World Laughter Day
The first Sunday of May is World Laughter Day, a celebration that raises awareness about all the benefits of laughing and promotes world peace through laughter. Laughing can instantly help reduce stress and brings us closer to other people, as we share our happiness with them. Those who take part in World Laughter Day help spread positivity and cheerfulness in a way that could help change the world.
History of World Laughter Day
Dr. Madan Kataria, a family doctor in India, founded the Laughter Yoga movement, as he believed in the theory that a person's facial expressions can influence their emotions. This inspired him to create World Laughter Day in 1998, in an effort to bring people around the world together through laughter, to help promote and manifest world peace and positivity.
The Laughter Yoga movement now has Clubs in over 105 countries, all of which observe World Laughter Day and introduce it to their communities. World Laughter Day celebrations are usually made up of people gathering in public to share in the laughter.
World Laughter Day arrived in the United States in 2005, where it was first celebrated in Los Angeles.
Why is World Laughter Day Celebrated?
The act of laughing can have a serious positive impact on someone's well-being and mental health. World Laughter Day aims to promote more laughing amongst people and to celebrate the benefits of laughter. Here are some of them:
- It releases endorphins. When you laugh your body releases endorphins, which are natural painkillers that can help you feel good and ease chronic pain.
- It reduces stress. Laughing lowers the level of stress hormone in your body, helping you cut down on stress and anxiety, making you feel more relaxed.
- It helps with building relationships. Laughing with someone else can bring you closer together. This means that laughter can help you make friends, it can help you make up with someone with who you've been angry, and it is proven that couples who regularly laugh with each other are closer and more intimate.
- It improves your heart health and lowers blood pressure. Laughter will get your heart pumping, which means that it is an easy way to get some cardio workout done. At the same time, it lowers your blood pressure, reducing the risk of a heart attack.
As you can see, regularly laughing can not only contribute to your health, it also makes you feel better and more positive, which means you'll want to spread this positivity around everyone you come across.
How to Celebrate World Laughter Day
Perhaps the best way to celebrate World Laughter Day is by laughing. So, here are a couple of jokes to make you chuckle:
- Why did the scarecrow win an award? Because he was outstanding in his field!
- Parallel lines have so much in common. It's a shame they'll never meet.
- What did one wall say to the other wall? "I'll meet you at the corner!"
- What do you call a bear with no teeth? A gummy bear.
- How do you organize a space party? You "planet"!
This day is all about happiness, peace, laughing, and sharing in laughter with each other. There may be a World Laughter Day event happening near you, but if not there are other ways in which you can celebrate.
Invite some friends over for a movie night and watch some of your favorite funny movies. Or, you can go out to a comedy club to see some stand-up acts and share in the laughter with others around you.
You can also spread awareness about this day by sharing a funny joke or meme on social media with the hashtag #WorldLaughterDay.
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