Have you ever stopped to think what laughter is and how we do it?

Well, one thing’s for sure; it’s a real laughing matter…

The study of laughter has a name. It is called gelotology.

The people who study laughter are called gelotologists. They believe there are lots of different reasons why we laugh.

We laugh when we find something funny, but we also laugh when we are embarrassed or when we want to avoid a difficult situation. We also use laughter to build friendships with people. For example, we are 30 times more likely to laugh in front of other people than when we’re alone.

On average, children can laugh up to 200 times a day. Adults can laugh up to 20 times a day. So this could be scientific proof that kids are more fun that grown ups!

Jokes can make you laugh, or if they're really bad they can make you cringe!

People find different things funny. You might find simple jokes funny or jokes with unexpected endings funny. You might even laugh at other peoples’ mistakes or silly behaviour.

The University of Hertfordshire carried out an experiment to find the world’s funniest joke. You can view the winning joke at LaughLab (www.laughlab.co.uk).

One thing they found out was that jokes mentioning ducks were by far the funniest. So if you’re going to tell an animal joke – make sure it is a duck joke!

Laughter is made up of a set of gestures, which can range from waving hands to holding the stomach, and sound, which can range from a quiet, “tee-hee” to a great guffaw!

Fifteen facial muscles also move and we can gasp for air. Sometimes our face goes red and at other times our eyes may water.

How our brain tells us to laugh is much more complicated.

Emotions, like anger, are restricted to certain areas of the brain, but laughter runs like a circuit through the brain.

It is not fully understood, but scientists believe that different areas of the brain are responsible for the different components of laughter.

For example, the ‘getting it’ part of a joke, moving the facial muscles to smile and then to laugh could be controlled by different areas of the brain.

…may keep the doctor away!

Have you ever heard the saying, ‘Laughter is the best medicine’? This is what psychoneuroimmunology is all about. Phew! What a long word! It’s the science of studying how laughter benefits our health and our immune system, in particular.

It seems that laughing is good for you. It relaxes you and makes you feel good by releasing chemicals into your bloodstream.

But remember one thing. Even though laughter is good for you, try not to be funny around people with broken ribs!

Finally, one of the great mysteries of life is why we can’t tickle ourselves.

Researchers at the University of California have built a ‘tickle machine’ and have concluded in their findings that you need to be surprised in order to be tickled, which is why you can’t tickle yourself.