Laughing until your belly aches or you get the hiccups: it feels good and it's great for your health. In this health tip we look at the positive effects of laughter and how to build more humour into our everyday lives.
Good for the heart
A fit of laughter triggers the release of endorphins, the body's own “painkillers”. They relieve pain and help to reduce stress. The more endorphins there are in your bloodstream, the better you feel. The heart also benefits, as the relaxation of the muscles after laughing increases the volume of your blood vessels and thus lowers blood pressure.
Laughter connects people and helps build personal relationships. Laughing together strengthens the bonds between friends, family and partners.
More humour in everyday life
So laughter is very healthy for body and soul. But how can we build more humour and occasions for laughter into our stressful, often humourless everyday lives?
- Try building more social contact into your everyday life. For example, you could meet a friend for lunch and forget all your stress and worries over a chat and a good laugh.
- Podcasts: You'll find comedy podcasts wherever you look. Whoever you are, there's sure to be something that makes you laugh.
- Social media are also a gold mine of humorous content. There are countless memes and funny videos everywhere.
- Keep a humour diary: Gratitude diaries are already very popular and valued. You can apply the same principle to funny moments in your everyday life. If you make a note of three moments a day when you laughed, you'll pay more attention to humorous situations in everyday life in the future and notice them more.
- Try laughter therapy. This is group therapy where participants bond by laughing together and get important tips for more humour in everyday life.
- By the way, the body can't really tell the difference between genuine and artificial laughter. So you'll benefit even if you simply pretend to laugh.
How much do Swiss people laugh?
The market and opinion research institute Marketagent Switzerland conducted an online survey to find out how the Swiss perceive humour. Evelyne Mauch, a neurologist and senior doctor at santé24, has summarised the survey findings here.Health-promoting courses and treatments
It's important to find a balance to the stresses and strains of everyday life and boost your own wellbeing. SWICA supports regular efforts in this regard with generous contributions to over 100 courses and treatments.Psychological/psychiatric counselling and online self-help training
Are you worried or anxious and struggling with mental stress? SWICA customers are entitled to psychological/psychiatric counselling. For some symptoms, the experts at the santé24 telemedicine service can offer online self-help training. These sessions provide support in coping with psychological symptoms such as stress and depressive symptoms.For your health: santé24 and SWICA Benecura
Do you have a health question? Our physicians and healthcare professionals at santé24 are available 24/7 on +41 44 404 86 86 for SWICA customers. In addition to telephone health advice, patients whose conditions are appropriate for telemedicine can receive medical services such as diagnostics, treatment, and even e-prescriptions for prescription medications.
Do you feel ill? The SWICA Benecura medical app makes it easy to carry out a digital SymptomCheck. You will receive a personal recommendation about what to do next. Send your information in encrypted form to the santé24 online practice for your telephone consultation to significantly shorten the assessment.
