World Laughter Day: The Best Medicine to Stress and Mental Well-Being
Dubela, Chhoyee Ghosh: According to psychologists and doctors, sincere and genuine laughter has been proven to reduce stress, tension, depression and even boost your spirits. World laughter day is celebrated on the first Sunday of May every year. This year, it is being celebrated on the 4th of May. The purpose of this day is to dedicate a whole day to genuine and sincere laughter which results in boosting our spirits, lifting our moods, reducing stress, tension and prevent mental health concerns or issues like depression and anxiety. Dr Madan Kataria, the founder of Laughter Yoga Club and the pioneer of the International Laughter Yoga Movement once said that laughter has no language. All the people around the world laugh in the same way. He believed that laughter is a brilliant way to bring everybody together. The world laughter day was first celebrated and organized on 10th may 1998 by Dr Madan Kataria in Mumbai, India and now it is celebrated worldwide every year on the first Sunday of May.
Many people might wonder why laughter is the best medicine to stress and anxiety. The answer to this question is the fact that dozens of reports, researches and surveys have proven that laughter promotes physical and mental well-being and boosts our spirits. Laughter and humour lighten our burden and gives us hope. Laughter provides a lot of benefits not just mental well-being but physical and social well-being too. Laughter boosts efficiency in a great extent. Many companies provide activities for their employees so they feel comfortable and connect with each other and work efficiently for the company. Laughter also reduces stress which in turn is beneficial for our immune system as it prevents us from getting sick. Laughter also boosts our spirits and releases good hormones like endorphins. Genuine laughter lowers stress hormones like adrenaline and cortisol. Sincere laughter calms our mind and gives us hope, improves our mood. As a result, it restores balance to our body and mind. It also helps release anger and frustration.
The second question that can come to our mind is how can we bring more laughter into our life or develop our sense of humour? The answer is simple – sharing a good joke or a funny story with our friends and family, playing with our pet or street dogs, doing something silly, watching a movie, avoid focusing on negative things, surrounding ourselves with people who bring laughter to our life and most importantly we should be able to laugh at ourselves.
