Harvard Study Concludes: To Flourish You Need to Laugh

First of all, I didn’t even know people studied flourishing! The word sounds like something a person says standing before royalty wearing pantaloons and a ruffled shirt.

“My good King, it appears the court jester is on to something here. Since he’s joined the staff, the royal court is flourishing!”  

It makes sense then that Harvard, connoting a royal presence in our culture, would co-author a study on flourishing. 

What might be surprising to others is their discovery of the impact of laughter and play for helping flourishing to flourish. 

All kidding aside, this is a landmark global study of what makes life go well, measuring happiness, health, meaning, character, relationships, and financial security across the world.

There ran a sub-study within the study focusing on adolescents, measuring which school-based practices had the greatest impact on flourishing scores. The results were unarguable.

“Laughing with other students produced a 22% increase in flourishing scores — the single highest-impact practice of everything measured. That finding held across 22 countries, spanning vastly different cultures, economies, and educational systems. Of everything researchers tested, the one thing that moved the needle most reliably everywhere was laughter.”

None of this comes as a surprise to me, or to any Laughter On Call enthusiasts. Our mission from our first workshops with those facing Alzheimer's, to the addition of our higher learning and corporate clients, has always been to get people laughing together. Not just to create connection, but to inspire innovation and build strong cultures - to have employees and families flourish! Just as the study outlines, what we do feels like play. But it’s also a lot more. By getting even the most introverted to participate, with our customized, Improv-based exercises, we make sure everyone in the room feels seen, heard and valued. We laugh A LOT. 

Huzzah! 

Summer’s wrapping up so I won’t keep anyone from frollicking with more paragraphs about this. Check out the study if you want more specifics. And the next time you think thoughts like, “I’m not sure people really need to laugh,” “Do we really need comedy clubs or to watch comedies on TV, or sit around a table telling funny stories to each other? Do we need to hire professionals to come in and help us laugh more?” Now you know the answer to these questions. Yes. Yes. Yes. and Yes!