Dec. 28, 2025
Look In The Mirror, Repeat This One Word, And Your Health Will Improve
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RSS Feed Scientists around the world have been studying the effects of laughter for decades, but some new research shows BELLY laughing several times a week has major medicinal benefits. Researches have found even if you’re not in the laughing mood, forced laughter has the same effect. So much so, laughter yoga labs are popping up around the world and are available online for everyone to take advantage of.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
00:00:11
Speaker 1: Hey there, everybody.
00:00:12
Speaker 2: It is Sunday, December twenty eighth, And when is the last time you had a belly laugh? Not just a little, but a deep hearted, deep belly laugh. Well, doctors are now saying that research shows you should belly laugh at least two to five times a week. They say the power, the medicinal power of laughter is no joke. When's the last time you laughed hard?
00:00:43
Speaker 3: I feel like I do that every day.
00:00:44
Speaker 4: I do so do I I can remember going to see the Anaconda on Christmas Day with Paul rud Jack Black and Crew, and there were a couple of moments in there.
00:00:55
Speaker 3: I was in tears. Yes. Is that count as a belly laugh?
00:00:58
Speaker 1: Absolutely?
00:01:00
Speaker 4: Aren't there What constitutes a belly laugh? That's beyond just laughing or laughing hard.
00:01:03
Speaker 2: It's where your diaphragm actually gets involved. Your belly is involved in the laughter.
00:01:08
Speaker 1: It's funny.
00:01:08
Speaker 2: I feel like every time someone snaps a series of pictures when we're together, I am actually my head is thrown back.
00:01:16
Speaker 1: I'm laughing so hard. We just went on a walk. Pretty sure I belly laughed on the walk.
00:01:21
Speaker 2: It's one of the things when you find somebody who you can share that kind of laughter with there is a poll of that person because you feel good.
00:01:29
Speaker 4: Now this research does it have to It's just belly laugh It's not a relationship element to it necessarily.
00:01:34
Speaker 1: No, it's about the power of laughter. And we'll get into this.
00:01:38
Speaker 2: But it isn't just about something you think is funny or something you're enjoying. Doctors are saying you can actually force laughter in order to create the exact same effect as a natural moment where you laugh really hard.
00:01:54
Speaker 4: So is the benefit an emotional one or something physically that happens that is beneficial.
00:01:58
Speaker 2: They call it physiological, so both emotional and physical. They say that if you actually learn and practice how to force this kind of laughter, it could actually replace pain medication.
00:02:10
Speaker 1: That's how powerful it is.
00:02:11
Speaker 4: Okay, you had me up to there, So I'm listening now if y' all can't tell, I'm the skeptic on this on this episode.
00:02:16
Speaker 2: Okay, So there are several doctors involved with this this. One of them is from the University of Pennsylvania, a cardiologist, a medical professor there. He is promoting belly laughing for better health. Doctor Miller says a good laugh is good for your heart. Your immune system and has plenty of other medicinal health benefits.
00:02:37
Speaker 1: You're not buying it.
00:02:38
Speaker 4: No, because you're saying now, it's one thing. You're saying medicinal. Yes, now, it's one thing to improve your emotions. But to say laughing that you can force has a medicinal property.
00:02:50
Speaker 3: Yes, I'm gonna stay open. I'm gonna stay open though.
00:02:53
Speaker 2: Yes, please keep your mind and your heart open, because this is actually really incredible, because this is accessible to everyone and it's free. The study of laughter actually began in the nineteen sixties and there was a psychologist from Stanford who actually decided to draw blood samples from himself while he was watching Laurel and Hardy.
00:03:15
Speaker 1: So he was laughing, right, he discovered discovered that was.
00:03:20
Speaker 3: Well.
00:03:20
Speaker 1: He was using himself as patient A or exhibit A.
00:03:24
Speaker 2: And he found he took his blood cells and studied whatever they study when he wasn't laughing, and then while he right after he watched Laurel and Hardy, he found a huge increase in the number of immune boosting blood cells in his blood after he watched that program Laurel and Hardy.
00:03:43
Speaker 1: This is in the nineteen sixties.
00:03:44
Speaker 2: It was a comedic du Hour kind of like a three Stooges kind of a thing where it was the it was the comedy show of the time, and so that was when it That was one of the first earliest documentations of someone studying the impact of the effect of laughter. Okay, so then in the nineteen nineties are aforementioned, doctor Miller started showing funny movies same thing to participants. He found, listen to this, that laughter, you have endorphins in your brain that then promote beneficial chemicals in your blood. Then they said nitric oxide, which actually causes your blood vessels to dilate, which lowers blood pressure, increases.
00:04:25
Speaker 1: When you laugh. It also helps with inflammation and cholesterol. How about that.
