Laughter Hour - why you need one

Laughter, they say, is the best medicine. However, for many of us, laughter is the result of spontaneous but ad-hoc interactions. 

You might have met a friend who is really funny. If you did, you laughed a lot. Of course, you can't always find such friends.

You could fill the void by listening to stand-up comedy or something similar. You might watch a film, but movies are unpredictable. What might be really funny to me may not be funny at all to you. 

Your genes contain a small knot at the end, known as telemores. Every time your genes replicate, they snip off the telemores, which have a specific length.

Given a specific length, there is a finite number of times your genes can replicate, also known as the Hayflick limit. 

But what does all of this have to do with laughter? 

Study after study has shown that stress and anxiety have a detrimental effect on the length of your telemores. So what was already limited gets shorter. 

Anxiety creates a condition known as oxidative stress. While you and I may experience it as looking haggard, tired, and fatigued, something far worse is going on on the inside.

Your ability to replicate your cells is being affected, shortening your life. So I have an interesting proposition. 

Create a laughing hour for yourself each day.

Let the world laugh at you (they may even benefit from it), but spend an hour devoted to laughing and joking. 

If you have an obliging friend, call him or her over. If you don't, use YouTube to watch someone funny. If all else fails, join one of those laughter clubs where they spend their time laughing. 

Laughter, whether genuine, induced, or manifested, has the same effect on your brain, hormones, and body.

Your brain cant tell the difference. So if you find life funny enough, laugh at life. If not, find something else to laugh at. But do laugh. 

Reach out to me on twitter @rbawri Instagram @riteshbawriofficial and YouTube at www.youtube.com/breatheagain