There’s an old saying that laughter is the best medicine. While most would admit that laughter is good for your emotional health, can it really reduce pain on a physical level?

In short, yes. Laughing can help fight both mental and physical pain.

Physical Benefits of Laughter

There are many ways that the physical act of laughing can decrease pain and improve your overall health. Here are a few examples:

• Increased Endorphins. When you laugh, your oxygen intake increases. This invigorates your organs and releases endorphins in your brain.
• Decrease Stress. Laughing helps circulation and results in more relaxed muscles. This can undercut tension caused by stress.
• Natural Pain Killers. Laughing helps the body create its own natural painkillers.

Additionally, laughter has been found to increase blood flow, lower blood pressure, and boost the immune system.

Laughter & Brain Signals

Laughter is the opposite of being sad and depressed.  Too much sadness stimulates areas of the brain that are next to the centers that translate pain signals in the brain.  The centers that are involved in depression can “talk” to and stimulate the pain centers.  Emotional pain can make physical pain even worse. Therefore, you need to laugh and spend time relaxing and enjoying life.

When you are in pain it’s often difficult to find the funny things in life and laugh.  The old saying that laughter is the best medicine may just help.  It increases the body’s own pain fighting hormones, and decreases the activity areas of emotional pain.  Laughter distracts the brain from bad signals and focuses on the enjoyable ones.