Reasons to Try Laughter Yoga and Why Laughter Is the Best Medicine

As Laughter Yoga celebrates its 30th anniversary in 2025, here are 30 reasons to try Laughter Yoga for wellbeing. Laughter is the best medicine for physical health and mental health.

Your life may never be the same again. Simply better!

The founder, Dr Madan Kataria (medical doctor), created Laughter Yoga in March 2025. Starting with himself, his wife, and three friends in a park, the global holistic exercise practice has now reached over 120 countries and millions of people, who laugh and experience the following physical and mental health benefits.

Why should I try Laughter Yoga?

Physical Benefits of Laughter Yoga

1. Increases Oxygen: Laughter Yoga involves deep breathing and laughter exercises, significantly increasing oxygen intake. This enhanced oxygenation reaches all cells in the body and brain, improving overall cellular function and energy levels.
2. Immune Boost: The extra T cells and NK (Natural Killer) cells produced may help you fight off viruses more quickly and feel better more quickly if they take hold.
3. Internal Massage: The physical act of laughing creates vibrations throughout the body, massaging internal organs. This internal movement stimulates digestion, improves circulation, and may help relieve tension in internal tissues that regular exercise doesn’t reach.
4. Facial Rejuvenation: Regular laughing exercises multiple facial muscles that often remain dormant. This natural facial workout may help reduce the appearance of fine lines, improve muscle tone, and contribute to a more youthful appearance – a “free facelift.”
5. Lung Cleansing: The forceful exhalation that occurs during laughter helps expel stale air from the lungs, making room for fresh air. This cleansing process may help remove mucus and other irritants, potentially improving respiratory health; coughs are common during cleansing.
6. Thyroid Exercise: Laughter movements stimulate the neck area where the thyroid gland is located. This gentle stimulation may support thyroid function, which is crucial in metabolism, energy regulation, and hormone balance.
7. Cardiovascular Benefits: Laughter temporarily increases heart rate, similar to light aerobic exercise. This “workout” for the heart may improve blood flow, reduce blood pressure over time, and contribute to overall cardiovascular health.
8. Makes You Feel Warmer: Laughing raises body temperature through increased muscle activity and circulation. This natural warming effect can help reduce energy bills while boosting energy levels.
9. Stabilises Blood Sugar: Some research suggests that laughter may help regulate blood glucose levels by influencing hormonal responses. This potential benefit could be particularly valuable for those managing diabetes or blood sugar concerns.
10. Burns Calories: While not a replacement for regular exercise, laughing does burn calories through physical exertion.
11. Natural Tear Production: Hearty laughter often triggers tear production, which can help lubricate the eyes. Beneficial for those with dry eye syndrome, supported by scientific studies.
12. Better Sleep: Laughter yoga improves sleep quality by reducing stress hormones and promoting relaxation. Physical relaxation combined with stress relief creates optimal conditions for restful sleep.
13. Accessible Exercise: Unlike many exercise forms, Laughter Yoga can be adapted for nearly anyone, regardless of physical condition. The exercises are suitable for individuals with visual impairments, older adults, wheelchair users, and those who use sticks or crutches, making them an inclusive form of physical activity.

Mental/Emotional Benefits

14. Mood Enhancement: Laughter triggers the release of endorphins, the body’s natural feel-good chemicals. This immediate mood lift helps combat grumpiness and creates a positive emotional state, making it particularly beneficial for addressing winter blues and ADHD symptoms.
15. Promotes Playfulness: Laughter Yoga encourages a playful mindset that many adults lose over time. An exercise to try: Cushion-throwing exercises, which help participants reconnect with the joy of playful behaviour that reduces seriousness and promotes mental flexibility.
16. Improves Relaxation: Combining deep breathing and laughter activates the parasympathetic nervous system, inducing relaxation. This counteracts the fight-or-flight response and helps the body reach a calm, peaceful state.
17. Reduces Stress: Laughter Yoga can reduce stress levels by approximately 40-50%. This significant reduction occurs through lowering cortisol (stress hormone) levels and releasing tension through physical expression and breathwork.
18. Perspective Shift: Regular practice helps develop the ability to see the humour in everyday situations, even in challenging ones. Laughing on purpose when upset, angry, or annoyed, for example, when receiving upsetting news, going through grief, or in other circumstances such as a car window being open during rain or a broken washing machine, demonstrates how laughter can transform difficult situations through a different perspective.
19. Mental Vacation: Laughter Yoga provides a “brain holiday” – a mental health break from worries, news, and outside stressors. This temporary escape allows the mind to reset, relieving the constant barrage of information and concerns.
20. Dopamine Boost: Laughter increases dopamine production, which enhances motivation and focus. Helping you with daily tasks boosts motivation and energy, and you may benefit from being 20% more productive.
21. Self-Acceptance: Learning to laugh at ourselves cultivates self-acceptance rather than self-criticism. This practice encourages a gentle, humorous relationship with our mistakes and quirks rather than harsh self-judgment.
22. Builds Confidence: Regular participation in Laughter Yoga can build self-confidence by reducing social inhibitions. Exercise example: Take a bow “in front of a huge audience,” symbolising the growing comfort with self-expression.
23. Enhances Creativity: Laughter Yoga promotes creative thinking by activating the right side of the brain. This helps participants find “different ways of doing things” rather than “sticking to the same way.”
24. Builds Resilience: Regular practice develops emotional resilience, similar to a “suit of laughter armour”. This increases your capacity to bounce back from challenges and helps you to cope with life’s unpredictable circumstances.
25. Emotional Release: Laughter provides a cathartic release for emotions that might remain unexpressed. Releasing “inner emotions, trauma, deep troubles, worries” in a “non-talking way,” offering emotional relief without requiring verbal processing.
26. Enhances Brain Function: Laughing and deep breathing may increase oxygen delivery to the brain, improving cognitive function, including memory, focus, and mental clarity. This may help counter brain fog and support overall cognitive health.
27. Emotional intelligence: encompasses the ability to recognise and regulate one’s emotions, maintain motivation despite challenges, understand others’ perspectives, and skillfully navigate social interactions. It is a highly useful personal skill in life and work.

Social Benefits

28. Improves Relationships and Creates New Friendships: Shared laughter builds bonds between people. Regular practice can strengthen existing relationships and build new ones by introducing more joy, playfulness, and positivity, creating bonds that can develop into meaningful friendships.
29. Creates Connection: Laughter Yoga emphasises eye contact, synchronised movement, and shared joy, creating a deeper human connection. Laughter Yoga triggers oxytocin, the “bonding hormone,” which strengthens feelings of trust and connection.
30. Spreads Love and Happiness: Creating a “ripple effect,” spreading positive emotions beyond just the participants. The contagious nature of laughter makes you a spreader of joy in your community.

Bonus

31. Creates Authenticity: Regular practice helps reduce concern about others’ judgments. Laughter Yoga promotes living authentically rather than seeking external approval.

There are many reasons for employees to enjoy Laughter Yoga at work. Find out the benefits of Laughter Yoga for corporate wellness in the workplace here.

Scientific Research
Point 11. Natural Tear Production for Dry Eye Disease – https://www.bmj.com/content/386/bmj-2024-080474

Download our services pack of Serious Laughter workshops and corporate wellness activities, and learn how accessible Laughter Yoga sessions can benefit your team.
Subsidised sessions are also available for community groups.
Visit our Events page on Eventbrite for public Laughter Yoga sessions online and in-person

To organise your Wellbeing Laughter Yoga session email happy@seriouslaughter.co.uk or fill out the enquiry form here

It’s time to thrive in life!