Laughing can instantly help reduce stress
History of World Laughter Day
Dr. Madan Kataria, a family doctor in India, founded the Laughter Yoga movement, as he believed in the theory that a person’s facial expressions can influence their emotions. This inspired him to create World Laughter Day in 1998, in an effort to bring people around the world together through laughter, to help promote and manifest world peace and positivity.
The Laughter Yoga movement now has Clubs in over 105 countries, all of which observe World Laughter Day and introduce it to their communities. World Laughter Day celebrations are usually made up of people gathering in public to share in the laughter.
World Laughter Day arrived in the United States in 2005, where it was first celebrated in Los Angeles.
Why is World Laughter Day Celebrated?
The act of laughing can have a serious positive impact on someone’s well-being and mental health. World Laughter Day aims to promote more laughing amongst people and to celebrate the benefits of laughter. Here are some of them:
- It releases endorphins. When you laugh your body releases endorphins, which are natural painkillers that can help you feel good and ease chronic pain.
- It reduces stress. Laughing lowers the level of stress hormone in your body, helping you cut down on stress and anxiety, making you feel more relaxed.
- It helps with building relationships. Laughing with someone else can bring you closer together. This means that laughter can help you make friends, it can help you make up with someone with who you’ve been angry, and it is proven that couples who regularly laugh with each other are closer and more intimate.
- It improves your heart health and lowers blood pressure. Laughter will get your heart pumping, which means that it is an easy way to get some cardio workout done. At the same time, it lowers your blood pressure, reducing the risk of a heart attack.