The next time you’re in a situation where you don’t know if you should laugh or cry, we suggest that you stick with laughing. Why? Because humor and laughter are great for your mental – and even physical – health. Did you for example know that laughing is a natural pain relief, and can help you sleep better? We looked a little bit deeper into the topic and tried it ourselves in our latest community meetup.
Mental health loves humor
Having a good laugh instantly makes you feel better and can lift your mood. The science behind it is quite simple: Laughing increases the release of endorphins and reduces the stress hormone cortisol [1]. At the same time, it forces you to take a couple of deep breaths, which first increases and then decreases your heart rate, lowers your blood pressure and helps your body relax. Laughter also leads to a release of serotonin and dopamine, which can help you when struggling with anxiety or depression [2].
And there’s more to it. Humor has a very social component and can bring people together. By sharing a laugh, you can bond with someone you just met, cheer them up, and make a positive impact on each other’s current situation.
Laughing Out Loud Monday – let’s do this!
Instead of just sticking to bland theory, we decided to put this into action. Together with more than 20 people, we met one (surprisingly cold) Monday evening in Helsinki’s Luckan and took a humoristic approach to everyone’s own story in Finland.
The introductory round made it already clear that this would be an interesting evening. With a mix of roughly 10 nationalities and several Finnish people, we had gathered a more than diverse group. To break the ice, the groups started with discussing over a couple of known and unknown memes and the well-known book Finnish Nightmares by Karoliina Korhonen to find out which of the scenarios most could relate to. Not very surprisingly, the Finnish love for personal space and “very subtle”, hence “not-so-easy to read” facial expressions made the race. Had we known about the fifth (or sixth? Who is even counting at this point…) winter that awaited us the next morning in the end of April, the country’s unpredictable weather would surely have scored one of the top positions.
A short break later, it was time to get creative. With a couple of questions about people’s experiences and ideas, the groups created posters with drawings, collages and text before sharing it with everyone else. Distance was again one of the topics, but also Finnish people’s appreciation for coffee (and unhappiness with a lack thereof) was highlighted.
It was not only about life in Finland though. The two things that would be dearly missed if moving abroad were the very apparent sauna and the stunning nature. As somewhat expected, no one mentioned the weather.
After over two hours and many laughs and captivating discussions together, everyone said goodbye, hopefully with some more endorphins, dopamine and serotonin than they had arrived earlier. We thoroughly enjoyed the evening and are already excited for the upcoming events!
So… How can I laugh more?
Well, you certainly can’t – and shouldn’t – force yourself to laugh when you very clearly don’t feel like it. It is perfectly fine and normal to be sad, and to have negative feelings sometimes. But you can still start incorporating more humor and laughter into your life and get all the benefits for your mental health. Here are a couple of suggestions.
Get out of the house: Meeting with other people and making each other laugh is probably one of the most effective ways to add more humor to your days. While it may not always be possible, try to socialize with like-minded people at least every now and then, and share some light-hearted anecdotes or jokes whenever you see each other.
From fake to real: This might sound weird, but even faked laughter can have some of the positive effects mentioned above [3]. Stand in front of a mirror and watch yourself trying to laugh, and it might just as well turn into the real thing.
Schedule laughing time: It may sound weird, but adding a recurring event and reminder to your calendar might just do the trick for you. You could for example schedule an hour every weekend to watch some standup comedy online or set a daily reminder to browse a meme website for five minutes.
To sum it up: Humor and laughter are great, free mood boosters that have been scientifically proven to have a positive effect on your mental health. Enjoy a good laugh with friends or alone, and let those happy hormones roam free 😊
About the author
Nadja Koskela has a professional background in digital marketing and lives in Vantaa with her family.
She is passionate about mental health, writing and everything related to websites and coding.
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