April is national humor month.

I recently read that children laugh 300 to 400 times a day.  Adults, however, laugh on average, only 15 times a day.  Why is that?  I’m sure it can be argued that adults are under more pressure and stress than kids.  (Although, spend a day with any teenager and you will find that they are under a great deal of pressure and stress too.)

I wonder at what age we begin to stop laughing.  Is it in middle school when peer pressure starts to intensify?  Is it in high school when we begin to feel the weight on the world on our shoulders?  Do we stop laughing in college when the pressures of career choices become reality?  Or does it just simply happen over time?

I don’t know the answer to those questions, but I think the more important question is, why don’t we laugh more now?  Aside from the health benefits of laughter – it reduces stress, increases endorphins, burns calories, etc. – laughter is just plain fun.

In my home we laugh and giggle a lot.  We enjoy jokes, laugh when we play with our dogs, laugh when we play board games, tell stories and laugh with friends.  As a family we eat dinner together 6 times a week and laugh at each meal.  We work hard at building laughter into our lives.

I love watching tears seep out of my husband’s eyes when he is laughing so hard he can’t talk.  My daughter … she’s a snorter.  She tries to control her laugh, but when she is really cracking-up she begins to snort, which only makes her laugh harder.

As for me, I’ve got a unique laugh.  I’ve been compared to windshield wipers, a hyena, and numerous other things.  When I laugh in public I get quite an array of responses.  Sometimes people look away as if they don’t want to “catch” what is going on, sometimes they move to other tables, but mostly they can’t help themselves and they end up laughing too.  (I have actually had a waiter put a paper bag over my head in hopes it would help calm me down – I have a picture to prove it.)

But as unique as my laugh is, I wasn’t aware of it until after I went to college.  I don’t remember laughing much as a kid and I don’t ever recall seeing my parents laugh.  Laughter was just not valued in my family’s household and it was not a part of my growing up years.  Maybe that is why I love it so much as an adult … I am making up for years of not having heard my own laugh.

Whatever the reason, I love to laugh and I love to hear other people laugh.  Laughter eases hurts, relieves tension and sets the stage for a great day.  Ultimately, laughter is a small way of spreading cheer.

Choose a Better Life by choosing to laugh.  Laugh with others, laugh by yourself and laugh at yourself.  Life is much too short to live it grumpy..