00:04:32
Speaker 4: You're telling me to lower my cholesterol. All I have to do is laugh two to five.
00:04:37
Speaker 1: Times a week, belly laugh, but it will.
00:04:40
Speaker 4: I'm getting more skeptical than less.
00:04:44
Speaker 2: So they say, if you can do this, if you can belly laugh two to five times a week, that reduces This is according to doctor Miller, who's much smarter than me or you on this, it reduces your risk for a heart attack and it creates endorphin, which are natural painkillers. There is no downside to this, and there are plenty of upsides.
00:05:07
Speaker 4: Oh okay, I will keep listening before I need to start writing these questions down because I.
00:05:11
Speaker 1: Have plenting Yeah, how do you feel after you laugh?
00:05:14
Speaker 4: Everybody feels you're in a better place, I mean, just naturally. And I wonder, and I'm starting to wonder about the study if we are signing it to laughing. But isn't this also a matter of people who are under less stress, people who are under right, who aren't under the gun, people who are living their lives in such a way that they are naturally upbeat or happy. Is it having the same effect. And can someone who is down and depressed and having a terrible week and a terrible week month and a terrible year just laugh and get those benefits.
00:05:46
Speaker 3: I'm still listening.
00:05:48
Speaker 1: They are saying.
00:05:49
Speaker 2: Yes, they are saying that whether you laugh because you're happy and you're having a good time, you're having a fun day and you're watching a fun program, or you're with somebody who's really funny, yes, of course, But even if you are, especially if you're struggling, you're in pain, you're depressed, you can't get motivated.
00:06:05
Speaker 1: If you can learn.
00:06:06
Speaker 2: How to laugh, how to force laughter. It immediately will improve your mood. So you do get true emotional benefits, mood boosting benefits, and you also get immune boosting benefits, heart benefits. If you can actually make this a part of your intentional day. The Mayo Clinic, I actually look to see beyond just these headlines that we saw from this particular doctor, and then I'll get into some of the studies. But the Mayo Clinic has an entire page devoted to the study of laughter, the medicinal power of laughter. They say stressfulief from laughter is no joke. They say there are short term and long term benefits including they also agree improving your immune system and relieving chronic pain.
00:06:50
Speaker 1: Think about that.
00:06:51
Speaker 2: We're talking about cancer, We're talking about headaches, right, What like they're saying laughter has an impact on all of that?
00:06:58
Speaker 4: What to what degree? I guess I'm trying to how much of an impact? If I don't there's no hard impact or study or comparison with a cholesterol reducing drug or something.
00:07:08
Speaker 1: That's no correct you might still have to be on statins, but how I am.
00:07:12
Speaker 4: Still trying to get an idea, and you if it's not a number give me an idea of just how significant of an improvement or a difference or an impact it can make.
00:07:23
Speaker 3: Are we talking small?
00:07:24
Speaker 4: Are you saying significant or like statistically significant?
00:07:28
Speaker 2: Okay, So I don't have exact numbers, but I can tell you that there are a couple different studies.
00:07:35
Speaker 1: There's a actually one that's going on right now in.
00:07:37
Speaker 2: Germany, German scientists, and they are studying forced laughter, not spontaneous laughter.
00:07:41
Speaker 3: Germans are studying laughter.
00:07:44
Speaker 2: Forced laughter, which is even funnier that that of itself is hilarious.
00:07:49
Speaker 1: Okay, This German study says this is what exactly.
00:07:54
Speaker 2: I'm taking this straight from the study laughter inducing therapies. So again, forced laughter, and we'll get into that in a second, decreased glucose levels, they decreased the stress hormone cortisol, and they decreased chronic pain. They also improved mobility overall mood, especially in older populations. Part of their research was studying older Americans who were dealing with more health issues, who might be more depressed, who might have mobility issues.
00:08:20
Speaker 1: They said that there were clear results that.
00:08:23
Speaker 2: This forced forced laughter inducing therapies had multiple medicinal benefits. There was another one, a study this is about pain tolerance and laughter. Two hundred subjects were subjected to a painful cold pressor stimulus after being shown a film.
00:08:41
Speaker 1: I don't know what that means, but whatever, they put some ice on your body.
00:08:45
Speaker 2: Yes, those who viewed a humorous film first had a significant advantage in pain tolerance after a thirty minute wait period versus the people who watched just a regular movie. So the people who watched something funny and were laughing had significantly We're able to tolerate pain in a much higher way than people who didn't watch that movie.
00:09:08
Speaker 4: Okay, so make sure you watch a comedy before you get stabbed.
00:09:12
Speaker 1: I won't, but I think.
