The power of laughter on pain and digestion

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Extract from the article: Science confirms that regular laughter has a number of benefits for the body. A source of energy for the body and mind, laughter has both preventive and curative effects.

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Science confirms that regular laughter has a number of benefits for the body. A source of energy for the body and mind, laughter has both preventive and curative effects.

Relieving stress, lowering blood pressure, boosting the immune system, reducing pain and boosting morale - these are not the effects of a new miracle drug, but those of a technique we all know: laughter.

Laughter is a sport

Laughter mobilises most of the body's muscles, from the face to the limbs. It has the same effects as traditional moderate physical exercise. It is gentle, deep and, above all, much more enjoyable. When you laugh, the amplitude of your breathing rhythm and the quantity of air inhaled/exhaled increase. When we laugh, we empty all the air contained in our chest: this increases the volume of reserve air. Laughter cleanses and clears the airways and helps to eliminate waste products from the lungs.

Laughter helps digestion

Even if you don't necessarily realise it, the best way to digest a big meal is to laugh! Thanks to the contraction of the abdominal muscles, laughter stirs up the digestive tract deep down, where the body's nutrition is produced. This strange phenomenon also causes jerky contractions of the stomach and intestine, thanks to the movements of the diaphragm. In this way, the stomach, colon and small intestine are massaged, and their digestive motility is optimised.In addition, laughter increases the secretion of saliva and digestive juices, which are necessary for digestion.

Laughter: a powerful painkiller

A simple and pleasant way to help fight pain is to laugh.Not laughing at our pain, but laughing to combat it: yes, it's possible.We've all heard that to cure a child who's just fallen over, you have to make him laugh! What mechanisms are involved in this incredible benefit? Laughter has four effects on pain.

First of all, pain is often despairing, sometimes even frightening, and unpleasant. That's why laughter, by taking our minds off it and focusing our attention on something else, can reduce the perception of pain and partially anaesthetise it.Secondly, pain is often accompanied by muscular tension, i.e. a contracture of the muscles in the injured area.Laughter, by acting on the parasympathetic system, reduces this tension, going so far as to make the pain disappear.Laughter also stimulates the brain's production of catecholamines (the wake-up hormone), which increase the production of endorphins (natural morphine).Endorphins exist in the body, but laughter, like sport, boosts endorphin production. The main use of endorphins in the body is to reduce pain; with laughter, their levels increase, and pain diminishes, then ceases. Finally, laughter changes our attitude to pain.The importance of pain depends partly on the importance we attach to it, but also on our personality.Laughter helps to restore the joy of living and a positive, optimistic attitude to life, and indirectly the individual's view of his or her pain.

Elom AKAKPO