[ ARCHIVES ]

When was the last time you laughed really hard - a hearty, sidesplitting belly laugh?

Modern science is beginning to confirm that this kind of laughter is not only enjoyable, it's also health-promoting. Laughter is an invigorating tonic that heightens and brightens mood, gently releasing us from tensions and social constraints. Humor offers a valuable perspective on ourselves and our world.
Humor may be one of our best antidotes to stressful situations. When confronted with a threatening situation, animals have two choices: they can flee, or they can fight. We humans have a third alternative: to laugh. By seeing the humor in a stressful situation, we may be able to change our response to the threat. Humor allows us to distance ourselves and replace paralyzing feelings of anxiety with mirth. When we laugh, we simply cannot be worrying deeply at the same time.

Research Shows that Laughter is called "inner jogging." A robust laugh gives the muscles of your face, shoulders, diaphragm, and abdomen a good workout, and sometimes even your arms and legs. Heart rate and blood pressure temporarily rise, breathing becomes faster and deeper, and oxygen surges throughout your bloodstream.

A good laugh can burn up as many calories per hour as brisk walking. During a good hearty laugh your brain orchestrates hormonal rushes that rouse you to a high-level alertness and numb pain. Researchers speculate that laughter triggers the release of endorphins, the brain's opiates. This may account for the pain relief that accompanies laughter.

Norman Cousins claimed to nurse himself back to health from a crippling arthritic condition, in part with old tapes of "Candid Camera" television program and Marx Brothers movies. He claimed that ten minutes of belly laughter had an anesthetic effect and would give him at least two hours of pain-free sleep.
In controlled studies, humor has been shown to lower pain thresholds, reduce stress and even boost immune system function.
People who use humor a lot are less likely to get upset when faced with negative events.

How to Use Humor to Stay Healthy
Babies start to laugh when they are 10 weeks old: six weeks later they are laughing about once every hour. Four-year-olds laugh once every four minutes. Here are some suggestions for repairing your sense of humor and regaining healthy laughter.
"Seven days without laughter makes one weak."

Expose Yourself to Humor
There's a lot of funny material around. Actively seek out things that make you laugh:
" Take in regular doses of funny films, joke books, and comedians.
" Browse through the humor section of a bookstore or library.
" Make a point of looking at the cartoons in the newspapers and magazines. Cut out the ones that appeal to you, and keep them posted in places where you can see them: on the refrigerator, bulletin board, or in your wallet, and change them regularly.
" Laugh at other people's jokes: you'll feel better, they'll feel better, and they'll like you more.

Tell a Joke
Having a good sense of humor doesn't mean you have to have a store of jokes or tell them perfectly. Lots of people who know a good joke say they can't tell them properly, so they keep them to themselves. Or they forget them the moment after they hear them.

Laugh at Yourself
Focus the humor on yourself rather than others. If you expect to do everything right all of the time, then you can't afford to have a sense of humor. Being able to laugh at yourself helps you to accept that your shortcomings don't really matter that much. The people who are able to laugh at themselves have a much stronger sense of self-worth and higher self-esteem than those who can't.
If you think you are taking yourself too seriously, try to back up and give yourself a sense of perspective
When you have a private moment, look at yourself in the mirror and try to compose 10 different funny faces, e.g., sucked-in cheeks, pressed-in nose, crossed eyes, tongue as far above or below your mouth as possible. Work all your face muscles - it will reduce tension.
Look for the Funny Side

A stressful situation can sometimes be transformed into a bit of fun if you can see the humor in it.

Exaggerate
Try using humorous exaggeration to help put things into perspective. Woody Allen once remarked: "More than any other time in history, humankind faces a crossroads. One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness. The other to total extinction. Let us pray we have the wisdom to choose correctly."

Try a Retake
Ever been stuck in the supermarket line that doesn't move an inch while the lines you rejected are flying past you? You might find yourself thinking, "Oh no, why me, why now, I'm late!"

Try taking another attitude. Reframe the situation. Make your moans into a comic routine for yourself.

Exaggerate, add funny extras, explore the humorous possibilities:

Try Humor Instead of Anger
Next time you are really livid about an inconvenience - like poor service, try making your point with humor instead of anger:

Use Humor to Handle Anxiety
Think of something humorous to say when you need someone to know that you are frightened, anxious, or in some way unhappy. It can lighten a tense moment and break the ice.
Humor can help reduce anxiety in many different ways. If you are terrified of speaking in public or fear making a presentation at work, for example, imagine your audience wearing funny hats or sitting there without their clothes on. Suddenly they won't seem so threatening. Practice by imagining a stressful situation. Then invent a humorous response, and rehearse it.

Hang Out with Happy People
Make sure there are people in your life whom you find it fun to be around - ones who lighten the atmosphere and make you feel good about yourself.
Often people who aren't especially witty as a rule can be razor-sharp when they get together with someone who inspires them, amuses them, or just loosens them up. Certain people make you feel relaxed and happy.

Put On a Happy Face
Research has shown that just changing your facial muscles can set off different physiological changes. It can also trigger different thoughts that affect moods of sadness, happiness, and anger. So when we "put on a happy face" in times of adversity, or say "have a nice day" or "smile at a camera and say cheese," we are actually changing our neurohormone levels, and they change our moods. A smile-like pose produces pleasant feelings, whereas a pout produces feelings of unhappiness. So even when you don't feel particularly cheerful and you smile, blood flow to the brain increases, and the production of positive neurotransmitters are stimulated. In other words, if you look happier, you might actually start to feel happier. Humor can be a powerful medicine, and laughter can be contagious. It's reassuring in these days of deadly epidemics and sometimes painful, expensive medical treatments that laughter is cheap and effective. And the only side effects are pleasurable.

When Laughter is Dangerous
Not all humor is positive and healthful. Following are kinds of negative "humor" to watch out for:
" Scorn, sarcasm, ridicule, and contempt. These can be used to discharge hostile, cynical, and resentful feelings, and are harmful.

" Inappropriate humor. When people are deeply distressed by the death of a loved one, a joke designed to "cheer them up" is unlikely to be appreciated. Similarly, people who are severely depressed are unable to respond to humor. It may make them feel worse because they realize that once they would have laughed, and now cannot. Someone seeking advice for a troubling personal problem may or may not be helped by a humorous approach. And don't joke about people's names. They have to live with them. Whatever clever comment you think you come up with is probably a very old remark to them. It is important to be sensitive to each occasion and know when humor really helps.

© David S. Sobel M.D.
HealthWorld Online