Laughing your way to good health: how a giggle can boost your mood 

A good chuckle releases brain chemicals that can boost your mood and increase happiness levels. It can also improve heart health and blood circulation

Pic: iStock

HAVE you ever said, ‘I needed that,’ after a fit of laughter on a night-out with friends? If you have, that’s because laughing can make us feel lighter and happier. But it has many other benefits too.

Laughing may seem to be simple, involuntary, but it is a deceivingly complex mechanism. Scientists aren’t sure what makes us laugh or what we find funny, but they believe that it happens when the brain’s frontal lobe connects with the limbic system, an elaborate set of brain structures.