How to use laughter as a therapy for stress in convenient and appropriate ways.
Does laughter really work as a stress reliever?
Laughter seems to perform some type of emotional release like turning on a faucet to let the stress pour out.
If you've ever heard someone say something like, "I had to laugh or I knew I was going to cry" you know this is a common, human experience. Search the shelves of any library or bookstore these days and you'll see the titles are many on how to use laughter as therapy. As stress is caused by unreleased adrenaline, laughter must serve to diffuse it. You may sense when you are in the midst of spontaneous laughter that it is a sort of opening wide of the soul and, as we can see, of the body's restrained overcharging of energy.
How often should I laugh?
Unless you are laughing at inappropriate times, or so hard you may laugh yourself to death, you can safely judge that any frequency of laughter that is convenient and relieves your stress is sufficient. At least once a day is a good place to start. Go up from there if you need to. You may find it beneficial to laugh many times a day. You should also find there are many times when it is very welcome to you and those around you.
How should I initiate laughter for therapy?
You may want to subscribe to email newsletters that provide you with a joke a day. You can call an old friend who is known for their humor and spend some more time with them. Try watching hilarious cartoons or children playing or doing silly things. Watch a comedy or rent 2 or three for the weekend. Go see a live comedian or watch one on TV. Get into a tickling match with the kids and let them get you back. Learn to write jokes and share them with friends. Let their contagious uproars lead you into fits of joy. Do things that bring you joy and let smiles turn to laughing out loud. Listen to funny talk radio shows. Watch sitcoms. Try writing lymrics. Try spinning or standing on your head. A little exercise or a glass of wine can get the ball rolling, making a long stretch of the giggles an easy next step.
Looking and listening for the irony in life can provide a storehouse of funny memories to draw from. Politicians and corporate heads are frequently given to public embarrassments of all sorts. The people all around you will prove themselves human again and again with words and actions that will leave you rolling, just as you will do for them. Turn the dial on the radio station and listen to people talking in another language, perhaps in a radio romance novel. Listen to foreign language music on the Internet. If you're alone where you can laugh at these and other things that you might not be able to find funny in the company of other people, go for it. You won't be offending them and you may be doing yourself a world of good.
