It comes from the heart – and it helps the heart: laughter has a positive effect on the entire body. In some hospitals, humor is therefore used specifically.
How many muscles work in a person when they laugh? A lot, as Markus Gosch, chief physician at the Clinic for Internal Medicine at the Nuremberg Clinic, knows. “There are 17 in the facial area alone and another 80 in the entire body,” he explains.
At the same time, giggling and gurgling activates the entire cardiovascular system. “When we laugh, it increases our breathing volume,” says Gosch. This means that a larger amount of breathing air enters our lungs before it is expelled again.
Laughing is healthy: it works like internal jogging
An effect that doesn’t need to be explained to Annika Corleis, who works as a clinic clown. “You know that when you have so much fun with something that you take a deep breath afterwards,” she says. This then stimulates the whole body. Laughter is therefore also referred to as inner jogging.
When you laugh, your blood vessels expand and your blood pressure rises for a short time, which means the heart is better supplied with oxygen. And the hormonal balance also changes. “Adrenaline and cortisol levels decrease and endorphins and serotonin are released,” says Markus Gosch. Stress hormones are reduced and happiness hormones are released.
Various studies have shown that laughter has health benefits. This also applies to a meta-analysis that was published in the journal “Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice” in 2022. She comes to the conclusion: Measures that encourage laughter have positive effects on psychological, physiological and physical health.
Longer life through laughter?
Thinking one step further: Can laughter not only help us in the moment, but even extend our lives? According to Markus Gosch, it is difficult to answer to what extent regular laughter can affect life expectancy. “We don’t have any evidence-based data on this because it’s difficult to do controlled studies on this.”
Someone who takes everything with humor may even be more risk-averse in everyday life and thereby reduce their life expectancy again. “But when it comes to quality of life, it is relatively logical that people with humor and laughter find it easier and go through life more easily,” says Gosch.
Laughter as medicine
“We laugh for a thousand different reasons. But when we laugh really heartily, it’s a wonderful medicine,” says Annika Corleis. Especially when you laugh with others – not at them.
You can practice humor – and therefore laughter. “Humor is also an inner attitude. I can see the glass as half full or half empty and for me that also has something to do with positive thinking and therefore with humor,” says Corleis. If you are open to humor, you may be able to see some stressful situations with a wink.
Humor is used in hospitals to combat stress and anxiety
Since laughter is good for the body, humor is also used specifically to reduce anxiety and promote recovery, for example in hospital. Just like clinic clown Annika Corleis has been doing for over ten years in the Klinik-Clowns Hamburg association.
“Especially when laughter is authentic and comes from a loving context, people noticeably reduce stress,” she reports. The reason for this is that when you laugh you come into a state of doing nothing, thinking nothing and wanting nothing. “In such moments there is no past, no plans for the future, but simply a moment of freedom.”
Markus Gosch also rates the use of humor in the healing process as very positive. “In principle, hospital clowns are well received on the ward,” says Gosch, who is also president of the German Society for Geriatrics (DGG). Such offers lighten up everyday life. “Humour used correctly can greatly reduce stress levels and reduce anxiety.” Even unpleasant situations can be easily covered up with humor.
If it is used professionally. “There is always a need for respect and appreciation for those we are visiting. It is important that we take our time,” says Annika Corleis. A connection should not be forced; after all, the laughter should be genuine.
Artificial laughter also increases lung volume and breathing rate, as Markus Gosch says. But in order to feel good all around, there has to be a reason for laughing.
“And when I feel that we are accepting each other and when we laugh or smile for a moment, then I notice a calmness, a relaxation, an inner relief,” says Annika Corleis. Bringing this lightness into everyday hospital life is an important goal of the clinic clowns.
Note: This article was first published in 2023.
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