Laughter Is No Joke — More Health Benefits 

Laughing Is Good For Your Heart

A team of cardiologists from the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore examined the effects of laughter on the cardiovascular system, and the heart in particular. Their conclusion? Laughter is so good for you that it may actually help prevent a heart attack!

Science had already found out that stress can harm the endothelium, the protective lining of the blood vessels. This can, in turn, lead to fat and cholesterol build-up inside the coronary arteries and create a great environment for a heart attack.

In this study, the research team used multiple-choice questions to find out how likely people were to react to various situations with laughter. Those with heart disease were least likely to laugh about life, and those with healthy hearts laughed most!

Laughter Boosts Your Immune System

Some studies suggest that laughter has a positive impact on a person's immune system — if you have a positive outlook on life and laugh every day, you may just have more antibodies to combat infections, and your immune cells could be stronger. Other studies into the same topic were inconclusive, so further research is needed to support the claim that laughter boosts the immune system.

What's clear is that high levels of stress have a decidedly negative effect on the immune system. And doesn't laughter make stress melt away, to some extent? I suggest that you use April Fool's Day as an excuse to test the link between laughter and immune response yourself. From this day onward, try to laugh heartily at least 10 minutes a day, and see if you get ill less!

Laughing Is Good For Diabetics

Diabetes isn't funny, but laughter does seem to have a positive effect on a diabetic's blood sugar levels. Diabetics who are anxious, sad, stressed, or scared are very likely to see their blood glucose levels soar to dangerous levels. Would the reverse be true, too? Researchers tried to find out by exposing a small group of people with Type 2 diabetes, who weren't receiving insulin therapy, to a tedious lecture one day and to a hilarious comedy the next.

While you can hardly call a study of 19 diabetics conclusive, the results did suggest that laughter is a great medicine indeed. The study's authors came up with several theories to explain the idea that laughter keeps blood glucose levels down, but were not sure how accurate any of them were. What they were certain about was the “importance of daily opportunities for laughter in patients with diabetes”!

Laughter Takes You To Another World

Let's face it — the stresses of daily life can really get to all of us sometimes. Are you having a really bad day? Laughter can distract you and take you to a whole other world. If you look on the bright side of life, you could simply forget about problems, whether they are related to work, family, relationships, friendships, finances or anything else. And if the problem is still there after you welcomed some laughter into your day, you will at least have a fresh perspective on things, that will help you find creative solutions more easily.