Not only stress: so a laugh improves health

A good laugh helps to feel good in body and soul. Numerous studies prove this.

Laughter helps to feel good in body and soul, it is an experience common to all and also confirmed by science. Years of research at numerous universities have shown its beneficial effects on psychophysical health.

With a good laugh, substances are released that have a beneficial function on the immune system and that improve mood; These substances also eliminate stress by helping us prevent a whole series of related disorders: panic attacks, depression, anxiety, cardiovascular diseases.

Where a laugh comes from

“Everyone knows that many researches have confirmed that laughter is good, but I am interested in what makes laughter possible, because laughter is a flower that is born spontaneously on the ground of relationship, if well cultivated” explains Michele Galgani, psychologist and gestalt psychotherapist (current of psychology focused on the themes of perception and experience), who works in Bitonto, in the province of Bari, at the Aurelio Marena Hospice.

“We laugh when we discover something new, which arouses interest and is not dangerous. Laughter is therefore an experience of knowledge, a testimony of the surprise that has taken place within us. It can arise from the need to discover something different within the reality we already know. So laughing within a dramatic situation can help us see it from a different point of view, making it more bearable» underlines the psychotherapist and author of the book “Ridendo s’impara” (editions The Age of Aquarius) and of the training course “The art of laughing”, where he deals with the beneficial effects of laughter in different contexts, but even more than what precedes it and from which it springs: the game.

“It is important to always maintain the ability to play and to be amazed. ” How long have you not laughed?” is the question I ask my patients, and from there a path to improve everyone’s quality of life can begin».

How to find your smile again…

“Laughter is an innate ability, but in some cases it can, so to speak, shrink. You have to be able to find it within yourself. It is important to know how to laugh with someone, it is a very positive experience, of deep intimacy, very different from laughing at someone. Our speeches and our behaviors are too often marked by rigidity and seriousness» explains Michele Galgani.

… even in the disease

“Playing and being ready to observe things even from a slightly different angle is an important skill even in the most difficult moments. Even in situations of illness and suffering it is possible to rediscover this capacity and benefit from it. In a hospital, the figure in a white coat is always full of fears and expectations. In addition to patients, I am also interested in helping these professionals to recover and keep alive the possibility of being amazed by people and life, despite everything, a bit like a clown does».

“In my work as a hospice psychologist, when a patient tells me about his illness, I sometimes say, ‘Well, you really have an important resume…’ This phrase, without disrespect, sometimes makes you smile. Other times it is simply the beginning of a path of acceptance of the experience of illness. A trick to try to restore all the colors to life and avoid, if possible, that the darkness and anguish erase everything else» concludes the expert.