00:09:14
Speaker 2: About if you're if you're having a bad day, if you're having if you have a headache, the thing you wouldn't necessarily want to do is laugh that that actually seems like the last thing you want to do. Maybe you want to cry, But if you actually think about Remember, we had a quote of the Day the other week that said it was from my favorite I said, my favorite monk, and he said, sometimes sometimes when you're happy, you smile, But sometimes when you smile, you find joy like what comes first. And sometimes if you push the laughter, even when you don't feel it, even if you're not actually in a funny mood or in a light mood. If you force the laughter, you can create You can change your body chemistry in that moment.
00:09:55
Speaker 1: How cool is that?
00:09:56
Speaker 3: In that moment.
00:09:57
Speaker 4: But you also said you later on not as much pain. Later on, you don't have to use that walker anymore because you increase mobility. Yes, yes, the cholesterol has gone down, diabetes went away, all of it. It cures everything, right, Okay, So they said this forever. I don't know where it count. Laughter is the best medicine, ye said this forever. So there's something to that, as we all know.
00:10:19
Speaker 2: Yes, And so the addition was even forced laughter is the best mess medicines.
00:10:24
Speaker 3: And that's.
00:10:26
Speaker 1: All right. Let me ask you this. You didn't You didn't. If humor is.
00:10:30
Speaker 2: Subjective, not everybody finds the same things funny. That was part of the reason why this research came about, because you can't make everybody laugh, right, Certain people find something's funny, other people don't. So this is why they decided to come up with this forced laughter.
00:10:46
Speaker 1: There is the simplest way to do it.
00:10:48
Speaker 2: Get together with another person, look each other in the eyes and repeat the sound ha for.
00:10:55
Speaker 1: A full minute.
00:10:56
Speaker 3: No, not gonna do that.
00:10:58
Speaker 1: I guarantee you you will laugh.
00:11:00
Speaker 3: Oh I'm laughing now.
00:11:03
Speaker 1: So I used to play this game with my cousins. We would put we would put.
00:11:07
Speaker 2: Our head on the other person's tummy, and then someone else will put their head on your tummy, and you make a whole human chain of this, and then you do.
00:11:15
Speaker 1: The ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.
00:11:17
Speaker 2: And we see how long we could go without laughing, And it wasn't very long, and we would be like side splitting laughter.
00:11:23
Speaker 1: So it's kind of that same premise.
00:11:25
Speaker 4: I've never heard of that exercise before. This is what you all do with family gatherings.
00:11:30
Speaker 1: I did.
00:11:31
Speaker 2: I did, And actually turns out who knew we were actually doing something that was creating endorphins and building or boosting our immune system had no idea?
00:11:39
Speaker 3: All right, So paid off with no health issues.
00:11:46
Speaker 4: So you set.
00:11:46
Speaker 2: Yourself up with that, your buddy, all right, So I know you're skeptical. When we come back, I am going to tell you about a phenomenon that you can access online for free anywhere in the world.
00:12:00
Speaker 1: It is called laughing yoga. We'll be right back and welcome back everyone.
00:12:16
Speaker 2: We are talking about belly laughter being the best medicine, and sometimes we're not in the mood to laugh. Sometimes we don't think things are very funny. So how do you force that laughter and get some of these incredible medicinal benefits that we're now hearing You do get short term and long term if you can find a way to truly belly laugh two.
00:12:40
Speaker 1: To five times a week laughing yoga.
00:12:43
Speaker 2: It's called laugh a Stay You're losing me more. It's a hilarious yoga routine. And groups do this all around the world. You can actually go to centers in certain parts of the world. But you I went online. It is called it's called the Laughter Yoga International and there are three dozen free online American laughter clubs and I look you can do. You can join one in the morning, you can join one in the evening, and you sign up and it's free, and you're on the zoom kind of allah the pandemic where you're meeting people from all around the world or here in America, and you.
00:13:22
Speaker 1: Actually do a zoom group laughter yoga session.
00:13:29
Speaker 3: To do what I mean, what do you do?
00:13:30
Speaker 4: Are you actually using a do you need a yoga mat So is it yoga that's adding laughter?
00:13:35
Speaker 3: Are they just calling a cute little name.
00:13:36
Speaker 2: Yes, so they know they actually combined laughter with deep yoga breathing technique.
00:13:42
Speaker 1: So it's actually hilarious whenn watch people doing.
00:13:44
Speaker 2: It because they This is based on laughter clubs that were apparently a big deal in India in the nineteen nineties. Now, so look at this is a laughing yoga class. People pretend to greet each other like aliens, crawl a law around like their favorite animals, tap their temple as if a light bulb went off, saying aha ha ha ha ha ha. So you're watching other people do this and it's hilarious, then it's your turn to do it, so they actually guide you through.
00:14:10
Speaker 1: It is physical and it is using.
