Laughter as a physiological experience Laughter changes how we feel physically, and it affects our biochemistry. We are all familiar with the feeling of 'lightness' that follows deep belly laughter. Norman Cousins reported that 10-20 minutes of deep belly laughter gave him hours free from the pain of his debilitating disease. Laughter is also believed to stimulate the muscular and skeletal systems. The 'humor experience' is a synergistic interrelationship of the effects of humor as it changes cognition, emotion, and physiology.
People experience humor in different ways.
These people are likely to say they understand the a joke and like the joke but do not laugh or experience the mirth. We also know that we can experience laughter that is independent of wit or mirth. Spontaneous laughter or laughter contagion are examples. Even laughter that is triggered during anxiety may be an example of laughter stimulated without wit or mirth. The fullest and, most powerful, humor experience, however, is one that is experienced with all three components simultaneously.