Laughter is a powerful (and free!) medicine that you’re not taking enough of. Sharing a genuine laugh with a friend or co-worker can be enough to brighten our day, no matter how down-and-out we feel. Laughter is a stress-reducer, immunity-booster, heart-helper, and confidence-builder. Read on to learn more about the surprising benefits of humor.

笑是疗效的药（且免费），怎么用也不会够。无论我们感觉自己的情绪有多么低落，和朋友或同事分享一下快乐的笑声足以让我们开心一整天。笑是减压器，笑是免疫助推器，笑是心脏辅助器，笑是自信生成器。阅读下文来多了解一下幽默带给我们的惊人好处。

1. Laughter stimulates your full body.

笑刺激全身肌肉

“I love people who make me laugh. I honestly think it’s the thing I like most, to laugh. It cures a multitude of ills. It’s probably the most important thing in a person.” — Audrey Hepburn

“我喜欢别人逗我笑，老实说我最喜欢笑，笑能治百病，对于我们每个人，笑可谓是最重要的。”—奥黛丽·赫本

Feeling exhausted? A laugh can provide you with a full-body wake-up call that will help you feel energized and refreshed. Laughing will boost your oxygen intake and release endorphins, the feel-good hormones that make you happy.

感觉疲惫不堪？笑可以叫醒全身肌肉的活力让你感觉精力充沛、神清气爽。笑会增加氧的摄入量并释放多巴胺，这是一种让人感觉良好的荷尔蒙，让人感觉开心快乐。

2. Laughter makes you feel better.

笑让人感觉心情舒畅

“Laughter is the tonic, the relief, the surcease for pain.” — Charlie Chaplin

“笑是补药，是缓解和终止痛苦的灵药。”—查理·卓别林

Have you ever been super stressed at work or school, maybe because everyone is being mean today or you have an exam coming up that you’re not even close to ready for, but then a friend told you a hilarious joke or story that made you laugh so hard you almost wet yourself? It is amazing how much better an explosive laugh can make us feel, especially if it’s totally out of the blue!

你曾有过这种情况吧？当你在工作或学习上超有压力时，或许因为今天大家人人都特别刻薄，或是你马上就要考试了却还没有开始备考，但朋友给你讲了个超搞笑的笑话或故事却让你笑得不行。爆笑会让我们感觉超棒，尤其是在爆笑后，低落情绪烟消云散的感觉。

3. Laughter increases your immunity.

笑可以增强免疫力

“Always laugh when you can, it is cheap medicine.” — George Gordon Byron

“当笑则笑，笑是廉价的良药。”—乔治·戈登·拜伦

Negative stress causes chemical reactions in your body that decrease your immunity, making it more likely you will get sick. A hearty laugh fuels your immune system with disease-fighting powers that will help you stay healthy and energetic.

负面压力会引起身体发生化学反应，免疫力下降，更有可能会生病。大笑能增强免疫系统抵抗疾病的免疫力，有助于保持身体健康精力充沛。

4. Laughter promotes heart health.

笑促进心脏健康

“A sense of humor … is needed armor. Joy in one’s heart and some laughter on one’s lips is a sign that the person down deep has a pretty good grasp of life.” — Hugh Sidey

“幽默感需要武装。内心快乐笑挂嘴边是一个人深度领悟生活真谛的标志。”—休·西德尼

Laughter reduces blood pressure and improves blood flow, which will in turn reduce your odds of suffering a stroke or heart attack.

笑能降血压并改善血液循环，进而降低中风或心脏病发作的几率。

5. Laughter helps you stress less.

笑可以减压

“Laughter and tears are both responses to frustration and exhaustion. I myself prefer to laugh, since there is less cleaning up to do afterward.” — Kurt Vonnegut

“应对挫折和疲惫有哭有笑反应各异，我喜欢笑，因为笑过后至少不用清理自己。”—库尔特·冯内古特

Have you ever been so frustrated with your day that you wanted to curl up in a ball and cry? I doubt anyone can honestly say, “No,” to that question because we’ve all been there, but why not laugh instead? How happy you are in life has less to do with how you act than it does how you react (and your reaction is always a choice, so keep it positive).