00:14:12
Speaker 2: Your diaphragm, and then you're doing it collectively, so you basically it's a thirty to forty five minute session. You're pretty much laughing the entire time.
00:14:21
Speaker 4: It sounds like an acting class a little bit.
00:14:24
Speaker 2: And in acting classes, we did do some of these types of and I didn't realize their yogic, but these are specifically designed to induce laughter.
00:14:34
Speaker 3: Okay, So let's say I don't you know, I'll let you fall. I have a couple questions. Goheat.
00:14:38
Speaker 1: Well.
00:14:38
Speaker 2: I was actually just going to say what the website said, so you can hear. This is how they describe what laughter yoga or LAUGHI stay is laughter. Yoga is a scientifically proven approach to improving physical, emotional, and mental well being. By combining laughter exercises with deep yogic breathing techniques, It stimulates the mind and body in ways that conventional fitness or relax methods often cannot.
00:15:02
Speaker 1: Just ten to fifteen minutes.
00:15:03
Speaker 2: Of daily routine reduces stress, energizes the body, promotes mental calmness and positivity, scientifically proven to strength and immunity, enhance brain oxygen, uplift mood, and foster social connections, reducing isolation.
00:15:21
Speaker 1: You buying it?
00:15:22
Speaker 4: No, I absolutely believe.
00:15:26
Speaker 3: I think we all do. The better, your mood is the better, your healthless.
00:15:29
Speaker 4: Yes, curious, and I think I have seen these things before in places I think where my skepticism came from. Or my first question, how do I on my own, how can I elicit a belly laugh? To get that type of you'd have to be alone somewhere in a room, but nobody else in the house because it would be embarrassing. Most people are not going to get on the zoom call or go to some retreat. So what can those folks do? Are they giving recommendations for how you can do it on your own?
00:15:58
Speaker 1: Yes, I think you can. Look but a lot of it is involving repeating the word ha. So maybe you look in the mirror and go ha ha ha ha ha ha. You just start laughing.
00:16:09
Speaker 2: So that is the easiest way. They say. You can look in the mirror and say ha and just keep repeating it. Maybe add a ha to each one's your double triple. You will start laughing.
00:16:19
Speaker 3: And this should be done two to five times a week.
00:16:21
Speaker 1: But it's more fun if you have a partner.
00:16:23
Speaker 4: Can you also one one more thing for me? Give me the definition, Like, what is the difference? How do I feel the difference between just a laugh because we laugh all day every day, Yeah, and a belly laugh the kind we're talking about it.
00:16:36
Speaker 2: You know when your stomach hurts, like step, I'm laughing so hard, my stomach hurts.
00:16:39
Speaker 1: That's a belly laugh.
00:16:40
Speaker 3: No, that's hard to get to it is, but.
00:16:43
Speaker 1: That's the goal, so you work at it is.
00:16:45
Speaker 2: Sometimes it might take ten or fifteen minutes of doing this, but eventually, yes, when you feel your stomach your abs just got to work out because you were laughing so hard, that's the kind of belly laugh they're talking about. I think it's pretty cool. I understand the skepticism, but why if you are looking for some sort of relief, you've got some sort of whether it's mental, physical, whatever.
00:17:05
Speaker 1: This doesn't seem like a stretch.
00:17:07
Speaker 2: To try to put into practice for at least a week and see how you feel, see if you feel better or different.
00:17:13
Speaker 1: Babe, I love you.
00:17:15
Speaker 2: One of the things I love most about you and being with you is how much we laugh together. No, there is no greater feeling, and to have that with someone, especially if you can have a partner in this, it makes it all the better.
00:17:27
Speaker 4: I agree, And look, this is for anybody's mood. Obviously you're in a better mood, and you're in better health, and you're in better everything. I see it as more of an emotional thing than a physical one, is what probably where I came at this completely agree with how it can change your mood.
00:17:44
Speaker 3: I was my skepticism.
00:17:45
Speaker 4: I was joking with you a little bit different, but just to hear about just how much it can have a health impact is interesting.
00:17:52
Speaker 3: And I'm pretty sure there's no one out.
00:17:54
Speaker 4: There arguing that laughter is bad anyway, So what do you.
00:17:59
Speaker 3: Got to look?
00:18:00
Speaker 2: Unless it comes to someone else's expense, might that might be the only time laughter is bad.
00:18:04
Speaker 1: Even then, it might be.
00:18:05
Speaker 3: He have good health benefits for you.
00:18:07
Speaker 1: It might be bad for the other person. But you're feeling great, see.
00:18:11
Speaker 3: You laughing out, and I already feel about it.
