laugh shared by
office workers or colleagues doesn’t
necessarily take much time from the workday.
The pay-off is that it can improve the
environment/climate and leave people feeling
rejuvenated.

20. Structure of Laughter
Laughing is not a random vocal
sound but is characterized by a
series of start vowels like not. Each
note is about 75 milliseconds long
and repeated at regular intervals
about 210 milliseconds apart.

21. A specific vowel sound does not
define the laughter, but similar
vowel sounds are typically used
for the notes of a given laugh. It
may have the structure “ha-ha-
ha” or “ho-ho-ho” but not “ha-ho-
ha”. The gap between two
successive notes is called
internote.

22. The note and internote interval carry most of
the information about laughter and play an
important role in making characteristic
laughter of different individuals.
Laughter may be of several types.
On basis of sound created, laughter may appear
in different forms like giggles, chicks, chortles,
hoots, chuckles etc.

23. Smiling may be considered as mild silent form of
laughter.
Laughter can be divided into two main types
Duchenne laughter and
Non Duchenne laughter.

24. Duchenne laughter is stimulus driven and
emotion filled.
Non Duchenne laughter is self-generated and
emotionless.

25. An emotional component that actuates
perception of happiness after an amusing
experience possibly facilitated by the nucleus
accumbens.
The neuronal control of laughter is divided into
three major brain components:
Congnitive areas such as sections of the frontal
lobe that help the person to understand the
jokes.
A movement area that triggers muscle
movements to induce a smile or laughter, and

26. Abnormal laughter
Damage to a wide range of brain regions
produces abnormal laughter referred as
pathological laughter.
Pathological laughter is defined as sudden
outburst of uncontrolled, spontaneous,
inappropriate laughter.

27. Gender and Laughter
The harmonic structure of laughter shows that
each harmonic is a multiple of fundamental
frequencies. Given that females have higher
fundamental frequencies of about 502 hertz,
whereas in males, it is about 276 hertz.

28. There are gender differences in the amount of
laughter too. Females laugh more often than
males. It has been observed that female
speakers laugh 127% more than their male
audiences; in contrast male speakers laugh
about 7% less than the female audience.
While cross-cultural evidences suggest that
the male is the leading suggest that the male
is the leading humour producer, it is the that
female exhibits most laughter.

29. • Laughter is good for your health
• Laughter relaxes the whole body. A good,
hearty laugh relieves physical tension and
stress, leaving your muscles relaxed for up to
45 minutes after.
• Laughter boosts the immune system. Laughter
decreases stress hormones and increases immune
cells and infection-fighting antibodies, thus
improving your resistance to disease.

30. – Laughter triggers the release of endorphins, the
body’s natural feel-good chemicals. Endorphins
promote an overall sense of well-being and can
even temporarily relieve pain.
• Laughter protects the heart. Laughter
improves the function of blood vessels and
increases blood flow, which can help protect
you against a heart attack and other
cardiovascular problems.

31. The Benefits of Laughter
Physical Health Benefits:
• Boosts immunity
• Lowers stress hormones
• Decreases pain
• Relaxes your muscles
• Prevents heart disease

32. Mental Health
Benefits:
Adds joy and zest to life
Eases anxiety and fear
Relieves stress
Improves mood
Enhances resilience
Social Benefits:
Strengthens relationships
Attracts others to us
Enhances teamwork

33. •Laughter dissolves distressing emotions.
You can’t feel anxious, angry, or sad when you’re
laughing.
•Laughter helps you relax and recharge. It
reduces stress and increases energy, enabling
you to stay focused and accomplish more.
•Humor shifts perspective, allowing you to see
situations in a more realistic, less threatening
light. A humorous perspective creates
psychological distance, which can help you avoid
feeling overwhelmed

34. 1. Manage your hormones.
Laughter reduces the level of stress
hormones like cortisol, epinephrine,
adrenaline, dopamine and growth hormone.
It also increases the level of health-
enhancing hormones like endorphins, and
neurotransmitters. Laughter increases the
number of antibody-producing cells and
enhances the efficiency of T-cells. All this
means a stronger immune system, as well
as fewer physical effects of stress.

35. 2. Nice internal workout.
A good belly laugh exercises the
diaphragm, contracts the abs and even
works out the shoulders, leaving muscles
more relaxed afterward. It even provides a
good workout for the heart. Laughing 100
times is the equivalent to 10 minutes on the
rowing machine or 15 minutes on an
exercise bike!

36. 3. Physical release.
Have you ever felt like you had to laugh or you’d
cry? Have you experienced the cleansed feeling
after a good laugh? Laughter provides a physical
and emotional release.
4. Positive frame of mind.
Laughter brings the focus away from anger, guilt,
stress and negative emotions to them alongside
other “mere distractions.” It will make you
cheerful and put you in a positive frame of mind.

37. 5. Change your perspective.
Researchers found that our response to
stressful events can be altered by whether
we view something as a “threat” or a
“challenge.” Humor can give us a more
light-hearted perspective and help us view
events as “challenges,” thereby making
them less threatening and more positive.

