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Laughter is perhaps the most beautiful thing in the world. From a light smile to a laughing fit that gives us a stomachache: Laughter makes us happy and makes us feel good, really good, in fact. But why do we laugh? And what happens in our bodies when we laugh?
Laughter is both a very simple and a highly complex matter. To understand it, we need to look deep inside our bodies. We need 17 muscles just to smile, our so-called mimic muscles. But when we really laugh, it’s not 17 muscles that become active but over 100.
Laughter is a reaction of the brain
Our laughter is always a reaction to something: a joke, a stumble, or a tickle. Our nervous system transmits these impulses to the brain, which then interprets them and allows us to react to them.
This is how the impulses reach our limbic system, the part of the brain that controls our emotions. And from there, our body is set in motion again: The aforementioned 100 muscles give what they can!
What happens in the body
Our laughter begins in the face. The mimic muscles become active while the jaw muscles relax, which is why we laugh with our mouths open.
The heart then starts to beat faster, increasing blood flow throughout the body. At the same time, the diaphragm expands and exerts pressure on the lungs. This is why we get a little out of breath when we laugh. When we laugh, air escapes from our lungs at up to 100 km/h!
The abdominal muscles also contract violently when we laugh. That’s why we sometimes have downright cramps in this area after a fit of laughter. And that’s why we inevitably feel the need to sit or lie down somewhere when we laugh.
Laughter also changes hormone levels
However, the wonderful feeling of laughter is not just limited to the muscles but is also reflected in the hormones.
When we laugh, our body releases dopamine. This is the famous happiness hormone. At the same time, cortisol levels fall. This is our stress hormone. The combination of the two is what feels so good… damn good, in fact.
Experts generally recommend laughing for at least 15 minutes a day. However, doing this at the touch of a button is difficult, so most of us only achieve five to six minutes of laughter daily.
Laughter is deeply human
Laughter is an extremely human activity. Animals do not laugh, so laughter is considered an important social tool for humans. Roughly speaking, there are two reasons to laugh.
One is a “mechanical” impulse. A tickle, for example.
The other is intellectual. Here, our brain is disturbed in its usual functioning, positively interrupted or surprised, so to speak. The French philosopher Henri Bergson explains laughter as the difference between what we expect and what happens.
Example: A person is walking down the street. You expect the person to just keep walking. But suddenly, they slip and find themselves on the seat of their pants. And you? You laugh. Not because you’re being particularly nasty. But because the slip took you by surprise. The event took your brain by surprise, so to speak.
This is because our brain initially structures its expectations very logically, very rationally. When it experiences a logical error due to what actually happens, it makes us react physically with laughter.
Humor is debatable
What we laugh about in detail, i.e., what kind of humour we have, varies from person to person. There is only one rule of thumb: What affects or is closer to us is more likely to make us laugh.
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