We learn to laugh before we can speak. Children giggle all day long. But as we become adults, many of us forget the healing power of humor, which causes us both emotional and physical harm. Here are three reasons why you should lighten up a little:
1: Laughter extends your life: it’s good for your heart and immune system, burns calories, and reduces stress.
There’s a reason why comic actors like Betty White and Dick Van Dyke have worked well into their nineties. Ninety-four year-old Mel Brooks explains why: “Humor keeps the elderly rolling along, singing a song. When you laugh, it’s an involuntary explosion of the lungs. So, you laugh, you breathe, the blood runs, and everything is circulating. If you don’t laugh, you’ll die.”
2: Humor is a sign of goodwill toward others.
Dan Mathews photo
At a party, when I’m offered pizza or ice cream, I never say “No thanks, I’m vegan,” but rather “You’re kind to offer, but I’m not a dairy queen.” This always produces a chuckle and leads to a more genial exchange about animal rights than would a mundane response. Humor makes an earnest message more digestible. It’s good for your social life as people are drawn to those who are upbeat.
3: Laughing helps you win the tug of war with your negative side.
Nowadays, with relentless news cycles constantly assaulting our senses, it’s easy to slip into the dark rabbit hole of depression. The farther you fall, the harder it is to climb out. That’s why it has never been more important to find humor wherever you can. Laughter sets off the dopamine-dispensing reward center in your brain, which makes you more optimistic and forgiving, and improves your self-esteem and relationships.
As my mother’s decline steepened, she was on too many meds and turned into a belligerent asshat. We went through Perry’s prescriptions, looked at the side effects, and she dumped the problematic steroids. As a way of showing me and my brothers that she had risen above her manic moods, she gleefully acknowledged her state by changing her email address to MsRoidRage@hotmail and signed her notes, “Perry Noid.”
A good laugh helped us move on—and be better prepared for the next drama.