Is laughter, really the best medicine?
What better time to delve into this age-old question then now with International Moment of Laughter Day coming up this April 14th. The day was created with a very simple intent; to encourage people to laugh. How does one laugh? It’s an involuntary reaction to certain external or internal stimuli. It could be a joke, a story, thought, or physical reaction to being tickled – the possibilities are endless as to what could make you laugh.
To get your celebration started here are 5 of our top ways to create a giggle:
- Hang out with your pet. There is no way to be around a dog or cat (or any pet) for long and not laugh. Don’t have a pet? Let us introduce you to quite possibly the funniest animal video on YouTube (in our opinion).
- Learn to laugh at yourself! Running late to work and miss the yellow light turning red? No worries.. just gives you more time to turn up the radio, have a dance party and laugh at yourself! Don’t take life so seriously.
- Sign up for a joke of the day to be delivered right to your inbox! We like A Joke A Day but any would get the job done! Be ready for dad jokes that will make you chuckle and probably roll your eyes. If you don’t want an email a day, a desk calendar of your favorite cartoon or quotes is a great daily way to laugh, too! (I have a Dilbert day to day – forgot how funny this comic is!)
- Befriend a funny person. You should have at least one person in your day to day life that makes you laugh. Go seek them out when you need a pick me up. If there is someone that has a quick way with words, a unique outlook or just a great sense of humor, befriend them, immediately.
- Do something that makes you laugh. This one seems easy, but when is the last time you REALLY belly laughed?! What were you doing at the time? Go do that again. Unless it was a misfortunate incident with laundry or something of the like. (Did you laugh? Okay I tried…)
Laughing has shown to increase the blood flow in our physical makeup (by taking in huge gulps of extra oxygen!), lead to reduction in stress and to also release endorphins. So, while you may still need to go to the doctor for the flu, perhaps catching up on the joke of the day is what you need to turn your day around. Our Live Happy shirt on sale now is sure to stem positive feelings anytime you wear it.