When something is perceived as funny, the
reward center of the brain is activated, the same area that is activated during
cocaine-induced highs. I'm not going to argue that laughing is a more intense
high than cocaine, but the brain knows how to balance a natural high.
The
dopamine released during a laughing high does not damage the brain but cocaine
negatively affects the neurotransmitter chemistry of the brain.
Steven Small, a professor in neurology and
psychology Professor of Neurobiology and Behavior at the University of
California - Irvine, feels that laughing is contagious due to mirror neurons:
“brain cells that become active when an organism is watching an expression or
behavior that they themselves can perform.”
Bellace,
M., (2012). A Better High: laugh, help,
run, love…and other ways to get naturally high! Wyatt-MacKenzie Publishing,
Laughter
Yoga University, Retrieved
from:
http://laughteryoga.org/the-effects-of-laughter-on-the-human-brain/
photo: child pixabay
photo: child pixabay
