Laughter is the best medicine! Smiling, laughing, and simply thinking positive thoughts can seriously impact your health in ways that might surprise you… and what’s more, scientific research confirms this to be true. There are many ways your physical body responds to joyful thoughts, emotions and actions that literally change your physiology for the better.
What happens when we smile?
When we flash a smile, your brain is hard at work releasing a cocktail of feel-good chemicals. These include endorphins (our natural painkillers), dopamine (our happiness hormone), and serotonin (our mood regulator). These chemicals can help us feel more relaxed, lower our stress levels, and even reduce pain.
The Power of Laughter
While doom scrolling increases stress and contraction in our bodies, taking time out to have a good giggle actually lowers stress. When we laugh, our body reduces cortisol levels (that’s our pesky stress hormone), and this can help with everything from improving sleep to easing muscle tension. Laughter also boosts our immune system and increases blood flow, which helps improve heart health. Who knew that a belly laugh could be as beneficial as a morning jog? 💓
Positive Thinking: The Mind-Body Connection
Here’s a fun fact for the Negative Nancys among us: optimistic people tend to have lower blood pressure, less chronic pain, and even live longer. Positive thinking has been shown to enhance the immune system, reduce the impact of stress, and promote overall well-being. And guess what? Smiling and laughing are key components of that positive mindset!
Now, that doesn’t mean you should bypass your problems or become one of those weirdos who tells everyone “I’m great, thanks!” even when their house is on fire.
But there’s certainly a case here for consistently hunting for the silver lining, the deeper meaning and the cosmic joke in every frustrating or terrible situation.
But How do I Feel Good When Everything’s Falling Apart?
This is a question for the ages, isn’t it, and the basis for many ancient spiritual teachings and modern self-help books and podcasts.
There’s a few tricks to mastery of Joy as a practice. Here’s our top
1. Practise self-compassion. Remember that you are never going to get everything right and life isn’t always going to be easy. Self-compassion says, ‘it’s ok I screwed this up, and I’m not going to beat myself up and make myself feel worse,’ and ‘I’m having a really hard time and I’m going to love myself through this.’
Self-compassion sounds like talking yourself through a hard time the same way you’d soothe a child. Some of us didn’t have that modelled even as kids, and when you’re an adult, no one else is going to give that to you. So it’s super important to practice giving it to yourself at every single opportunity.
2. Return, time and time again, to courageous questions like
‘What is the bigger picture here?’
‘What is this teaching me?’
‘What might be a silver lining in this situation?’
‘How can I improve myself in the face of this particular mess?’
And remember that our brains love to awful-ize everything unless we train them not to – so this practice is ALWAYS a PRACTICE, just like tai chi or yoga or meditation. If we want to get great at finding the joy in our lives, we gotta work at it.
We recommend the work of Pema Chodron and Byron Katie as a starting point if you enjoy self-study.
Or, if you’re a little stuck or would love to explore a personalised approach to your own dramatic human mess with one of our therapists, here’s our recommendations for that:
· Kinesiology: kinesiology can help you feel more balanced in body and mind, aligning you with your healthiest, happiest self.
- Psychotherapy: Life can get tough sometimes, and that’s where our therapists come in. They’ll help you unpack those mental blocks, so you can tackle stress and negative thinking with a smile.
- Hypnotherapy: Ever wanted to change your mindset or break a bad habit? Hypnotherapy taps into your subconscious to help you shift your thoughts, release stress, and ultimately smile more often.
So, What’s Our Takeaway Here?
It’s simple: Smiling, laughing, and thinking positive thoughts are more than just feel-good activities—they’re an investment in our health. And with an ongoing practice, or the help of a great therapist you can find yourself smiling more, feeling more relaxed, and in better shape, both mentally and physically.