Our society is facing a major challenge. We live in a sedentary age where repeated exposure to stress, unhealthy lifestyle, food and damaging habits such as the excessive use of alcohol, cigarettes and drugs, all negatively affect life at home and at work and are exposing people to major lifestyle diseases, including hypertension, heart disease, diabetes, and obesity. This is happening on a global scale at a very high cost.
Laughter is a valid part of the solution. Everybody knows laughter feels good, but few realize it has a long documented list of positive, quantifiable physiological and psychological benefits that can be easily harnessed for better health, productivity and peak performance.
Studies that raise the alarm
- Stress has been called the “Health Epidemic of the 21st Century” by the World Health Organization1. 40% of job turnover is due to stress2. Healthcare expenditures are nearly 50% greater for workers who report high levels of stress3. Insurance data indicates insurance claims for stress related industrial accidents cost nearly twice as much as non-stress related industrial accidents4.
- The annual cost of chronic pain in the USA is estimated to be $560-635 billion, including healthcare expenses and lost productivity5.
- Depression is a major cause of disability, absenteeism, presenteeism (act of attending work while sick), and productivity loss among working-age adults6. The estimated cost of depression in the USA is $5,415 per treated employee, per year7.
- The US Center for Disease Control and Prevention reports that 7 out of 10 deaths among Americans each year are from chronic diseases8. Heart disease, cancer and stroke account for more than 50% of all deaths each year.
- Research suggests that lack of exercise causes as many as 1 in 10 premature deaths around the world each year — roughly as many as smoking9.
Studies that offer solutions
A Revolutionary Approach
Laughter Wellness is a new, unique methodology that shows how laughter can be used to promote wellness and wellbeing throughout people’s lifespans. Its unique and thoroughly documented process offers a series of simple, safe and fun steps that help to heal the body, mind and spirit. It is based on the findings of published clinical researches.
Laughter positively affects all aspects of being. Studies show that it is a legitimate and powerful form of preventive (lifestyle) medicine, and a complementary option to other established therapeutic strategies for physiological, mental, and emotional health, and more.
- Physiological benefits: laughter is a therapeutic ally in healing and a valuable form of preventive and complementary medicine. It provides important natural defenses against illness.
- Mental benefits: laughter diffuses bad stress, enhances problem-solving skills, and creates a new perspective.
- Emotional benefits: laughter elevates moods, counteracts depression symptoms.
- Social benefits: laughter fosters better communication, and improves cooperation and empathy between people. It is a significant lubricant of human communication and relationships.
- Spiritual wellbeing: choosing to laugh and be positive teaches us to choose to live and be at peace with others, with our self and with our environment in our current situation. It helps us build resilience to stress and find meaning in life. The essence of what Laughter Wellness teaches is summarized in the following question: “What can I do now to improve my life/work/situation with a positive attitude?”
Benefits Compare To Aerobic Activity, But Without The Aches And Pains
Physical fitness stemming from laughter is a benefit known to few. Laughter is a recognized form of low-impact cardiovascular exercise. It jogs our internal organs and is particularly important for people who lead a sedentary life, seniors as well as bedridden or wheelchair-bound people (not to say that it also makes working out fun, not tedious!)
“The magnitude of change we saw in the endothelium is similar to the benefit we might see with aerobic activity, but without the aches, pains and muscle tension associated with exercise. We don’t recommend that you laugh and not exercise, but we do recommend that you try to laugh on a regular basis. Thirty minutes of exercise three times a week, and 15 minutes of laughter on a daily basis is probably good for the vascular system.” — Michael Miller, M.D. (Director of Preventive Cardiology at the University of Maryland Medical Center)
Reference: http://www.laughteronlineuniversity.com/laughter-fitness/
Why workplace laughter makes business sense
There is one common sentence that business people (should) ask themselves when they are looking to purchase any sorts of goods or services and here it is: “how much money will this cost and/or make me?” Businesses talk in dollars so we’ve made it simple for you and matched the proven benefits that our laughter-based programs provide with money.
Noteworthy: “Participants felt immediately better.” (After one session.)
55 academic research on happiness that explain why it makes business sense.
Safe, Low-Cost, Easy To Learn And Implement
We help your people achieve wellness through laughter by:
- Low-impact aerobic exercise that works the mind and emotions in a physical way. Laughter gets the heart pumping more blood, and the lungs breathing more oxygen. Engaging in positive and life-affirming motions creates emotional and physical wellbeing.
- Neuroplasticity that restructures the neurons of the brain to be more positive and creative. This is fundamental in the prevention and cure of many diseases such as dementia.
- Connecting people regardless of age, race, or beliefs. It’s all about creating a safe space to vocalize emotions and be in the moment. It’s a form of joyful meditation.
Experience and learn with leading experts
We are leading experts in therapeutic laughter with over a decade of hands-on experience teaching on 4 continents and offer keynotes, seminars, workshops and specialist trainings worldwide! Contact us for more information.
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