Laughter, It’s Contagious. How Cannabis Gives You the Giggles and What Strains to Try

Cannabis and Laughter: What Science Tells Us?

Well, let’s first start with what laughter is. 

Simply put, laughter is a reflex, like sneezing or coughing. If you think about it, it makes perfect sense; we are able to laugh before we can talk. Babies laugh, and it’s not that they are experts in comedy. Laughter is triggered spontaneously by things we see and feel, Timothy Fong, a psychiatry professor, told Mic. Neuroscientists are still grappling with isolating a specific reason why we laugh. It appears that various parts of the brain are involved, including the centers that control memory, language, motor function, logic or auditory interpretation. Laughing is prompted by the person’s subjective understanding of humor, which, as a quality, is prompted by multiple building blocks such as social context as well as linguistic and cultural context.

But then again, why does weed make you laugh?

Neuroscience suggests that we process humor mainly in the cerebral mantle’s temporal and frontal lobe, which is the outer neural tissue of the brain’s cerebrum (the most substantial part of the brain consisting of the right and left hemisphere).  So, when you smoke pot, THC gets absorbed in your bloodstream stimulating the rush of blood to the left temporal and right frontal lobes and activating your ‘laughter reflex’ and that’s why you get all like ‘Dude, look at my fingers, they are so funny.’ Spoiler alert‒they are not. Unless you polished them and drew a mustache on it.

Pot elevates your entire mood.

You know how, when you are ‘high’ you have that fuzzy warm feeling like when you are in love and everything's going to be alright and you can easily relate to all of those Bob Marley's songs? - That’s THC doing its job, by activating receptors that regulate mood control. So, when you smoke pot, you sink into this different dimension in your head where everything you perceive‒from music to memes‒has a different quality. This altered state also contributes to triggering the ‘laughter reflex.’ Cannabis is boosting levels of chemicals in your body that trigger the production of dopamine and serotonin, the ‘happy neurotransmitters,’ therefore, you are more prone to burst in laughter. Weed can also lower the inhibition of your laughing reflex, meaning, what your sober mind deems something as inappropriate to laugh on, your stoned mind doesn’t and therefore you laugh at everything.

Laughter really is contagious!

Usually, even when you’re sober, a good company can naturally elevate your mood, as you tend to laugh more when you are with friends than when you are alone (Unless you think of a hilarious joke). And smoking pot is typically a lot about socializing with friends and acquaintances, so probably that’s why the giggles hit you the hardest when you are smoking with people. Add a cannabinoid that messes with your laugh reflex and everything becomes uproarious. That's mostly because laughter is socially contagious. While science is still struggling to gather concrete reasons for this, British expert on speech perception, Sophie Scott who focuses on the social dimension of laughter explained in a TED Talk, that laughing is a behaviorally contagious effect and that yes, you can start laughing just because someone else is laughing. Even if they are a stranger. And it makes sense. How many times you've started smiling and laughing just because your friend is giggling and chuckling.

Cannabis and Laughter: The Best Strains for Giving You Giggles

If you are targeting the best strains for giggles, below are some must-tries. Call a friend, grind the buds, say “Paolo, give me the lighter” and light up that joint. Then, wait until the stupid jokes knock knock. 

• Laughing Buddha. Rich with 18% THC content, a Laughing Buddha strain will seriously make you go laugh and look like all those tiny Happy Buddha statues. The stress-reducing Sativa-dominant strains of Laughing Buddha are a robust combo of Thai and Jamaican weed, hence the exotic naming. Don’t be reluctant to try out this weed during the weekend, even if it's still daytime. You may end up happy-go-lucky for hours, but you will still be able to focus on any social interactions or whereabouts you’ve planned for the day. 

• Blue Diesel. Unlike the sage and earthy flavor of Laughing Buddha, Blue Diesel sports distinct blueberry fruity hints and tastes and it’s another alternative you can have in mind for daytime smoking. Blue Diesel should make you feel delighted and euphoric and depending on how your body reacts to this Indica dominant strain, you may well end up in hysterical triumphant laughter. The strain may also make you extra social thus, you might be talkative like the whole day. It has 23% THC, however, if you don’t overdo it, it won’t affect your daily agenda.

• Sweet Diesel. Another fantastic strain to try out for getting the good giggles is Sweet Diesel, a Sativa fuse of Sour Diesel and OG Kush. If you are up for a dynamic high that you can use for some of your hobbies, such as painting or perhaps gardening and tending to your buds, this is the perfect strain to help you do that. The giggles will come on naturally. Its taste is a ubiquitous mixture of sweet, earthy and fuel-like and you can find it tainted with different levels of THC, usually ranging from 10% to 22%. Like the previous two strains, you can gladly enjoy Sweet Diesel for day-time smoke. 

• Black Diamond. This stress-reducing Northern Californian Indica comes with a sweet, pungent odor and is a perfect pick to knock you down, chuckling on the sofa after a hard day of work. Nevertheless, you can always use it for an evening with friends, seeing Monty Python and the Holy Grail for the tenth time alright or perhaps rewatching that episode with Tiger King and Carole Basking just because you couldn’t believe your eyes when you first watched it. Although on Black Diamond, you may not be able to watch the whole thing since you may easily end up laughing hysterically. Strains of Black Diamond are also known to give uber munchies, so prepare some snacks in advance before you try out this strain.

• Church OG. Last but not least, Church OG is one more worshiped strain in the cannabis laughing universe. An Indica-dominant, it contains 19% THC and due to its serious laughter-boosting effects, it’s best to schedule your smoke for the evening. That is, especially if you can’t control yourself to take on moderate amounts of smoking. Once it hits you, prepare to laugh on just about anything like crazy. Church OG strains taste on lavender and pine and smoking it is sure to make you feel hungry after a while. Or it's just that your laughter muscles in the stomach got so tired of the contractions from laughing that you need to fuel yourself in the kitchen.

We know that 2020 might be shitty for many of you, however, this pick of best strains for a giggle is just about to help you turn the tide at least a little bit. Enjoy the fun times!