Episode 572: Behind The Science of Therapeutic Laughter

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Hello, and welcome back to happens in hustle solo edition where we talk and explore a variety of different topics that are in the zeitgeist that have interest to me and to hopefully you guys as well. And today's topic is the science of laughter. Why we laugh and how it affects our brains and our physical and mental health. I don't know about you, Shani, but I'm like a huge fan of comedy of laughing. It's like literally my favorite thing in the world to do. Yeah, a little belly laugh.

Right? Yeah. And there's, I think there is a reason why they say like laughter is the best medicine because it really, like, really is. I mean, like nothing changes a mood or changes your emotional state better than like a good-hardy laugh. Absolutely. Right? Oh my god, yeah. I just love it. So I let's why I love stand-up. So let's go into a little bit more. You know, like, there is a lot of research backing how laughter really does like change, not just the neuroplasticity in our

“brains, but our overall physical and emotional well being. That's why there's like a laughter therapy.”

There's like laughing yoga or whatever they call it. Yeah, laughing yoga. laughing yoga.

Have you actually done it? Yeah, I can't believe you've never done it. It's like so much fun.

Yeah, I've never done laughing yoga. Oh my god. I just like going, that's why like, you know, I'm like hugely obsessed with stand-up comedians and like watching stand-up. I can do that every single night of the week. It's just to me, I just love it. Yeah, comedians are great. comedians. Like, you know, every night I fall asleep to like watching some kind of Netflix comedy special. But even the reason ones, the reason ones haven't been so great. I got to be honest with you,

but like it automatically changes my, if I'm like in a shitty mood, a sad mood, an angry mood. Watching five minutes of comedy just shifts everything. Yeah. So this is why I think this is like a really good topic to really get into because there's like they can say gratitude. They could say meditation. They can say every other thing helps you with your mental health and like well-being.

“I believe laughter is number one. Well, laughing yoga is so interesting because it's not actual,”

like you're not laughing because you're watching like a really hilarious thing a bit.

You're, it's a forced laughter at first. You're all like, I did this on the beach and

looking at beach. Like, our mental health family was their application. And this circle of what looked like a cults just pulled us into their little laughing circle. And you just laugh. And it instinctually like, once everyone else starts laughing, you start laughing and then everyone's just laughing a lot. And then you're just like laughing nonstop. And then it's just this crazy like bout of laughter that is just so uncontrollable. And it's so, it's one of my favorite things. It's

so much fun. You know where it might be like yawning, you know, like when someone else saw it, someone starts to laugh. Yes. I end up laughing because they're laughing and then I can't control my laughter and it goes back and forth. It's like usually the best belly laugh, the best uncontrollable

reduce stress hormones when we laugh. Our bodies release endorphins, which are natural chemicals

that make us feel good. These endorphins can help reduce the levels of stress in our bodies such as cortisol, which is like obviously the stress hormone, that which has negative effects on our immune system. It also increases our immune system function. So laughter has been shown to increase the production of of immune cells and antibodies, which help fight infections and illness. It also increases the activity of natural killer cells, which are white blood cells that it can attack

cancer cells and viruses. So there's a lot of like, and that's something that's like a lot of like backed science, what laughter does to our bodies in a positive way physically and mentally. Well, I mean cortisol is like my archenemesis. So anything to protect by the way, it's everybody's archenemesis. African archenemesis. It's everybody's.

I mean, who likes cortisol? I mean, you know what I mean? It's not something that people

like, oh, I love having my stress hormone, you know? If it was like a film in my life, like in my story arc, my existence, like cortisol would be like the villain, like the ultimate

“villain. Like he would just be like the move faster or whatever, like my story. I think it's”

everybody's like, I really believe that. So we talked about like the power of humor, laughter therapy. What are the other types of forms of therapy besides yoga? Are there people could know, we said like in laughter? Oh, there's like a lot of ways that you can use laughter to like help you're with a physical and mental conditions. I mean, it also helps with chronic pain, because I guess you're forgetting about the pain that you have because you're focusing on

like, you're true. Your endorphins are also, I guess your endorphins are releasing and you're just like distracted. Do you talk about micro dosing on this podcast at all?

