The Healing Power Of Humour
Laughter is universal, it’s unifying and helps to break the ice, not to mention being good for your health! In this podcast episode we are modelling some good old fashioned fun, humour and lots of laughs - purely as an experiment of course - to see if you witness within yourself, the healing power of humour. Here are a few key areas from our discussion:
THE HEALING POWER OF HUMOUR
To get things rolling, Sibby shares one of Brian Bilston’s poems - a letter to my 14 year old self - and reads the response to the poem at the end of the show!
So what are the benefits of laughing and why is it good for our health? Let’s start with that shall we!
Well, did you know that laughing helps your whole body to feel very relaxed and relieves physical tension and stress, leaving muscles relaxed for up to 45 minutes afterwards!
It gives you a natural endorphin rush and releases dopamine - you feel like you’re on a high…that really does sounds like laughter IS the best medicine.
When we laugh we involve the whole body - our face, our brain, our lungs, our blood vessels, our cells, even our chakras get in on the action - our vocal chords vibrate our laughter throughout our entire body, instantly shifting your energy and vibration higher.
When you laugh you exhale for longer removing stale air from your lungs - another health benefit from laughing. It also dilates blood vessels which helps to improve their function and slows aging of our blood vessels.
And lastly and perhaps less known - did you know you can burn calories laughing? If you laugh for 10/15 minutes a day you can burn approximately 40 calories by doing so - you can loose 3/4 pounds over a year!
We agree that to laugh with someone is to truly know someone - how gorgeous is that! It can be a truly bonding experience and incredibly therapeutic too. It’s like you are ‘letting someone in’ when you laugh with them. So, how can you bring more laughter into your life?
You could try laughing yoga which has proven to be a bit hit but we ask the question - ‘is there such a thing as laughing meditation?’ Well Sally and Sibby give it a go live during the show! Not to be missed….you may find yourself laughing along!
Go and see a good comedy, comedy show or comedian. We mention Victoria Wood - where Sally gives a live demonstration of her fictional character - Kimberly. Sibby shares that she’s currently watching the American version of The Office staring Rainn Wilson (who Sibby has publicly invited onto the Podcast Show!) And what about some of the old greats - Charlie Chaplin, Tommy Cooper and that scene from Only Fools and Horses where Del Boy falls behind the bar! Laughing is very subjective - what makes you laugh, might not make someone else laugh. What are your favourite shows or comedians?
You could share some funny stories that you still reminisce over! There’s a few corkers that Sally & Sibby share that involves Sibby falling down a hole in a field whist trying to chase after her boys and Sally saying she’ll recline to a roofer who wanted to fix her flapping tile. Oh boy!
If you’d like to comment on this episode or share some of your humorous moments with us, you can do so my clicking here for the Instagram Page and here for the Facebook Group.