00:18:14
Speaker 2: Oh well, with that, everyone, thank you so much for joining us. We hope you can find some laughter today and at least two to five times a week please that's doctor's order. But thank you for listening to us. I maybe Robach alongside my laughing partner TJ.
00:18:27
Speaker 1: Holmes. Have a great Sunda Day.
Speaker 1: Hey there, everybody.
00:00:12
Speaker 2: It is Sunday, December twenty eighth, And when is the last time you had a belly laugh? Not just a little, but a deep hearted, deep belly laugh. Well, doctors are now saying that research shows you should belly laugh at least two to five times a week. They say the power, the medicinal power of laughter is no joke. When's the last time you laughed hard?
00:00:43
Speaker 3: I feel like I do that every day.
00:00:44
Speaker 4: I do so do I I can remember going to see the Anaconda on Christmas Day with Paul rud Jack Black and Crew, and there were a couple of moments in there.
00:00:55
Speaker 3: I was in tears. Yes. Is that count as a belly laugh?
00:00:58
Speaker 1: Absolutely?
00:01:00
Speaker 4: Aren't there What constitutes a belly laugh? That's beyond just laughing or laughing hard.
00:01:03
Speaker 2: It's where your diaphragm actually gets involved. Your belly is involved in the laughter.
00:01:08
Speaker 1: It's funny.
00:01:08
Speaker 2: I feel like every time someone snaps a series of pictures when we're together, I am actually my head is thrown back.
00:01:16
Speaker 1: I'm laughing so hard. We just went on a walk. Pretty sure I belly laughed on the walk.
00:01:21
Speaker 2: It's one of the things when you find somebody who you can share that kind of laughter with there is a poll of that person because you feel good.
00:01:29
Speaker 4: Now this research does it have to It's just belly laugh It's not a relationship element to it necessarily.
00:01:34
Speaker 1: No, it's about the power of laughter. And we'll get into this.
00:01:38
Speaker 2: But it isn't just about something you think is funny or something you're enjoying. Doctors are saying you can actually force laughter in order to create the exact same effect as a natural moment where you laugh really hard.
00:01:54
Speaker 4: So is the benefit an emotional one or something physically that happens that is beneficial.
00:01:58
Speaker 2: They call it physiological, so both emotional and physical. They say that if you actually learn and practice how to force this kind of laughter, it could actually replace pain medication.
00:02:10
Speaker 1: That's how powerful it is.
00:02:11
Speaker 4: Okay, you had me up to there, So I'm listening now if y' all can't tell, I'm the skeptic on this on this episode.
00:02:16
Speaker 2: Okay, So there are several doctors involved with this this. One of them is from the University of Pennsylvania, a cardiologist, a medical professor there. He is promoting belly laughing for better health. Doctor Miller says a good laugh is good for your heart. Your immune system and has plenty of other medicinal health benefits.
00:02:37
Speaker 1: You're not buying it.
00:02:38
Speaker 4: No, because you're saying now, it's one thing. You're saying medicinal. Yes, now, it's one thing to improve your emotions. But to say laughing that you can force has a medicinal property.
00:02:50
Speaker 3: Yes, I'm gonna stay open. I'm gonna stay open though.
00:02:53
Speaker 2: Yes, please keep your mind and your heart open, because this is actually really incredible, because this is accessible to everyone and it's free. The study of laughter actually began in the nineteen sixties and there was a psychologist from Stanford who actually decided to draw blood samples from himself while he was watching Laurel and Hardy.
00:03:15
Speaker 1: So he was laughing, right, he discovered discovered that was.
00:03:20
Speaker 3: Well.
00:03:20
Speaker 1: He was using himself as patient A or exhibit A.
00:03:24
Speaker 2: And he found he took his blood cells and studied whatever they study when he wasn't laughing, and then while he right after he watched Laurel and Hardy, he found a huge increase in the number of immune boosting blood cells in his blood after he watched that program Laurel and Hardy.
00:03:43
Speaker 1: This is in the nineteen sixties.
00:03:44
Speaker 2: It was a comedic du Hour kind of like a three Stooges kind of a thing where it was the it was the comedy show of the time, and so that was when it That was one of the first earliest documentations of someone studying the impact of the effect of laughter. Okay, so then in the nineteen nineties are aforementioned, doctor Miller started showing funny movies same thing to participants. He found, listen to this, that laughter, you have endorphins in your brain that then promote beneficial chemicals in your blood. Then they said nitric oxide, which actually causes your blood vessels to dilate, which lowers blood pressure, increases.
00:04:25
Speaker 1: When you laugh. It also helps with inflammation and cholesterol. How about that.
00:04:32
Speaker 4: You're telling me to lower my cholesterol. All I have to do is laugh two to five.
00:04:37
Speaker 1: Times a week, belly laugh, but it will.