I love it. It was never talked about it, because mushrooms will make you laugh like crazy,

and that can be like a really good form of therapy. But, you know, that's a whole other topic and then hold other podcasts, but any type of psychedelic can have different effects on different people. Sure. So like it can make you laugh, but a lot of people I know have had like horrible things where they cried the whole time. You know, they've had anxiety the whole time. It's not just laughing, right? Like, maybe that's been your experience.

Or maybe if you micro dose, you can get a different thing. When micro dosing is not going to give you any impact, it's not going to, yeah, it's not like, it's a long term like thing. It's not something that gives you like a high. And also, I would say that laughter is like a universal language, right? Like that's like very true. Everybody likes to laugh. And if you're laughing, I mean, it's a great, it's a great bonding thing for people, like for personal bonding, like,

you know, if you're laughing and I'm laughing right away, we're like bonded, because we

“had a shared experience that was so positive and happy and fun. What's that mean girls quote?”

That's like math is the same in every language. Like laughing is the same in every language. It really is. It is laughing is the same in every, there's no language. It's just ha ha ha ha, you know, unless you're typing in Spanish, it's jaja jaja jaja because they jaja is ha, so taja jaja, so funny. I'm talking to my Spanish friends like a jaja jaja. Yeah, that's a neat. That's actually true. But I think it's like a universal language, right? And it's like it's bonding. It

reads releases tension. I mean, there's so much like, I think that the people should explore the science of laughter as truly like a, like, it's free medicine, literally free medicine, just as they would say, like, we talk so much on this podcast about all these ways to, like, optimize your health and your life, right? Like, from, you know, the sauna's to the cold plunges to, to all sorts of like red light therapy, like all sorts of different modalities. I said earlier,

right, gratitude, journaling, all these things. But like, at the end of the day, if you can just have a good laugh or like you, and, and, and, like, laugh for like five minutes a day, so many of these, like, negative things that like are keeping you held back or down or, you know, so much of it just goes away if you can just find, find something to laugh about 100%. Right? I think it should be a number one health modality and it's free. It should be up there with walking. I think walking,

and laughter are the two best and biggest ways to change your mood and to elevate your health to me. Those are the two, and they're free, anybody can do it, everybody can do it, and you don't need to have anything but yourself. You can laugh at yourself if you want, you know, I do it every day, every day, exactly. Free 99. Yeah. It's so, it's so interesting because laughing is also, like, when they say humor as a coping mechanism for kids who go through

a lot when they're younger, and they just become really funny in the end, like, it's, it's interesting because it's literally like one of the best coping mechanisms and it makes so much sense that some people would naturally go that route because of what it does to your body physically. So I also

“believe it's the best way to kind of like, a lot of like, the world, people like political”

problems, everything like, it's like, if you can like find humor in certain things that are

up there between that and walking. I'm not joking. Are the two, in my opinion, those are the two best ways to impact and increase your health in a positive way. What are your favorite comedians to or my God? So now you're talking my language. I used to be obsessed with Sebastian Manicel Co. Do you know who he is? Yeah, Italian guy. He used to be hilarious. And then, like, as he got more like, now he's so successful. He's like, when the biggest damage of all time, he can like

sell up the Madison Square Garden for like three nights in a row. He, like, lost a little bit of his edge in my opinion, but happens, right? Because like, now like his perspective, like, you know, when you're down and when you're in the trenches and like, you're funny, you're funny as hell. But as you're now living a bougie life, it's not so funny, but his kids in private school,

“or like his life is very different. His kids in private school, like, that's his last special,”

just wasn't that funny to me. Sorry Sebastian, I still like you. But I'm obsessed. My favorite

of all time is Chris Rock. Really? Chris Rock to me, never lost his edge. He was hilarious 20

years ago. He still has hilarious every special I've seen on him. He's brilliant. He's so smart. He has perspective. His thought process, his delivery, his voice. He to me is the barnaut, the best down-up comedian of all time. Second, closest is Bilber. I love Bilber. So you got Chris Rock. You got Bilber. I do like Sebastian, but not as much as those guys. I mean, people love Dave Chappelle. I think it's good, but I think his lost his last couple specials. I just wasn't really,

I don't know. They're just, like, I wasn't like, like, a belly laugh out of them. You know what I mean? I need like, real. It's nice when it's thought provoking too. Don't get me wrong. I like that, but I'm not, I don't really care. I don't really want to laugh. I'm trying to just like,

“die like how you roll off my feet. Did you listen to Chris Rock's recent one?”