38. 6. Social benefits of laughter.
Laughter is contagious, so if you bring more
laughter into your life, you can most likely help
others around you laugh more. By elevating the
mood of those around you, you can diminish
their stress levels, and possibly improve the
quality of social interaction you experience with
them, reducing your stress level even more!
What’s even better is that the more you smile,
the more others will too. Seeing a smile creates
what is termed as a “halo effect,” helping us to
remember other happy events more vividly, feel
more optimistic, more positive and more
motivated.

39. 7. Fight illness better.
People who are optimistic (who are out there
laughing!) have stronger immune systems and
are actually able to fight off illness better than
pessimists.
The research is very clear — this is not some
social science generalization — there is a link
between optimistic attitudes and good health.
And it has been measured in a variety of ways.
Overall, scientists have found that optimistic
people are healthier. Their biological makeup is
different and they have a more robust immune
system.

40. 8. Live longer.
According to some recent research published in
the Archives of General Psychiatry, elderly
optimistic people, those who expected good
things to happen (rather than bad things), were
less likely to die than pessimists.

41. In fact, among the 65-85 year-old study
participants, those who were most
optimistic were 55 percent less likely to die
from all causes than the most pessimistic
people. What’s more, after researchers
adjusted the results for age, smoking
status, alcohol consumption, physical
activity and other measures of health, the
optimists were 71 percent less likely to die
than the pessimists!

42. 9. It feels like eating 2000 chocolate bars. According
to The British Dental Health Foundation, a smile gives
the same level of stimulation as eating 2000 chocolate
bars. The results were found after scientists measured
brain and heart activity in volunteers as they were shown
pictures of smiling people and given money and
chocolate.
People have long been drawing attention to the fact that
smiling increases happiness both in yourself and those
around you, so it is good to receive the backing of this
scientific research.

43. Creating opportunities to laugh
Read the funny pages.
Seek out funny people.
Share a good joke or a funny story.
Check out your bookstore’s humour section.
Host game night with friends.
Play with a pet.
Go to a “laughter yoga” class.
Goof around with children.
Do something silly.
Go to a comedy club.
Make time for fun activities (e.g. bowling,
miniature golfing, karaoke).

44. Why laughter is Contagious
We start laughing when people around us start
laugh. Why does this happen? Researchers at
University College London and Imperial
College London have found that positive
sounds such as laughter trigger a strong
response in the listener’s brain. The finding
appear the 12th
December 206 issue of The
Journal of Neuroscience.

45. This response occurs in a brain area that’s
activated when we smile, as though preparing
our facial muscles to laugh, the scientists said.
The research team played a series of sounds
to volunteers while scanning their brains with
functional magnetic resonance imaging, a
technology that measures brain activity based
on blood flow in the brain.

46. Some of the sounds were positive, such as
laughter or triumph; others were unpleasant
such as screaming or retching. All were found
to trigger activity in the brain’s premotor
cortical region, which prepares the muscles in
the face to respond accordingly. But the
response was greater for positive sounds,
suggesting that these were more contagious
than negative sounds.

47. The researchers believe this explains why we
respond to laughter or cheering with an
involuntary smile. This plays an important role
in the building strong bonds between
individuals in a group.

48. Therapeutic use of humour
throughout history
14th
century: French surgeon Henri de
Mondeville used humour therapy to aid
recovery from surgery. He wrote “let the
surgeon take care to regulate the whole
regimen of the patient’s life for joy and
happiness, allowing his relatives and special
friends to cheer him and by having someone
tell him jokes.”

49. 16th
century: Robert Burton, an English parson
and scholar used humour as a cure for
melancholy.
16th
century: Martin Luther used a form of
humour therapy as part of his pastoral
counseling of depressed people. He advised
them not to isolate themselves but to
surround themselves with friends who could
joke and make them laugh.

50. 17th
Century: Herbert Spencer, sociologist used
humour as away to release excess tension.
18th
Century: Immanuel Kant, German
philosopher used humour to restore
equilibrium.
18th
Century: English physician William Battie
used humour in treatment of the sick.
20th
Century: Modern humour therapy dates
from the 1930s, when clowns were brought
into U.S. hospitals to cheer up children
hospitalized with polio.

51. 20th
Century-1979: Norman Cousins publishes his
book ‘Anatomy of an illness’ based on his own
experiences: he had been suffering from
ankylosing spondylitis and decided to use his
brand of ‘humour therapy’ by watching
episodes of the television show ‘Candid
Camera’ and ‘Marx Brothers’ films. He claimed
that ten minutes of laughter could give two
hours of pain relief.

52. 20th
Century-1998: Renewed interest in the uses of
humour as therapy thanks to the release of the film
‘Patch Adams’ starring Robin Williams and based on
the real Hunter ‘Patch’ Adams.

53. Pluto remarked: ‘Even GOD loves jokes’. This
emphasizes the myriad of benefits that come
along with a hearty laugh. Evolution has
certainly provided us with a unique
characteristic that is a beautiful signal to
advertise our feeling of joy and happiness.
Most of all laughing is contagious.
So, go get a hearty laugh, and pass it on!

54. Laughter is good for you!
Laughter has
Been found to
Have immeasurable
Health benefits.
Most of all, it is free
And has no known
Negative side effects.
So laugh because
It is good for you!