00:04:40
Speaker 4: I'm getting more skeptical than less.
00:04:44
Speaker 2: So they say, if you can do this, if you can belly laugh two to five times a week, that reduces This is according to doctor Miller, who's much smarter than me or you on this, it reduces your risk for a heart attack and it creates endorphin, which are natural painkillers. There is no downside to this, and there are plenty of upsides.
00:05:07
Speaker 4: Oh okay, I will keep listening before I need to start writing these questions down because I.
00:05:11
Speaker 1: Have plenting Yeah, how do you feel after you laugh?
00:05:14
Speaker 4: Everybody feels you're in a better place, I mean, just naturally. And I wonder, and I'm starting to wonder about the study if we are signing it to laughing. But isn't this also a matter of people who are under less stress, people who are under right, who aren't under the gun, people who are living their lives in such a way that they are naturally upbeat or happy. Is it having the same effect. And can someone who is down and depressed and having a terrible week and a terrible week month and a terrible year just laugh and get those benefits.
00:05:46
Speaker 3: I'm still listening.
00:05:48
Speaker 1: They are saying.
00:05:49
Speaker 2: Yes, they are saying that whether you laugh because you're happy and you're having a good time, you're having a fun day and you're watching a fun program, or you're with somebody who's really funny, yes, of course, But even if you are, especially if you're struggling, you're in pain, you're depressed, you can't get motivated.
00:06:05
Speaker 1: If you can learn.
00:06:06
Speaker 2: How to laugh, how to force laughter. It immediately will improve your mood. So you do get true emotional benefits, mood boosting benefits, and you also get immune boosting benefits, heart benefits. If you can actually make this a part of your intentional day. The Mayo Clinic, I actually look to see beyond just these headlines that we saw from this particular doctor, and then I'll get into some of the studies. But the Mayo Clinic has an entire page devoted to the study of laughter, the medicinal power of laughter. They say stressfulief from laughter is no joke. They say there are short term and long term benefits including they also agree improving your immune system and relieving chronic pain.
00:06:50
Speaker 1: Think about that.
00:06:51
Speaker 2: We're talking about cancer, We're talking about headaches, right, What like they're saying laughter has an impact on all of that?
00:06:58
Speaker 4: What to what degree? I guess I'm trying to how much of an impact? If I don't there's no hard impact or study or comparison with a cholesterol reducing drug or something.
00:07:08
Speaker 1: That's no correct you might still have to be on statins, but how I am.
00:07:12
Speaker 4: Still trying to get an idea, and you if it's not a number give me an idea of just how significant of an improvement or a difference or an impact it can make.
00:07:23
Speaker 3: Are we talking small?
00:07:24
Speaker 4: Are you saying significant or like statistically significant?
00:07:28
Speaker 2: Okay, So I don't have exact numbers, but I can tell you that there are a couple different studies.
00:07:35
Speaker 1: There's a actually one that's going on right now in.
00:07:37
Speaker 2: Germany, German scientists, and they are studying forced laughter, not spontaneous laughter.
00:07:41
Speaker 3: Germans are studying laughter.
00:07:44
Speaker 2: Forced laughter, which is even funnier that that of itself is hilarious.
00:07:49
Speaker 1: Okay, This German study says this is what exactly.
00:07:54
Speaker 2: I'm taking this straight from the study laughter inducing therapies. So again, forced laughter, and we'll get into that in a second, decreased glucose levels, they decreased the stress hormone cortisol, and they decreased chronic pain. They also improved mobility overall mood, especially in older populations. Part of their research was studying older Americans who were dealing with more health issues, who might be more depressed, who might have mobility issues.
00:08:20
Speaker 1: They said that there were clear results that.
00:08:23
Speaker 2: This forced forced laughter inducing therapies had multiple medicinal benefits. There was another one, a study this is about pain tolerance and laughter. Two hundred subjects were subjected to a painful cold pressor stimulus after being shown a film.
00:08:41
Speaker 1: I don't know what that means, but whatever, they put some ice on your body.
00:08:45
Speaker 2: Yes, those who viewed a humorous film first had a significant advantage in pain tolerance after a thirty minute wait period versus the people who watched just a regular movie. So the people who watched something funny and were laughing had significantly We're able to tolerate pain in a much higher way than people who didn't watch that movie.
00:09:08
Speaker 4: Okay, so make sure you watch a comedy before you get stabbed.
00:09:12
Speaker 1: I won't, but I think.
00:09:14
Speaker 2: About if you're if you're having a bad day, if you're having if you have a headache, the thing you wouldn't necessarily want to do is laugh that that actually seems like the last thing you want to do. Maybe you want to cry, But if you actually think about Remember, we had a quote of the Day the other week that said it was from my favorite I said, my favorite monk, and he said, sometimes sometimes when you're happy, you smile, But sometimes when you smile, you find joy like what comes first. And sometimes if you push the laughter, even when you don't feel it, even if you're not actually in a funny mood or in a light mood. If you force the laughter, you can create You can change your body chemistry in that moment.