Recent, Netflix special. No, but you know what? Have my listen. My dad told me also to watch it.

And that's kind of what put me off from watching him, because I was like, hey, he always tells me,

like, no, no, he's right. And I'm not joking. He to me is, I think, the best of all time. Oh, another one I love, who's clean. Like, who doesn't really swear. He's super clean. He's really clever. His gym gaff again. Gym gaff again is amazing, too. I like him. There's so many. I really love Ali Wong. She's really good, too. She's amazing. I don't want to lean in. I want to, I want to lie down. Yeah, she's one of my favorite lines ever. She's so good. So good. Another one.

We had him on, actually, and Sam Morelle's very good, too. Oh, you know, when I'm like, when I'm scrolling on social, but I don't want to scroll on social. Like, I think that it's an unproductive waste of my time, but I still don't want to do anything else. Right. I'll go to someone like Sam's profile and he scroll through reels because I feel like it's productive. Like I'm laughing and so I'm feeling really good. 100%. And his reels are really funny. He's funny. He's great. Like he's

“gray in the moment. Like Sam can, like, that's what his whole page is basically like him picking”

people out of the crowd. Yeah, the crowd. Yeah. But they're really great. And that's great. Content. He's actually on tour right now. Yeah. So if you guys check them out, he's really good. There's, again, it's also his delivery, his voice. Voice has a lot to do with these comics. I find, like, there's a bunch of people. I like this other girl. She was used. She's actually used to date Sam morale. She's really funny. Like, she's young. And she's like super, super talented.

And her and Sam morale used to go out. And what does her name? She's really funny. Taylor, Tom and Dad. Taylor, Tom and Dad. Taylor, Tom and Dad. You like her? I think she's really good. She's that funny. Oh, my God. She's, again, I think she's so clever. Like how she, like, sequences words together. I think she's amazing. I think she's great. Brian Regan's another one. I really like. There's so many. But do you know Anthony Johnson look? Yeah, I do. I know him.

He's good. I like him. Not as good as the one I love. I think he has in terms of the economy of words. Like, he's one of the best. He's good. He's good. He's good. Very good. Literally crafting jokes. Like, I don't find Taylor to be a joke crafter. I think she's kind of got something. But she's not crafting jokes. Real fiction. I think she's, I think that she tells a great story. I think that I don't like story comedy. Yeah, but I mean, I know what you end up. She's great. I think she's an

excellent stand-up. She has like three specials. And each one of them I think were amazing. I

could never get into any of them. I even started all the way. Yeah, I just didn't like like them.

See, I, I actually do like, and I like Andy Jocelyn. Like he wasn't my one of my favorite favors. Oh, do you know who I love? And I think you put me on to him is Elon gold. Oh, love. He's hilarious. Elon gold is so freaking funny. Oh my god. He's so funny. And the other guy that has sidekick at that. I like him. I think he's very funny. So when I love also on the

friendly too. I don't know that guy. You know what I do like? I like. He's funny. I like Ricky Jarve.

“Yeah, he's great. Yeah, Ricky Jarve is. Yeah, but Michael McIntyre is like a little bit more like”

Michael McIntyre is. Yeah, I guess he's like family friendly. The guy literally sells out like

arenas, non-stop. He's fun for everyone. You know why you used to love actually is Russell Peters.

“You know who he is? Yeah, of course. Yeah, Russell Peters is so good. This is the point, right?”

There's a comedian for everybody. Everyone has different tastes and everything else. But the bottom line is if you can find five minutes to laugh every day, your health will be so improved.

“That's a great way to naturally just release endorphins and really just increase your overall”

physical and mental health. And like I said, this podcast is all about actionable ways to optimize your life and your health. And so today we bring you the science of laughter. And let us

know some comp comedians that you guys like, I love, I mean, seriously, like I'm always looking for

someone to laugh to. So please share. Yes, go have a chuckle. Yes. And let me know some other ones if I haven't mentioned them already in the podcast. Bye.