“Laughter is the best medicine” is an old saying that is being scientifically proven to have actual merit. Panic attacks are no laughing matter to the sufferer, of course, who is overcome with fear or panic without warning. The symptoms of a panic attack include chest pain, dizziness, nausea, rapid heart beat and lightheadedness.

Laughter has been proved to help in healing and recovery in hospitals and with the elderly and it is now being applied to panic attack patients as well. The reasons laughter can help are many and varied, and include:

* It interferes with the progress of the panic attack – it is hard to feel fear while you are laughing.

* When you laugh, endorphins are released. These are the feel-good hormones that also reduce stress. Laughter also inhibits the release of cortisol which is the hormone that causes stress.

* Laughter relaxes the body and mind with a decrease in heart rate, blood pressure and rate of breathing, as well as muscle tension. When you have recovered from a fit of the giggles, you feel calm and refreshed.

* We are more clear-thinking and mentally alert after we have had a good laugh. This also enables us to see things as they really are, not the fearful situation we had perceived when in the throes of a panic attack.

Do you think you can make yourself laugh when you are panicked?

Obviously, this will take some training and practice, but the time and effort spent will be well worth the reward of controlled panic attacks. If you can train yourself to start laughing, you will be off to a good start.

You don’t need a reason to laugh – just laugh! It may sound a bit forced at first, but you will soon get the hang of it. Even forcing yourself to laugh at nothing in particular will have the physical results we have discussed here. Try it now – go on….laugh! You will probably find it is so funny that you will laugh at yourself.

It is helpful to have a trigger to start yourself laughing – maybe a cartoon picture, a rhyme, an email or a simple reminder like an elastic band around your wrist. Practise using your trigger to start laughing so that it comes more easily when you feel a panic attack coming.

Another method that is used to help panic sufferers with their laughter is therapeutic humor. This form of visualization teaches patients to recall an event that caused them to laugh; they use the technique when a panic attack occurs. There are laughter clinics in some areas that teach you the techniques for laughing on demand which could be useful for panic sufferers as well.

Consider this laughter technique for controlling your own panic attacks. However successful you find it, at least you will feel better after a good laugh with all those endorphins racing around your body.

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