00:09:55
Speaker 1: How cool is that?
00:09:56
Speaker 3: In that moment.
00:09:57
Speaker 4: But you also said you later on not as much pain. Later on, you don't have to use that walker anymore because you increase mobility. Yes, yes, the cholesterol has gone down, diabetes went away, all of it. It cures everything, right, Okay, So they said this forever. I don't know where it count. Laughter is the best medicine, ye said this forever. So there's something to that, as we all know.
00:10:19
Speaker 2: Yes, And so the addition was even forced laughter is the best mess medicines.
00:10:24
Speaker 3: And that's.
00:10:26
Speaker 1: All right. Let me ask you this. You didn't You didn't. If humor is.
00:10:30
Speaker 2: Subjective, not everybody finds the same things funny. That was part of the reason why this research came about, because you can't make everybody laugh, right, Certain people find something's funny, other people don't. So this is why they decided to come up with this forced laughter.
00:10:46
Speaker 1: There is the simplest way to do it.
00:10:48
Speaker 2: Get together with another person, look each other in the eyes and repeat the sound ha for.
00:10:55
Speaker 1: A full minute.
00:10:56
Speaker 3: No, not gonna do that.
00:10:58
Speaker 1: I guarantee you you will laugh.
00:11:00
Speaker 3: Oh I'm laughing now.
00:11:03
Speaker 1: So I used to play this game with my cousins. We would put we would put.
00:11:07
Speaker 2: Our head on the other person's tummy, and then someone else will put their head on your tummy, and you make a whole human chain of this, and then you do.
00:11:15
Speaker 1: The ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.
00:11:17
Speaker 2: And we see how long we could go without laughing, And it wasn't very long, and we would be like side splitting laughter.
00:11:23
Speaker 1: So it's kind of that same premise.
00:11:25
Speaker 4: I've never heard of that exercise before. This is what you all do with family gatherings.
00:11:30
Speaker 1: I did.
00:11:31
Speaker 2: I did, And actually turns out who knew we were actually doing something that was creating endorphins and building or boosting our immune system had no idea?
00:11:39
Speaker 3: All right, So paid off with no health issues.
00:11:46
Speaker 4: So you set.
00:11:46
Speaker 2: Yourself up with that, your buddy, all right, So I know you're skeptical. When we come back, I am going to tell you about a phenomenon that you can access online for free anywhere in the world.
00:12:00
Speaker 1: It is called laughing yoga. We'll be right back and welcome back everyone.
00:12:16
Speaker 2: We are talking about belly laughter being the best medicine, and sometimes we're not in the mood to laugh. Sometimes we don't think things are very funny. So how do you force that laughter and get some of these incredible medicinal benefits that we're now hearing You do get short term and long term if you can find a way to truly belly laugh two.
00:12:40
Speaker 1: To five times a week laughing yoga.
00:12:43
Speaker 2: It's called laugh a Stay You're losing me more. It's a hilarious yoga routine. And groups do this all around the world. You can actually go to centers in certain parts of the world. But you I went online. It is called it's called the Laughter Yoga International and there are three dozen free online American laughter clubs and I look you can do. You can join one in the morning, you can join one in the evening, and you sign up and it's free, and you're on the zoom kind of allah the pandemic where you're meeting people from all around the world or here in America, and you.
00:13:22
Speaker 1: Actually do a zoom group laughter yoga session.
00:13:29
Speaker 3: To do what I mean, what do you do?
00:13:30
Speaker 4: Are you actually using a do you need a yoga mat So is it yoga that's adding laughter?
00:13:35
Speaker 3: Are they just calling a cute little name.
00:13:36
Speaker 2: Yes, so they know they actually combined laughter with deep yoga breathing technique.
00:13:42
Speaker 1: So it's actually hilarious whenn watch people doing.
00:13:44
Speaker 2: It because they This is based on laughter clubs that were apparently a big deal in India in the nineteen nineties. Now, so look at this is a laughing yoga class. People pretend to greet each other like aliens, crawl a law around like their favorite animals, tap their temple as if a light bulb went off, saying aha ha ha ha ha ha. So you're watching other people do this and it's hilarious, then it's your turn to do it, so they actually guide you through.
00:14:10
Speaker 1: It is physical and it is using.
00:14:12
Speaker 2: Your diaphragm, and then you're doing it collectively, so you basically it's a thirty to forty five minute session. You're pretty much laughing the entire time.
