Laughter, an internationally recognised communication

Laughter is a form of communication that all humans recognise. No matter where in the world we live, we all have the ability to laugh. Laughter can transcend status, class, age, race and culture.

I always find it fascinating that something so accessible and familiar to us almost goes unnoticed. It is certainly not always valued for the wonderful power it has and the benefits it can offer us physically, emotionally and socially.

We learn to laugh before we can speak. It’s one of the first ways we learn to communicate with our caregivers. As babies, we smile and laugh before we talk, and we quickly learn that laughing gets positive responses from the people around us. From an early age, we recognise that our laugh gets others to laugh too, and soon we are sharing our gift of laughter with everyone we meet.

Laughing is something we enjoy because laughter can release feel-good hormones called endorphins. Have you ever tried not smiling at someone who smiles at you? It’s not easy, is it? That’s because we learned this response when we were a baby, and it is now almost like a trigger or a positive anchor.

As we get older, we learn new behaviours and get wrapped up in other ways of communicating. We can forget how to be joyful, and this, in turn, may impact the quality of our relationships and health.

Laughter is a great human connector

Relationships that share positive experiences, including laughter, may be better able to cope with challenges and stresses. It has been said, “People who laugh together stay together.”

When we laugh with someone, we share a moment of feeling, and this can create a connection. The shortest distance between two people is said to be a smile, and laughing is a smile with the volume turned up. When we laugh with someone, we can feel more connected and share a positive emotional experience.

Rediscovering how to bring more laughter into your communication style can have a positive impact on you and those you interact with. People like being with others who make them feel good, just as we did when we were babies. When you laugh and smile more, you may notice others laughing and smiling more too.

“Be the change you want to see in the world.” - Mahatma Gandhi

Let’s explore the benefits of laughter:

• We may be more tolerant of people we laugh with.
• We may feel more connected to people we laugh with.
• Laughter can encourage creativity, which may be useful at work.
• Laughter can release feel-good endorphins.
• Laughter may help reduce stress.
• People who laugh regularly may feel more positive and connected.

One way to create more laughter in your world is by inviting it in and practising your laughter skills. You may need to wake up your chuckle muscles with laughter exercises.

Yes, laughter exercises.

In our workplaces, we could do with more of this positive communication and connection. Laughter can help us build healthy and effective relationships. In a busy workplace, people often only talk to one another when they need something or when something is not going right. This means that, often, the only contact colleagues have with each other is negative. Negative communication or lack of communication can affect mood and motivation; people can become defensive and demotivated.

Laughter sessions can be a way to redress this balance. By encouraging teams to connect with each other through laughter, they begin to share positive experiences with one another. Laughter can also be a useful stress reliever. It may help people breathe more deeply, release tension and reconnect with a lighter state of mind.

Once the chuckle muscles have been reawakened, laughter can spread beyond the sessions, and people may notice more and more reasons to laugh. Because laughter is contagious, laughter can become part of healthier workplace communication. This feel-good feeling may then be associated with the people or place we laughed with, topping up our internal positive representation of that person or place.

With laughter, people may feel more positive, resilient and happy.