Laughter is not just a pleasant pastime, nor an occasional luxury. It is a fundamental pillar for our health. Scientists explain the mechanisms of human laughter and show that other animal species also laugh
Have you ever started laughing at someone you’ve just met?
Maybe for a foolish joke or even just feel the sound of that person laughing.
It doesn’t matter if it is the first time that we see it or if we have no common interests. At this moment we are connected by a simple and powerful reaction: laughter.
Several studies confirm that laughter is a biological reflection. They show that children smiled since the first month of life and started laughing with about three months, even before understanding the social dynamics that surround them.
In the same way, deaf people, who have never seen or heard laughing, even laughing spontaneously, which confirms the innate character of this behavior.
And surprisingly, laughter are not a characteristic of our species.
Recent searches have concluded that at least 65 species of animals, such as cows, parrots, dogs, dolphins and poultry, emits similar sounds when playing or even when someone tickles, as it occurs with monkeys and mice.
This discovery suggests that laughter is not something exclusively human and has very old evolutionary roots, shared with other animals.
In fact, the laughter of the monkeys when they play can be the evolutionary origin of our laughs.
Unlike the speech, which requires more complex language, laughter are instinctive and contagious, which strengthen the sense of belonging to the group.
Scientists believe that this social function probably arose with the Homo Ergasterabout 2 million years ago. He generated group cohesion, without the need for language.
The three fundamental factors of humor
But why are some stimuli fun?
Friendology – the science that has studied laughter – has searched for an answer to this question for years. There are already more than 20 theories that try to explain this point, without reaching a consent.
But most of the current models agrees that there are three fundamental factors: the perception of a violation of expectations (inconsistency), the evaluation of this violation as harmless and the simultaneity of the two processes.
That is, laughter arises when something suddenly but harmlessly challenges our expectations and when we elaborate it immediately.
If someone slips into a banana peel and salt, for example, our brain records the surprise (“What an unexpected!”).
And when it shows that there are no risks (“it is only a silly fall”), it releases the tension with a laugh of relief, as there is no real threat.
This mechanism explains why an without success joke is not fun (lack of surprise) or because a real accident is not fun (not harmless). But not all humorous stimuli are universal.
Cultural, personal and contextual differences deeply influence what we consider fun. The same joke can be fun in one culture, offensive in another and totally irrelevant in a third.
Laughter processes in the brain
But what happens in our brain when we make something funny, until we laugh?
Several studies have shown that mood processing involves various regions of the brain. In inconsistency, for example, it is detected in the prefrontal backplay cortex, while the time-occipital union evaluates its harmless character.
Confirming the absence of risk, changes of the periaqueductal gray substance arise and the reward circuit is activated, releasing the dopamine neurotransmitter, which triggers the laughter.
Interestingly, not all laughter are the same. The emotional laughter, linked to a state of true pleasure, are innate and spontaneous. It mainly activates the brain structures associated with emotional reward, such as the nucleus and tonsils accibles.
On the other hand, voluntary laugh is learned and acts as a social tool to imitate or strengthen emotional bonds. It depends on the brain regions responsible for conscious movements.
Therefore, every type of laughter reflects several neuronal mechanisms: automatic and social.
It has also been observed that young people tend to demonstrate greater activation in the brain regions related to emotional pleasure. This reflects a more intense and primary mood experience.
In adults, the most activated areas are those relating to complex processing, associative reflection and autobiographical memory.
This would explain why, due to the accumulated experience, adults contextualize humor through memory and prefer more complex styles, such as sarcasm. Young people, in turn, have less life experiences and seek immediate stimuli such as physical or absurd humor.
Therapeutic laughs
In addition to its emotional and social dimension, laughter also bring powerful therapeutic effects.
Our laugh activates the endogenous opioid system (relating to sensations of calm and pleasure), promoting the release of neurotransmitters such as dopamine and serotonin. These substances are fundamental for psychological well -being and the reduction of stress.
Several studies evaluate the effectiveness of laughter to improve the quality of life, in particular among the elderly. At this stage, the frequency of laughter is associated with the lower risk of functional disability.
Risotherapy so called helps to reduce cortisol levels (stress hormone), as well as alleviating depression and anxiety, improving the quality of sleep and even increasing pain tolerance.
The positive effects of the laughter also extend to the hospital environment. In children and adolescents subjected to medical procedures, straw have shown to significantly reduce anxiety, pain and stress.
Surely laughter is not just a pleasant pastime, nor an occasional luxury. It is a fundamental pillar of our health and social well -being.
Learning to laugh more, looking for reasons for joy in everyday life, can be crucial for our life how much to take care of food or exercise.
Laughter can transform our biology, our mind and our social relationships.
Perhaps the Danish-American humorist Victor Borge (1909-2000) was right when he said that laughter is the shortest distance between two people.
* Marta Calderón García is a researcher of cognition, behavior and neurocrimology at the University of Miguel Hernández in Spain.
This entry was originally published on the academic news website The conversation and republished under the Creative Commons license. Read the original version here (in Spanish).
Source: Terra
Ben Stock is a lifestyle journalist and author at Gossipify. He writes about topics such as health, wellness, travel, food and home decor. He provides practical advice and inspiration to improve well-being, keeps readers up to date with latest lifestyle news and trends, known for his engaging writing style, in-depth analysis and unique perspectives.