00:14:21
Speaker 4: It sounds like an acting class a little bit.
00:14:24
Speaker 2: And in acting classes, we did do some of these types of and I didn't realize their yogic, but these are specifically designed to induce laughter.
00:14:34
Speaker 3: Okay, So let's say I don't you know, I'll let you fall. I have a couple questions. Goheat.
00:14:38
Speaker 1: Well.
00:14:38
Speaker 2: I was actually just going to say what the website said, so you can hear. This is how they describe what laughter yoga or LAUGHI stay is laughter. Yoga is a scientifically proven approach to improving physical, emotional, and mental well being. By combining laughter exercises with deep yogic breathing techniques, It stimulates the mind and body in ways that conventional fitness or relax methods often cannot.
00:15:02
Speaker 1: Just ten to fifteen minutes.
00:15:03
Speaker 2: Of daily routine reduces stress, energizes the body, promotes mental calmness and positivity, scientifically proven to strength and immunity, enhance brain oxygen, uplift mood, and foster social connections, reducing isolation.
00:15:21
Speaker 1: You buying it?
00:15:22
Speaker 4: No, I absolutely believe.
00:15:26
Speaker 3: I think we all do. The better, your mood is the better, your healthless.
00:15:29
Speaker 4: Yes, curious, and I think I have seen these things before in places I think where my skepticism came from. Or my first question, how do I on my own, how can I elicit a belly laugh? To get that type of you'd have to be alone somewhere in a room, but nobody else in the house because it would be embarrassing. Most people are not going to get on the zoom call or go to some retreat. So what can those folks do? Are they giving recommendations for how you can do it on your own?
00:15:58
Speaker 1: Yes, I think you can. Look but a lot of it is involving repeating the word ha. So maybe you look in the mirror and go ha ha ha ha ha ha. You just start laughing.
00:16:09
Speaker 2: So that is the easiest way. They say. You can look in the mirror and say ha and just keep repeating it. Maybe add a ha to each one's your double triple. You will start laughing.
00:16:19
Speaker 3: And this should be done two to five times a week.
00:16:21
Speaker 1: But it's more fun if you have a partner.
00:16:23
Speaker 4: Can you also one one more thing for me? Give me the definition, Like, what is the difference? How do I feel the difference between just a laugh because we laugh all day every day, Yeah, and a belly laugh the kind we're talking about it.
00:16:36
Speaker 2: You know when your stomach hurts, like step, I'm laughing so hard, my stomach hurts.
00:16:39
Speaker 1: That's a belly laugh.
00:16:40
Speaker 3: No, that's hard to get to it is, but.
00:16:43
Speaker 1: That's the goal, so you work at it is.
00:16:45
Speaker 2: Sometimes it might take ten or fifteen minutes of doing this, but eventually, yes, when you feel your stomach your abs just got to work out because you were laughing so hard, that's the kind of belly laugh they're talking about. I think it's pretty cool. I understand the skepticism, but why if you are looking for some sort of relief, you've got some sort of whether it's mental, physical, whatever.
00:17:05
Speaker 1: This doesn't seem like a stretch.
00:17:07
Speaker 2: To try to put into practice for at least a week and see how you feel, see if you feel better or different.
00:17:13
Speaker 1: Babe, I love you.
00:17:15
Speaker 2: One of the things I love most about you and being with you is how much we laugh together. No, there is no greater feeling, and to have that with someone, especially if you can have a partner in this, it makes it all the better.
00:17:27
Speaker 4: I agree, And look, this is for anybody's mood. Obviously you're in a better mood, and you're in better health, and you're in better everything. I see it as more of an emotional thing than a physical one, is what probably where I came at this completely agree with how it can change your mood.
00:17:44
Speaker 3: I was my skepticism.
00:17:45
Speaker 4: I was joking with you a little bit different, but just to hear about just how much it can have a health impact is interesting.
00:17:52
Speaker 3: And I'm pretty sure there's no one out.
00:17:54
Speaker 4: There arguing that laughter is bad anyway, So what do you.
00:17:59
Speaker 3: Got to look?
00:18:00
Speaker 2: Unless it comes to someone else's expense, might that might be the only time laughter is bad.
00:18:04
Speaker 1: Even then, it might be.
00:18:05
Speaker 3: He have good health benefits for you.
00:18:07
Speaker 1: It might be bad for the other person. But you're feeling great, see.
00:18:11
Speaker 3: You laughing out, and I already feel about it.
00:18:14
Speaker 2: Oh well, with that, everyone, thank you so much for joining us. We hope you can find some laughter today and at least two to five times a week please that's doctor's order. But thank you for listening to us. I maybe Robach alongside my laughing partner TJ.
00:18:27
Speaker 1: Holmes. Have a great Sunda Day.