Share a Laugh

Instructions

You can engage in this practice alone or as a group.

Alone:

Encourage faculty and staff at your school to laugh. Send them an email with this short message:

Have you ever heard people laughing and couldn’t help but smile, even if you didn’t know what they were laughing about? Or laughed so hard with a friend that you couldn’t stop, even after the joke had passed? Maybe you’ve heard a laugh track on your favorite sitcom.

It turns out that laughter is contagious. In other words, we instinctively mimic each other’s laughter even when we don’t know what’s funny. This practice takes advantage of that, so all you have to do is listen to people laughing—and you may find yourself in stitches, too.

If it sounds a little contrived, try suspending your skepticism for a moment. You may find it’s hard to keep a straight face when you hear all those snickers and guffaws.

Here’s an audio clip for you to listen to if you are in need of a laugh! Remember laughter not only feels good, but it can promote our long-term health!

In a group:

You might choose to bring some levity to a meeting by opening it with this practice.

Start by introducing the practice:

Have you ever heard people laughing and couldn’t help but smile, even if you didn’t know what they were laughing about? Or laughed so hard with a friend that you couldn’t stop, even after the joke had passed? Maybe you’ve heard a laugh track on your favorite sitcom.

It turns out that laughter is contagious. In other words, we instinctively mimic each other’s laughter even when we don’t know what’s funny. This practice takes advantage of that, so all you have to do is listen to people laughing—and you may find yourself in stitches, too.

If it sounds a little contrived, try suspending your skepticism for a moment. You may find it’s hard to keep a straight face when you hear all those snickers and guffaws. Remember laughter not only feels good, but it can promote our long-term health!

Play the following audio.

Ask a few people to share their experience with the practice. Thank everyone for engaging with the practice.

Source

Robert R. Provine, Ph.D., University of Maryland, Baltimore County

Evidence That It Works

In one study, students listened to an 18-second audio recording of laughter. Over 85% of the students smiled the first time they heard it, while nearly half laughed.

Why Does It Matter?

Quite simply, laughter feels good. It can also promote our long-term health, producing soothing effects on our respiratory, cardiovascular, and nervous systems.

However, if you’ve been spending lots of time alone, you might not be laughing very often. In fact, laughter occurs 30 times more frequently in social situations than in solitude. And laughter isn’t something you can just generate on command, the way you might write a gratitude letter or meditate—at least not genuine, side-clutching giggles. Research suggests that simply hearing a recording of people laughing will almost certainly give you the urge to smile, and may even make you chuckle along with them.

When you spend a lot of time with others, laughter can also help strengthen your sense of connection. Researchers believe that laughter is analogous to “play vocalizations” in rats, dogs, chimpanzees, and other animals. In other words, laughter is a signal to others that we are being playful and our intentions are kind and cooperative, not threatening or aggressive. Laughter is meant to make us and the people around us feel good and safe.

Laughter also produces endogenous opioid activity in the brain, which goes along with the pleasurable sensation it creates and may encourage us to bond with the people we’re laughing with. Thus, laughing with colleagues can be a fun way to build a greater sense of community.