Infertility can seem pretty heavy and depressing at times, right? Sometimes, we have a feeling of futility when we try a zillion different things and nothing seems to produce the results we’re looking for.
What can we do with this? Well, one thing we can do is laugh about it. Yes, laugh!
I don’t know about you, but I always feel much better after having a good laugh about something. It seems to relieve the grimness and heaviness of even the worst situations.
Medical research has proven that laughter has physical, psychological, social, spiritual, and quality-of-life benefits. For example, laughter can help to reduce levels of the stress hormone cortisol. Too much cortisol damages your body and increases belly fat.
Another benefit of laughter is that it costs nothing and has no side effects!
So have you laughed today? Did you laugh yesterday?
The therapeutic effectiveness of laughter result from spontaneous laughter (triggered by external stimuli or positive emotions) and by self-induced laughter (triggered by yourself at will), both occurring with or without humor.
The brain cannot distinguish between these types of laughter so it doesn’t matter what you do to laugh. It doesn’t matter how or why you laugh. The important thing is to just laugh.
Watch a funny movie or read a humorous book. Have someone tell you a joke or funny story. Play an amusing game with someone.
You don’t necessarily need humor to laugh. You can laugh by intention. For example, you might try “laughter yoga”, a group exercise where you simulate laughter with eye contact and childlike playfulness, which soon turns into real and contagious laughter. Maybe there is a local laughter yoga group that you could join.
Sources:
Mora-Ripoll R, The therapeutic value of laughter in medicine, Altern Ther Health Med. 2010 Nov-Dec;16(6):56-64.
Shahidi M et al, Laughter yoga versus group exercise program in elderly depressed women: a randomized controlled trial, Int J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2011 Mar;26(3):322-7.
