When we laugh...

We feel better. In scientific terms, laughter releases endorphins (the feel good stuff in our brain). Did you know there’s actual laugh therapy for Parkinson’s?

Laughter is better when it’s shared, too. We feed off each others laughs.

"It seems that it's absolutely true that 'laugh and the whole world laughs with you," said Sophie Scott, a neuroscientist at the University College London. "We've known for some time that when we are talking to someone, we often mirror their behavior, copying the words they use and mimicking their gestures. Now we've shown that the same appears to apply to laughter, too--at least at the level of the brain."

Laughing on your own just might make you appear like a super villain. But even if you are alone, please don’t resist laughter - that can back up in you and cause severe gas. Out of an abundance of caution, I won’t link the study to that research.

Everyone has different types of laughs, too, according to Professor Sophie Scott. There are genuine, spontaneous laughs and social laughs - defined by social cues (think of someone mispronouncing a word or slipping). I can say with certainty my wife has at least three fake laughs that seem to be attributed to my propensity for dad jokes.

Laughter is natural and cleansing - and not just for humans.

"Think about it the next time you walk through woods listening to the odd cries and calls of the creatures that live there: When you laugh, those creatures are hearing sounds that are just as odd and just as characteristic of our own species," Robert R. Provine, PhD, a behavioral neurobiologist at the University of Maryland in Baltimore from his book, Laughter: A Scientific Investigation.

So, as the great Han Solo said to Chewbaca in The Empire Strikes Back, “Laugh it up, fuzzball”. It’s good for you…and we can all stand to be a little more like Chewy.