Laughing heartily once a day keeps doctors away... The true benefits of 'laughter'

◆ Laughing heartily is better than medicine, boosting immunity!

When a person laughs, 15 muscles in the face move, and especially during uncontrollable laughter, internal organs vibrate, promoting good blood circulation and increasing breathing volume. Laughing for 20 minutes is roughly equivalent in exercise intensity to vigorous rowing for 3 minutes.

Scientists have confirmed that laughing boosts immunity. After watching comedy shows, the number of white blood cells and immunoglobulins, which are the body's defense soldiers, increases, while cortisol and epinephrine, which suppress immunity, decrease. It has also been confirmed that during laughter, substances such as endorphins and enkephalins are released from the brain, reducing pain and relieving stress.

◆ The mechanism of laughter, related to the left frontal lobe

The specific mechanism of how people come to smile has not been clearly identified. Scientists believe that the area overlapping the lower part of the left frontal lobe and the upper part of the midbrain governs laughter. This region is where the rational judgment governed by the frontal lobe and the limbic system responsible for emotions meet. It is densely packed with nerve cells that contain the neurotransmitter dopamine.

The research team at UC San Francisco in the United States reported in Nature that when they electrically stimulated the left frontal lobe of a 16-year-old girl, she smiled with a weak current and laughed cheerfully with a stronger current.

◆ So, what about fake smiles? Even intentionally smiling is good for your health!

In the United States, many hospitals operate humor libraries and mobile humor bookcases. Columbia Presbyterian Hospital in New York even established a comedy therapy team, and Harvard University held a large-scale symposium on "humor therapy." In Korea, no hospitals have adopted humor therapy yet, but when there is a critically ill patient at home, sharing funny stories and showing entertaining videos can be helpful.

So, does forcing a smile also have an effect? A research team from UC San Francisco in the United States stated, "When a person mimics a specific emotional expression, their body also adopts the corresponding physiological type," emphasizing that deliberately smiling can be beneficial for health. While forcing a smile in stressful situations can be stressful, laughing excessively at funny stories or practicing frequent smiling expressions can also be beneficial for health.