WASHINGTON — Stern-faced curmudgeons who think children should be seen and not heard, take note: Chuckling children are not to be scolded or told to keep quiet, but instead encouraged to laugh, as new research shows it helps them build more resilient and inquisitive minds.
In a new book, "The Brain That Loves To Laugh," child development expert Jacqueline Harding explains that a child’s laugh should not be seen as "frivolous" but rather as "foundational" to the healthy development of a young brain.
Laughing, Harding points out, is a “complex biological phenomenon” which comes before a kid learns to talk. But by engaging motor areas of the brain and the prefrontal cortex, it plays a big part in neural development.
“Humor is cognitively demanding and engages neuroplasticity,” according to publisher Taylor & Francis, pointing out that it “challenges the brain to predict and resolve tension between conflicting ideas” and can offer “a mental workout that enhances creative thought.”
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The ill-effects of anxiety, worry and stress have long been assessed by medics and scientists, with numerous studies suggesting a link to cognitive decline and the onset of depression.
Stress can also affect physical health by undermining immune function - in contrast to laughter, which not only benefits the brain but speeds up the body’s production of antibodies.
The question of whether laughter is the best medicine, as the old saying goes, is probably never going to be settled.
But laughter is surely near the top of the pile, as it reduces cortisol and epinephrine, the so-called stress hormones, while at the same time spurring the production of dopamine, serotonin and endorphins - the so-called “happy chemicals.”
“I believe that as we continue to wrestle with humor – this most intriguing human function – we must strive to shake off any dismissal of its frivolous nature and allow its serious contribution to human learning and life in general to shine,” says Harding, a lecturer at London's Middlesex University.
