There’s an age-old saying that laughter is the best medicine, and recent findings suggest it might indeed play a crucial role in children’s growth and development. New research highlights how laughter and play are essential not only for healthy brain development but also for emotional stability and social connections.
Jacqueline Harding, Ph.D., a leading expert on early childhood from Middlesex University in London, emphasizes these benefits in her latest book, “The Brain That Loves to Laugh.” According to Harding, joy is a complex yet vital biological process that aids children in managing stress and nurturing resilient, open-minded individuals, as reported by news agency SWNS.
Harding explains, “When children laugh, it’s a testament to the brain’s remarkable capability: it’s a sign of learning, connecting, and growing.”
She further elaborates that, “Hope and humor are not merely life’s spices but rather essential ingredients in the recipe for healthy development.”
“Hope and humor, it seems, are not just the seasoning of life, but foundational to a recipe for healthy development.”
Laughter activates broad brain networks, including motor regions and the prefrontal cortex, long before children learn to speak. By helping the brain resolve conflicting ideas, it boosts creativity and engages working memory, acting as a “mental workout,” experts say.
At a molecular level, laughter alters the internal chemistry by decreasing stress hormones like cortisol and epinephrine. It also increases “happiness chemicals” like dopamine, serotonin and endorphins.
Additionally, laughter is known to boost oxytocin, which deepens emotional bonds between parents and children.
Prolonged stress does the exact opposite: It impairs learning, suppresses immune function and alters the developing limbic system, which governs emotion and long-term memory, according to SWNS.
“Stated simply, the emotional state of young children directly influences how they navigate their way through the world,” Harding said.
Parents can foster these benefits through moments of spontaneous play and joyful connection, the expert advised.
These interactions do more than spark laughter — they help children develop emotional regulation, strengthen feelings of safety and connection, and support social and cognitive development, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics.
“Spontaneous, joyful play is an antidote to stress, as it increases levels of endorphins released by the brain,” Harding said. “Creative, happy play does its most brilliant work at a molecular level, especially at a time when the human brain is at its most receptive.”
This shared joy also establishes “co-regulation,” where a child learns to manage their own stress by drawing on a biological store of positive early experiences.
Harding advocates for integrating humor directly into classrooms to reduce cognitive load and improve how children retain key concepts.
By uplifting the nervous system, joy creates an optimal environment for information absorption, as the SWNS piece noted.
“Safe relationships and non-stressful play environments promote learning,” she added.
“The curriculum must never be prioritized over those two fundamental factors.”