How to relieve stress using laughter therapy. The Happiness Project became a household name in 1996 when the BBC broadcast an outstanding QED documentary called "How to be Happy".
For the show, three people who were clinically depressed took part in an unusual experiment. Prior to the commencement of the experiment the level of activity in the left pre-frontal lobe of the brain was measured, a reliable indicator of their happiness levels.
Over the next few weeks, the participants had to do three things:
1. Take physical exercise. As discussed in Strategy 5, exercise is a great stress reliever and helps release endorphins.
2. Laugh for 20 minutes a day. Laughter produces endorphins which make you feel good. Just smiling releases serotonin into your bloodstream.
3. Force themselves to have positive thoughts. Each participant had to place coloured stickers around in their home at work. Each time they saw a sticker, they had to think of something that made them feel good.
Because these new behaviours were repeated on a daily basis, they soon became habits. At the end of the study the participants had their brain activity re-assessed and all three had changed from being clinically depressed to being extreme optimists.
Laughter feeds the Soul
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