你曾在失望至极的那很想哭作一团吧？我相信大家都会诚实地回答这个问题“是”，因为我们都有过这样的遭遇，可是为何不以笑来取而代之呢？在生活中你有多快乐与你的行为关系不大，却与你的反应有很大关系（而且你的反应始终是个选择，所以可以选择保持积极的态度）。

6. Laughter increases connection with others.

笑会增加与别人多交流的机会

“Laughter is the shortest distance between two people.” — Victor Borge

“笑最能拉近两个人的距离。”—维托·埔柱

Going on a first date with a guy or girl you have a maximum crush on? Relieve your nerves and increase the odds that you bond by doing something that will make you laugh. That could be a funny movie, comedy night, ski-ball, roller-coasters, or whatever your idea of “fun” might be.

和你最有感觉的男生或女生次约会？多找乐儿来缓解紧张气氛，可以拉近你们之间的联系。看搞笑电影、看喜剧演出、滑雪球、过山车，总之做让人感觉“快乐轻松”的娱乐性活动。

7. Laughter burns calories.

笑能减肥燃烧热量

“If we couldn’t laugh we would all go insane.” — Robert Frost

“如果我们不笑我们都会疯掉。”—罗伯特·弗罗斯特

Don’t go skipping your workouts because of this, but laughter could offer a small assist to your fitness plan. Laughing raises your heart rate and caloric expenditure, resulting in about 10-40 calories burned over 15 minutes of laughter according to a study by the International Journal of Obesity.

不要因为这样就不健身锻炼了，但笑声对你的健身计划可以帮个小忙。据《国际肥胖期刊》上的一项研究报告，大笑能提高心率并消耗热量，笑超过15分钟的时间约消耗10-40卡路里热量。

8. Laughter boosts mood and confidence.

笑可以提高情绪增加自信

“Laughter gives us distance. It allows us to step back from an event, deal with it and then move on.” — Bob Newhart

“笑给我们留下空间。我们得以退一步进行处理再继续前进。”——鲍勃·纽哈特

Confident people have an interesting ability: no matter how badly they mess up, they are able to laugh at themselves, handling any mistake in their stride as if it’s no big deal. Learning to laugh at yourself will help you develop an ability to improvise through any bone-headed decision you might make (thus minimizing stress, wasted time, and damage done).

自信的人具备这样一种能力让人感觉很有意思：无论身陷困境有多严重，他们会以自嘲的态度，对棘手问题处理起来好像没什么大不了的。学会自嘲会帮你培养一种能力，在可能做出一些低级决定时会即兴发挥（从而将压力、浪费的时间和伤害减少到）。

9. Laughter can help you get through difficult times.

笑能助你度过难关

“Through humor, you can soften some of the worst blows that life delivers. And once you find laughter, no matter how painful your situation might be, you can survive it.” — Bill Cosby

“幽默可以软化生活上所遭遇到的最严重的打击。无论多么痛苦的遭遇，一旦诉诸于笑的神奇力量，你就可以坚持下来。”——比尔·考斯比

All of life’s junk — break-ups, bad days, car accidents, family drama, relationship problems, you name it — seem worse while we’re dealing with them in real-time. Keep the events of every day in perspective by asking yourself the question, “Is this really a big deal in the grand scheme of things?” If the source of stress isn’t something you’ll remember next week/month/year, lighten up. Search for the humor or irony in the situation and laugh it off. Smile (because you deserve to be happy)!

生活中的所有不顺心的事——情侣分手、心情不好、遭遇车祸、家庭问题、情感问题，这些我们生活中总要处理的不幸遭遇。坚持每天问自己对这个问题的态度和看法：“真的就是一件非常了不得的大事吗？” 如果这份压力在下周、下个月、明年你就不记得了，那就让自己轻松起来。以幽默或讽刺的方式一笑了之。笑！你值得拥有！