Just a minute, try the Laughie Challenge

Don't laugh... it's fun and it's good for you.

Laughter Yoga Australia, which represents laughter yoga practitioners and participants across Australia, hopes people of all ages will take up its Laughie Challenge to promote mental health and wellbeing.

So, what exactly is a laughie? It's like a selfie, but instead of a photo, you create a one-minute video (or sound recording) of yourself laughing, using your smart phone. Then you watch and listen to it whenever you feel the need.

Hopefully you'll find yourself laughing along.

The concept was developed by psychologist Freda Gonot-Schoupinsky who sought a quick, cheap, easy tool for the medical sector to "prescribe" for people needing to laugh more.

The Laughie Challenge - #thelaughiechallenge - involves recording yourself laughing for up to 60 seconds, playing it back to yourself as you need, to lift your spirits and, ideally, sharing the recording with a friend for an uplift.

You can also share your laughie on a special Facebook page HERE

"We've all got one minute to spare in a day," said Laughter Yoga Australia's Queensland representative trainer HeatherJoy Campbell from The Happydemic. "Maybe not 20 to 30 minutes for a sit-com that may or may not leave use laughing."

Laughter Yoga is a process that enables us to laugh for an extended time as a physical act rather than an intellectual response to something funny. It was developed by a doctor in India in the 1990s and is practised around the world.

Laughing - and laughter yoga particularly - derive many physical, mental and social health benefits. You can read about 25 health benefits HERE