Laughter is one of our most common expressions. It is often said that people who love to laugh will not have too bad luck, in fact, if you smile often, your body will not be bad.
As the saying goes, three laughs a day, life is difficult to grow old; Smile often, and all diseases will come less. Multiple studies have shown that people who laugh may live longer than their peers.
Experts interviewed
Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, Southern Medical University Yang Xueling
You Changxuan, chief physician of the Department of Oncology, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University
Laughter, the secret of longevity in the eyes of experts
From the first months of life, laughter is a part of who we are. According to statistics, children laugh about 300 times a day on average, and adults usually laugh 15~100 times a day.
Cheng Shujun, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and professor of the Cancer Hospital of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, once shared:
The unique way to fight cancer is to laugh, and the more angry, sad, and scared you are, the more you give cancer cells a chance. And a good mood can strengthen the immune system, which in turn affects the health of the body.
The Spanish Society of Neurology concluded that people who laughed or smiled lived 4 and a half years longer than those who rarely laughed or did not smile.
Research by the American Cancer Society found that through laughter, patients not only relieve blood pressure, but also relax the muscles of the whole body, so that the body's "natural painkiller" - endorphins are released, which help relieve pain.
An eight-year survey of 70,000 women by Harvard scholars found that those who smiled more openly and were more optimistic had a significantly lower risk of dying from heart disease, cancer and stroke.
Optimism and laughter not only promote your own health, but also influence others around you.
A study by Michigan State University in the United States found that if a person's partner is happy and laughing, the couple will be healthier and have a higher chance of living longer after middle age. Sullen partners tend to focus on their own stress.
Smile and reap 6 benefits
In addition to helping you live longer, a smile can also help you maintain your health in the following ways.
Protects blood vessels
The autonomic nervous system of the human body, consisting of sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems. If the sympathetic nerves are dominant, it can lead to increased blood pressure, rapid heartbeat, anxiety, and blood sugar instability.
Optimism such as laughter helps to inhibit sympathetic activity, reducing heart rate, blood pressure, and blood levels of epinephrine and norepinephrine, which to some extent helps reduce the possibility of cardiovascular disease.
Improves mood
Laughter can promote the secretion of the neurotransmitter serotonin in the brain, and serotonin can reduce negative emotions such as irritability and make people feel happy; Laughter can control and reduce the release of cortisol, reducing negative emotions such as stress and irritability.
Regulates immunity
American scholars have found that laughter can reduce the level of inflammation in the human body, mobilize the enthusiasm of lymphocytes, and help enhance the function of the body's immune system.
Relieves pain
Laughter may relieve pain because the body releases endorphins, a natural analgesic that enhances the body's ability to resist pain.
Maintain lung qi
When laughing, I unconsciously breathe deeply, so that the chest muscles are stretched and the chest cage is expanded. Repeated lung expansion and contraction exercises can increase lung capacity and eliminate fatigue. In addition, laughing frequently can adjust the mood and protect the lungs.
Helps socialize
Laughter promotes interpersonal connection, intimacy, and is a sign of appreciation.
For "social phobies", if you feel overwhelmed during social interaction, you can smile more to express your affirmation. When you are in a bad situation or embarrassed, you can also use a humorous smile to ease the atmosphere.
A few trivia facts about laughter
In addition to making people feel happy, there are many cold things about laughter that you don't know.
Others laugh and they want to laugh themselves
When someone hears or sees someone laughing, they laugh along with it, which is known in psychology as an "emotional contagion" phenomenon.
Researchers have found that humans tend to imitate facial expressions, verbal expressions, movements, and behaviors of those around them, often unconsciously. The specific mechanism can be expressed as "emotional perception-unconscious imitation-physiological feedback-emotional experience".
Women are more likely to have emotional contagion than men. In addition, the closer the person, the more susceptible it is to be infected.
There is a difference between a real laugh and a fake smile
Expression changes are actually contractions and stretches of facial muscles. When we actually laugh, two muscles on the face play an important role: the zygomaticus major muscle and the orbicularis oculi muscle.
When laughing and fake, muscle contractions vary greatly in each place. And the most obvious is the muscles around the eyes. When you laugh, the muscles around your eyes move 10% more than a fake smile.
Laugh till stomachache causes a diaphragm
When you open your mouth and laugh, you inhale a lot of air, your lungs expand, pushing your diaphragm downward, and when you laugh, your abs also contract, constantly pushing your diaphragm upwards. If the diaphragm muscle spasms, it can cause stomach pain.
People who often laugh until their stomach hurts, usually do more exercises to exercise the abdomen to alleviate this situation.
Some laughter can be disease
Some laughter can be a symptom or sign of nerve damage, stress, anxiety, or other disorders, known as "pathological laughter syndrome." This laughter generally sounds harsh and tense, has nothing to do with emotional changes, and can manifest itself without a specific stimulus.
This type of laughter is associated with conditions such as schizophrenia, dementia, epilepsy, stroke, multiple sclerosis, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, or brain tumors that require prompt medical attention. ▲
Editor of this issue: Wang Xiaoqing