Living longer doesn’t have to involve arduous tasks. Arnold Schwarzenegger suggests that longevity could come with one of the most joyous activities known to the world: laughing. In his recent newsletter, the ‘Arnold’s Pump Club’, he talks about how laughter carries a great chance of longevity in humans.
With age, one forgets to live in the moment and enjoy what life has to offer. Compared to children who are yet to see what the future has in store for them, adults deal with various kinds of stressors. Researchers mulled over this and linked laughter with the quality of life.
A study on ‘Sense of Humor and Causes of Mortality’ revealed that people could live up to eight more years if they laughed often. For this study, researchers conducted a 15-year follow-up on 53,556 participants. They eventually concluded that a heightened sense of humor contributed to the protection of cognitive functioning.
Schwarzenegger also highlighted how people tend to laugh less as they grow older. This phenomenon happens when they enjoy life less compared to young children.
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“A phenomenon known as the “humor cliff” suggests that we begin to laugh less in our 20s, and compared to childhood, we laugh a fraction of the time.”
He then quoted a study from Stanford that drew a comparison between how often a child and an adult would laugh. Shockingly, the difference was steep. An average 4-year-old laughed 300 times per day, while an average 40-year-old laughed 300 times every ten weeks!
Therefore, frequently laughing was the way to go. It showcased a 48% decrease in death overall, a 73% lowered risk of death from cardiac disease, and an 83% decrease in chances of infection.
“Many studies show it lowers stress, anxiety, and blood pressure, reduces inflammation, and improves mental well-being, immunity, and recovery.”
Schwarzenegger wrapped up his segment with a challenge for his village. He asked his readers to pick up any activity that gave them joy and brought a smile to their faces. Whether meeting an old friend or watching a comedy, the point was to invoke laughter.
Arnold Schwarzenegger proved why laughter is the best medicine
In a previous newsletter based on a similar study, Schwarzenegger highlighted the medicinal value of laughter. Laughter kickstarts a chain of events by reducing stress and anxiety, which leads to better immunity. He called this the “domino effect”.
Any enjoyable situation that invokes laughter leads to reduced stress and an increase in ‘feel-good’ hormones such as dopamine. This then contributes to an individual’s well-being by improving immunity. Schwarzenegger often finds ways to bring smiles to his fans’ faces, since he’s an entertainer. And with the incredible power of laughter on health, he might find more ways to do so.
