It's no secret that having a good laugh from time to time can help lighten your mood and make you feel a little better - if not at least for that moment. Not only can it make you feel better, but it also helps increase your tolerance for pain.
In a recent study conducted by researchers from the University of Oxford and published in the "Proceedings of the Royal Society B," laughter was found to be the best medicine for pain. The physical motions involved in laughing trigger the release of endorphins, which manage pain and promote feelings of well being and can act as painkillers in our bodies.
Paul Schauble, Ph.D. psychologist at UF, said he believes that laughter is a healthy and necessary process that is a powerful means of dealing with pain and other discomfort.
"Being under stress and anxiety is not good for the immune system," Schauble said. "When we laugh, that tension is released emotionally and physically, and we gain a different perspective on something that may have otherwise been alarming."
In one of the experiments conducted, researchers split volunteers into two groups. One group was shown 15 minutes of comedy, such as "Friends" and the other was shown "boring" material, like golf. At the end of the trial, those shown 15 minutes of comedy increased their pain threshold by about 10 percent, according to BBC News.
The laughter measured in this study wasn't just any kind of laughter, though. In order for laughter to really work as a medicine, one must engage in involuntary, full-belly laughter that creases the eyes. Those that did not engage in this kind of laughter did not have as significant results.
So, next time you're feeling down, laugh until it hurts, or until you fall off of your dinosaur.
