Laughter Primes Creative Problem Solving

The health benefits of regular laughter are broadly known.  Check out Laughter is the Best Medicine for a quick review.

What is not so widely known, is that laughter can also immediately boost brain function and cognitive performance, especially in the area of creativity.  For example, one study showed that watching 15-minute comedy video leaves you in a significantly more hopeful state.  Being hopeful enables creative thinking.

Being open to laughter, generating chuckles and getting the full effects from a good laugh are all skills we can learn.  One recent trend in this area is Laughter Yoga.   In this approach you practice an exercise that combines laughing for no specific reason with Yoga-based breathing techniques.  Not sure if it achieves the same effects as traditional laughter but it appears to. Perhaps it is even better!

Check out this video from the BBC on Laughter Yoga in London and you be the judge.

Interested to hear from readers that do laughter yoga or use other techniques to induce laughter on a regular basis for the purposes of health and improved cognitive performance.