Laughter

I don’t laugh enough. Not for my mental health and, according to some research, not enough for my physical health, either. According to a recent reading in Joy Breaks: 90 Devotions to Celebrate, Simplify, and Add Laughter to Your Life [Clairmont, Johnson, Meberg, Swindoll], laughter is also good for our spiritual health.

The physiological effects of laughing are similar to the physiological effects of exercise. It increases the heart rate, raises blood pressure, stretches muscles in the face and throughout the body, and causes us to breath more quickly sending oxygen to our brains. [Web MD] All those things are good for our physical health. Laughter also burns calories – not enough to give up the stationary bike, but if done enough and for lengths of time, it aids in burning calories. One study showed that laughter raised the heart rate after one minute of laughing as much as 10 minutes of aerobic exercise. I know it stretches muscles because at times (mostly in the distant past) I’ve laughed so hard and so long that the muscles in my abdomen hurt the next day.

The mental effects are readily apparent. While laughing, it is hard to be depressed or angry. The increased oxygen flow may account for the clearer thinking I seem to have after a good laugh. I have a different perspective on the happenings in my world after some belly laughs. I’m able to be more alert and attentive to others after a good laugh. I’m less tired emotionally, too. I seem to have more capacity for other people in my life. Maybe that’s a product of the good feelings I get from laughing with other people. When I’ve been in the mental hospital, the therapists would sometimes try to get us laughing or concentrating on something besides our problems. Amazingly, the problems seemed less important, at least while we were doing something else. Whatever the case, I’ve noticed a change in my mental status after laughing.

The spiritual effects of laughing are talked about in Scripture. Proverbs 17:22 talks about having a joyful heart. It says, “A joyful heart is good medicine, But a broken spirit dries up the bones.” [NASB] And even Job was told, “He will yet fill your mouth with laughter, And your lips with shouting.” [Job 8:22] Ecclesiastes 3:4 tells us there’s “A time to weep, and a time to laugh.” And, what is there to be so joyful about? “what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, that you also may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father , and with His Son Jesus Christ. And these things we write, so that our joy may be made complete.” [1 John 1:3-4] The fellowship and salvation offered to us by God is reason enough to rejoice and be happy. And laughter is a natural outpouring of great joy.

I’ve been trying to develop a “laugh lifestyle” (Marilyn Meberg) – a lifestyle that is firmly rooted in the joy of Christ. Marilyn’s prayer at the end of one devotion in the book reads as follows: “Lord Jesus, without you our laughter would quickly become hollow and meaninglessness. But you give us reason for being, you give us significance in being, and you fill our being with the awesome assurance that we have been cleansed and forgiven of all sin. Because of the cross, we have been reconciled to you for now and all eternity. Because of that truth we do indeed break forth with rejoicing and shouts of joy. Amen.” If I can keep these truths in mind, laughter will come more easily.