Sophie Scott

And that's why it can sometimes be something that alarms you or amuses you.

But it always has meaning and your brain is always trying to work out that meaning.

It's a very good tell about when things feel a little bit off, if laughter is wrong or if laughter is absent.

So I think that's an important thing to remember.

Listen to your own laughter.

Who do you laugh with?

Who makes you laugh?

Who doesn't make you laugh?

If you know someone who seems to laugh in a really irritating way, I bet you don't like them.

Because actually, it's you not joining in with the laughter as often as anything.

And you're not laughing along.

We have that kind of relationship.

And I think value your laughter because laughter, maybe it feels childlike.

It feels trivial.

It doesn't feel sort of civilized and sophisticated and comedies never win Oscars.

And people who are comedians are always sort of assumed to be improvising on the spot rather than incredibly polished artists.

But actually laughter really matters in your day-to-day life.

It's probably one of the most important things you do in your day is the time when you're just chatting to colleagues with a cup of coffee and having a laugh about something that happened in a meeting.

That feels like wasted time, but it's actually probably some of the most important time in your day.

So value your laughter.