Category: Laughter

  • Happiness is a Serious Matter

    “Too many people confuse being serious with being solemn.” These are the words of comedian John Cleese. He’s right; we tend to associate importance with solemnity and to assume that cheerfulness belongs only with amusing trivialities. I believe the reason comes down to our language, which conflates two different meanings in the word ‘serious.’  On […]

  • The sense in humour

    Don’t you love being around people with a sense of humour? Some people seem to have the natural gift of finding something to laugh about, even when things look glum. Being around funny people helps us to take life a little less seriously. Humour not only lifts our mood – it also changes our perspective. […]

  • Laughter really is the best medicine

    Gelotology – the physiological study of laughter – has shown that laughter reduces the levels of harmful stress hormones and increases the levels of Gamma-interferon, T-cells, B-cells, and other natural killer cells that fight tumours and viruses. Immunoglobulin A, which is found in saliva and defends against infectious organisms, is also increased when we laugh. […]

  • Social benefits of laughter

    In the last newsletter I wrote about the health benefits of laughter; today I’ll talk about the social benefits. After studying 1,200 people laughing spontaneously, Robert Provine concluded that the main purpose of laughter is to bind people together. It’s an instinctive language that we all speak. We laugh when others are laughing, we laugh […]

  • Laughter is the Best Medicine

    Remember the old saying: Laughter is the best medicine? Well, it’s true. Gelotology – the physiological study of laughter – has shown that laughter reduces the levels of harmful stress hormones and increases the levels of Gamma-interferon, T-cells, B-cells, and other natural killer cells that fight tumours and viruses. Immunoglobulin A, which is found in […]