I was listening to a speech by Dr Richard Swenson MD on the subject of Happiness and Health. He was making the well-worn statement that laughter is good for the body as well as the soul.
He also made the following points:
- The peak age for laughter for human beings is 4 years old
- 4 year olds laugh on average 400 times a day, or once every 4 minutes!
- By the time we’re 42 (the age I’ll be in 2008), we’re down to laughing 15 times a day (actually, that’s 15 times a day more than many adults I know!)
- Follow a 4-year-old around for a day, laugh at everything they laugh at and you’ll be less-stressed, saner and healthier overall.
It made me wonder: what happens to us between 4 and 40? Where do all our laughs go? Maybe the older we get, they get stolen by children??
Whatever the answer, it seems that kids (given the chance of course) intrinsically know something we grown-ups don’t: life is wonderful.
5 responses so far ↓
themolk // Dec 7, 2007 at 4:33 pm
I like to laugh more often than 15 times a day… quite often that’s hard, but I do try.
Perhaps that’s because I am still a 4 year old mentally?
Pete // Dec 7, 2007 at 4:38 pm
Care to comment, Mich?
jonathan // Dec 8, 2007 at 12:30 am
I’d like to find the punk that’s stealing the laughter. I’m pretty sure I’m bigger than him. I’d take it back from him and then laugh, “Ha Ha”…
I do have to say, just play with a kid and you’ll find their laughter is contagious.
Pete // Dec 8, 2007 at 11:33 am
Amen, brother. (I’ve another excuse to be childish
)
michmolk // Dec 9, 2007 at 9:19 pm
What can I say??? At least he admitted it!
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