Laughter lifts the mood, exercises the diaphragm, it strengthens the defense of the immune system and is contagious. A contribution to World Laughter Day. “Take a deep breath and pull the corners of your mouth up.

Hold your breath and then exhale with ha, ha, ha,” explains the specialist on the “laughter phone” in Wunstorf, Lower Saxony. The specialist is a laughter yoga instructor. Her warm laughter is contagious. Although in at first it’s a bit of a strange feeling, laughing at a stranger for no reason works.

Laughing on the phone for three minutes “just like that” puts you in a good mood and exercises your diaphragm, says hotline co-founder Zandra Mandle. She came up with the idea along with others in the summer of 2019: “Because it’s much nicer to laugh together,” she says. “Take time to laugh, it’s the music of the soul”, is the motto of the anonymous and free service, which is managed by about 100 volunteers. Since a recent TikTok video popularized the “Laughter Phone,” which is funded by online donations, a particularly large number of children and young people have called, says Mandle.

What is Laughter Yoga?

Indian doctor Madan Kataria developed the concept of laughter yoga in the 1990s. It is a combination of simple yoga techniques and playful laughter exercises. In 1998, he also instituted World Laughter Day on the first Sunday of May. This year it is on May 5th.

Laughter is contagious, even if one does not know why one laughs, explains psychiatrist Michael Titsche from Tuttlingen, Baden-Württemberg in an interview with the Evangelical News Agency (epd): “Laughter is an expression of pure liberation, complete relaxation”.

But what exactly happens when we laugh? In the brain, the area responsible for controlling the muscles of laughter in the face is activated, explains Titze, who is considered a pioneer of therapeutic humor in Germany and has published several books on the subject. Seventeen muscles in the face pull the corners of the mouth up and ensure a happy expression.

About 300 muscles throughout the body are activated when we laugh. For a short time, the body is very active, the metabolism is stimulated and the hormones of happiness are secreted. The result is measurable in the blood. Increased amounts of substances that serve the defense of the immune system are formed.

The comparison with sports

The founder of laughter research, the American psychiatrist William Fry (1924-2014), even compared laughter to sports. According to him, 20 seconds of laughter is roughly equivalent to three minutes of brisk rowing or running. In 1964, Fry founded an Institute of Laughterology at Stanford, California. As his colleagues literally ridiculed him, Fry began his work with the financial support of his well-to-do wife, Titsche says.

Laughter relieves stress and tension, lifts mood and reduces pain, explains Titsche, who founded the international humor therapy organization Humorcare. For example, a meta-analysis published last year showed that laughter is proven to reduce levels of the stress hormone cortisol.

Therapeutic laughter works even for those for whom the laughter of others is suffering, explains the researcher. These so-called gelotophobes have often been ridiculed and fear ridicule. In therapy, however, gelatophobes can learn a more relaxed approach to laughter, Titsche says. Laughter gives courage and is a good medicine against life’s uncertainties, says Pastor Bettina von Kinle from Villingen near the Black Forest, who is also a humor trainer.

Her experience tells her that it is helpful to remember the happy moments, even in the face of illness and death. The blessing of the congregation, for example at the end of a service, is for Kinley “a kind of smile of God”.

Edited by: Sofia Kleftaki