Let us give this new year a great big roaring guffaw from around the world. What a difference that would make. Why not make it our New Year's resolutions and make this a whole new world. There are enough tears, pain and sorrow to go around the world once or twice, so for 2016 why not simply laugh, maybe the whole world will laugh with us. “Laughter is the best medicine”, so they say. Science is proving that old proverb, and then some. Laughter will wipe away your tears, ease your pain, alleviate your sorrow and help others to share the joy. Why do we always return to that subject —because science is constantly exploring the benefits of humour, optimism and mirth. If you are granted one wish, make it laughter, the rest will follow. Humour, a subject of the utmost interest, has always perplexed man since early times. In ancient Greece, Herodotus wrote about the advantages of laughter, so did other philosophers such as British Thomas Hobbes and German Schopenhauer who devoted a whole chapter to laughter in his renowned work: The World as Will and Representation. Nietzsche suggested that laughter is a therapy against the restraint of morality and reason. Even Freud who preferred to delve in the dark realm of dreams believed that humour provided relief, a way of coping with our problems, and pent-up thoughts. Is it as profound and complicated as all that? How simple and spontaneous laughter seems to us. Modern studies have discovered additional benefits to laughter and scientists have given their research efforts the distinguished name of “gelatology”. Laughter researcher Robert Provine, spent a decade studying the topic. His conclusions, published in Psychology Today: “Laughter is primarily a vocalisation that binds people together.” It is a mechanism in the brain that everyone has. There may be thousands of different languages, but laughter is the one common, human language we all share and understand. Even babies have the ability to laugh, long before they can speak. Yes, we all speak ‘Laughter-ese'. Dr Michael Miller of Maryland and Dr William Fry of Stanford theorise that laughter reduces stress hormones and urges the brain to release endorphins that can relieve physical pain. It also boosts the number of anti-bodies producing cells and enhances the effectiveness of T cells, leading to a stronger immune system. Oh! Why do we not laugh more. Your sense of humour is one of the most powerful tools that can help your daily mood and emotional state and support good health. A study conducted 15 years ago found that heart disease patients were 40% less likely to laugh and to recognise humour in a variety of situations, compared to people of the same age without heart disease. “Laughter is a powerful anti-oxidant,” confirms Dr Paul McGhee, “to stress, pain and conflict”. Go ahead! Laugh! Your anxiety gets lower, your immune system gets a boost and your circulation is improved. What a way to start a new year. Oxford University researchers found that the threshold for pain becomes significantly higher after laughter because of the endorphin medicated opiate effects. Laughter is no laughing matter, it serves several weighty purposes. Stephen Hawkings' daughter is convinced that: “Stubbornness and laughter have kept her father going”. It has been recorded that women do most of the laughing, and men do most of the laugh-getting. Women like men who make them laugh, and they definitely laugh more in the presence of men they are attracted to. The legendary Audrey Hepburn preferred men who made her laugh saying “it is probably the most important thing in a person.” To the male reader, pay attention. Hepburn possessed the innate wisdom to recognise the value of laughter. Most of us do not. Perhaps the new year will produce more laughter from individuals and collectively we can become healthier, maybe wealthier; at least this will be a better world. If love can conquer all, laughter is not far behind. Whether you chuckle, titter, giggle, chortle or cackle, go ahead express relief with mirth, joy and happiness. Better still, join a Laughter Yoga Club. Never heard of one? There are 8000 clubs in 100 countries. The very idea induces laughter. Developed by Indian physician Madan Kararia in his book “Laugh For No Reason” in 1908, Dr Kataria promoted the theory that in a group, voluntary laughter provides the same physiological and psychological benefits as does spontaneous laughter. The brain cannot distinguish the difference, and before you know it, forced laughter soon turns into real and contagious laughter. Overwhelmed by the success of the concept, scientists have begun to study laughter yoga, and have concluded that it may have medically beneficial effects including cardiovascular health and mood. Why there is even a World Laughter Day, which when started fell on 10 January but is now celebrated on the first Sunday in May, remember that date and laugh to your hearts' content. William Fry claims that it takes him 10 minutes on a rowing machine, for his heart rate to reach the level of one minute of laughter. Laughter is more efficient than exercise in burning calories. That does it. We get to hit two birds with one stone. The loud laughter is almost audible. But before you put away your treadmill, just keep on laughing, with or without reason, and who knows? Maybe the world will laugh with you. “There is nothing in the world so irresistibly contagious as laughter and good humour” Charles Dickens (1812-1870)
