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World Laughter Day: The Science Behind Contagious Laughter and Wellbeing

| HeatherJoy Campbell |
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Have you ever wondered why you smile back unconsciously when someone smiles at you? Or how you start laughing with friends, even when you’ve missed the punchline?

Mirror neurons are at play.

In a world still sensitive to the thought of contagions after COVID lockdowns, here we have two human behaviours—laughter and smiling— that are highly contagious and so very good for us.

It’s one of the reasons I started The Happydemic more than a decade ago. I wanted to spread the well-being of Laughter Yoga, seriously, but let’s not digress.

On the eve of World Laughter Day, celebrated annually on the first Sunday in May, let me share what mirror neurons are and how Laughter Yoga uses them for happier, healthier communities.

This World Laughter Day (Sunday 3 May 2026), perhaps more than ever before, people around the world truly will be laughing for world peace.  Details of my own in-person laugh-out at the end of this article.

What are mirror neurons?

Mirror neurons are brain cells that activate both when we perform an action, and when we observe someone else doing it.

They play a key role in social interactions. They help us understand—empathise—with others’ emotions and intentions.

Italian neurophysiologist Giacomo Rizzolatti and his team first noticed mirror neurons in macaque monkeys in the early 1990s, bringing truth to the old saying about mimicry—‘monkey say, monkey do’.

What do mirror neurons have to do with Laughter Yoga?

Laughter Yoga is usually practised in a group. We maintain eye contact, move playfully, clap rhythmically, and laugh from the belly—no jokes required. As Dr Madan Kataria, co-founder of Laughter Yoga, likes to say, we laugh for “no reason”.

Yet there’s very good reason, and he knows it.

Eye contact, facial expressions, and the sound of laughter all get those mirror neurons firing. Without even thinking about it, group members copy one another—smiling, chanting ‘ho ho ha ha ha’, and laughing together.

What starts as intentional laughter quickly becomes genuine.

Hence you don’t need to feel ‘in the mood’. You don’t need to know or ‘get’ jokes. You don’t need to be ‘funny’.   

How Laughter Yoga builds community

From an evolutionary perspective, laughter most likely developed as a form of social glue.  Laughter draws us together.

Imagine walking into a group of strangers and minutes later feeling deeply connected…

That’s what happens with Laughter Yoga. Over the many years of running and participating in social laughter clubs, I’ve seen genuine friendships form through shared laughter.

Raising the collective mood

Emotions are contagious. It’s easier to feel happy when you’re around happy people.

Just as you might tear up when someone else is crying, you can also absorb joy when others are laughing.

Mirror neurons help us ‘catch’ those positive emotions.

Need more reason to laugh?

How about it’s a stress buster that’s good for your heart, lifts your mood, sharpens your thinking and helps relieve pain!

This blog details 30 physical, psychological and social health benefits of sustained laughter and Laughter Yoga.

Join World Laughter Day

Across the globe, people will gather—online and in person—to celebrate World Laughter Day this first Sunday in May.

You can read Dr Madan Kataria’s message as to why. 

For my small part, I’ll be laughing for health, happiness and world peace at 10am at Bicentennial Park, Woody Point on the Redcliffe Peninsula. You’ll find me just beyond the parkour. Updates and details on my Meta/Facebook page.

Whether online or in-person, choose to join in. You may be surprised how the world within, and around, you changes.

HeatherJoy Campbell is an Australian-based global ambassador of Laughter Yoga International. The lead trainer of ‘laughter leaders’ in Queensland, she runs three laughter clubs in her area and delivers laughter yoga wellbeing sessions and workshops in workplaces, community centres and aged care.