It’s a natural pain reducer, it increases our ability to cope with pain, massages our internal organs, gives us a facial, improves circulation, oxygenates the body, and it stimulates the immune system. Putting our bodies in a relaxed state, laughter can be a self-prescribed anecdote especially for these times! To illustrate these 7 ways....

# 1. Liz Curtis Higgs (Christian comedienne, writer) shares a true story of a friend. A department store PBX operator went out in icy weather to catch a bus. As she came to her destination, the bus slid into the bus stop. As she was getting off, she asked the bus driver to wait until she was on the sidewalk before he left. The lady stepped down to the ground, and her cane slipped, hooked her foot, and down she went-under the bus!

The worried driver called out, asking where she had gone. “Under the bus!” she yelled back.

“You’re where?” he asked. “Under the bus!” She repeated. And, he asked, “What are you doing there?” She couldn’t help it. She retorted, “Checking your brakes!” (Humor applied over obvious pain.)

#2. It’s been said laughter can increase our threshold of pain as much as 21%. Higgs tried humor in painful childbirth and was able to (laughingly) last 26 hours before she finally saw the anesthesiologist, wearing a big button with the wording, “Just Say YES to Drugs,” and finally relented, admitting a few things go down better than a big dose of laughter.

#3. Laughter massages your inside muscles like a therapist massages your outside muscles. (Let’s call it internal jogging!) Experts say 15 big laughs a day is our minimum requirement. So, since toddlers supposedly laugh 15 times an hour, the prescription is clear: get yourself a 2-year-old. The easiest way is to ask a young mother at church if you may care for her youngster in the nursery during church. She’ll be elated with the plan. When the child laughs, you laugh, too. Voila! You’ll have your allotment of laughter and so will that mom. (Perhaps you’d like to be a nursery worker!)

#4. Why do your cheeks hurt when you have a good bout of laughter? It’s because you use 15 facial muscles. That’s their way of telling you, “Please do this more often, so it won’t hurt so much!” (Like being a weekend jogger who doesn’t get regular exercise.) Higgs’ friend says it feels good to laugh. Just like a good feeling after exercising but with less work. “It’s the only exercise my body gets, and it’s impossible to live without it. Like oxygen, food, and God.”

When a friend’s little girl asked her why her knees were getting wrinkly, she said that’s what happens to your skin when we get older. The girl asked when she got older will her whole body look like that, and added, that the skin gets tired and gives up, huh? The mother answered that yes, that’s pretty much how it works. “But,” the mother said, “I’m convinced if we can keep our laugh muscles limber and the skin around our smiles moving, we’re going to look gorgeous all the way to glory!”

#5. Laughter improves circulation. When Higgs begins her talks to women in chilly arenas, she notices the women have jackets or sweaters on, with arms folded and legs crossed. But when they start laughing, they slip off their jackets, their arms unfold with constant applause, their legs uncross so they can bend with laughter, and soon their faces are flushed with a warm glow. And, laughter also increases the heart rate-both wonderful health benefits.

#6. Laughter oxygenates the body, do it’s an aerobic. You can exhale up to 75 miles per hour with a big laugh. To laugh out, you must breathe in. Air is involved, so it has aerobic potential. Whether one could do sustained laughter for 20 minutes at your target heart rate, 3 times a week is anyone’s guess. But think how delightful it would be to try!

#7. This may interest you the most with COVID concerns. God has fashioned our bodies to renew themselves. In a spiritual sense you are to be “ transformed by renewing your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God,” Romans 12:2.

Your body renews itself will all the basic necessities-food, oxygen, water, sleep, shelter from the elements, air. But, there are fewer tangible things that help us stay or get well—companionship, music, compassion, and, yes laughter. A healthy body produces T cells, the blood cells that fight infection. And, guess what? Laughter is one of the things that produces T cells. Higgs remarks, “I don’t have to understand it scientifically to rejoice in the reality that tee-hees makes Ts!” So, plan on more T cell producing positive moments with your loved ones at home, phone calls to friends, reading humorous, good books, or watching good comedies.

Higgs tells of a friend from Oklahoma, who believes humor heals. Her friend says, “Humor has brought me back physically, emotionally, and spirituality. It keeps me from going over the edge in a very low, depressed period of my life. Being able to laugh through the tears is a healing process.”

Nurses often use humor to gauge a recovering patient’s progress. They’ll throw out a gentle joke and watch for reactions. Even a smile indicates they’re on the path toward wellness. Wise is the patient who knows humor’s ability to assist the healing process and who looks for it at every turn.

Higgs’ many books have helped me, personally, through trying times in the last 2-3 years. It’s almost impossible to not break up in laughter when reading some of her life experiences. We all are created with different talents. I believe God has a terrific sense of humor, being evident when reading or seeing the likes of beautiful comediennes like Higgs, whose laughter brings healing to the world.