Not a fan of jokes? Become one. Recent studies show that indulging your sense of humor can help you live a longer, healthier life. Laughing not only eases stress, promotes social bonding, and lowers blood pressure, but it may also boost your immune system. Plus, humor becomes more important for people as they age, and it's associated with a more satisfying life(New Swiss Study).
Ninety percent of laughs involve deep exhalations. When you exhale, your heart rate and blood pressure go down and you enter a calmer state. This effect may very well be the reason you feel a sense of relief from laughing
(Dacher Keltner, Ph.D., a professor of psychology;University of California, Berkeley).
Partners who tell kind, lighthearted jokes and share laughter to defuse tension tend to have better marriages. It could be as easy as establishing a word or phrase that’s funny (and random) enough to automatically end any argument(John Gottman, Ph.D.,
Gottman Institute; a relationship counseling center in Seattle).
Just the anticipation of laughing decreases the stress hormones dopac, cortisol, and epinephrine by 38, 39, and 70 percent, respectively(Loma Linda University in California).
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Not only does a chuckle release tension, it also keeps you healthy. People who laugh 10-25 times daily face fewer diseases than those who laugh outside that range(2009; International Journal of Medical Sciences).