What is the best medicine for your marriage?

Is 2020 dragging you down? We have a cure for that.

Laughter is said to be the best medicine and is oh-so-very-good for the health of your marriage! 

The Harvard Mahoney Neuroscience Institute reviewed studies on laughter and reported that good, hearty laughter relieves tension, boosts the immune system, and decreases stress hormones in the body. 

We could all use that now, couldn’t we? 

Your marriage can also benefit from this because we tend to take our frustrations out on those closest to us when we are stressed!

Laughter also increases activity among your immune cells and antibodies to help reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke by improving blood flow. 

Laughter is pretty powerful stuff! Maybe we should all take it a little more seriously. 

A well placed joke and laughter is found to reduce stress during an argument as well and can help defuse tense situations. As long as you are not making fun of your spouse because that will likely backfire. In other words, if your wife comes to you and says she is angry, don’t put a cape around her neck and say, “Now, you’re super angry.”

Another bonus is that laughter communicates safety to the human brain, and we are more likely to connect and communicate freely when we feel safe!

So be encouraged to laugh today! Keep smiling and a laugh it up, together. We could all use a little more laughter right now!

If you are NOT naturally a good joke teller, like me (Jessica), here are some things you can try: 

• Watch a comedy show together.
• Play chubby bunny. (Or just watch others say “chubby bunny” with marshmallows in their mouth on You-tube. It is pretty dang funny).
• Have a pillow fight. 
• Find some jokes on the internet and have an EPIC stand-up comedy battle. 
• Watch funny videos together. 
• Have a dance party and show off your best or worst moves. (Full disclosure, neither of us are good dancers and so it’s pretty funny to watch each other dance).

We all have lots of stress in life and stress can put significant strain on your relationship. It’s important to recognize that even in the midst of stress and turmoil, we can, and need, to find moments of joy and laughter. Perhaps now more than ever!

So play, laugh, and don’t take yourself quite so seriously. 

Seriously, it will do you a lot of good. 

PRO TIP: When pillow fighting, use the pillows without zippers and buttons. That one is a freebee and comes from personal experience. Needless to say, that particular pillow fight did not end in laughter.