“A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.” — Proverbs 17:22 NIV

While serving as a hospital chaplain in Mobile, Alabama when Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast, I was struck by something I noticed among the patients in its aftermath. The days that followed were very somber among hospital staff and patient’s family. It was some time before you could hear a chuckle or a short-lived burst of laughter, but I noticed that hurricane victims who found something to laugh about were actually taking a turn toward healing. I actually tracked their progress from their first post-hurricane laughter and found that it was so.

Laughter offers us a therapeutic option for dealing with our worries. It reduces cortisol, a stress hormone that locks up metabolism and hoards fat. Laughter increases endorphins, the body’s opiate feel-good hormone. Laughter also increases the body’s lymphocyte blastogenesis, a process of stimulating white blood cell growth that helps the immune system work faster.

Life is full of circumstances that will crush our spirit’s and break our well-being. This is why God gave us the ability to laugh and enjoy humor. When we recognize the situations of our day and pause to notice the humor in everyday things, a moment of laughter can bring us relief from our otherwise stressful life.