What makes laughter healthy?
Is the glass half full
Why do we need humour to stay healthy emotionally? A healthy sense of humour is related to being able to laugh at yourself and your life.
Laughing at yourself can be a way of accepting and respecting yourself, too. Laughing at yourself as a way of self degradation is unhealthy, but being able to take yourself less seriously can be a life-saver. Research suggests that the lack of a sense of humour is directly related to low self esteem.
• Laughter is the shortest distance between two people – everyone speaks the language!
• Humour unites us, especially when we laugh together
• Laughter heals – physically and emotionally
• Laughs and smiles are enjoyed best when shared with others
• To laugh or not to laugh is your choice – we’re programmed!
How do we bring more humour and laughter into our lives? When we consider the inestimable benefits of humour, we want to bring as much laughter into our lives as possible. But for those who grew up in humour-deprived environments, where fun was discouraged or thought of as frivolous, finding opportunities to belly laugh at ourselves and with (not at) others may be rare and experienced as awkward.
Fortunately, as individuals we are programmed to laugh. Think of times when people were laughing around you. Perhaps you didn’t even know why - but you found yourself laughing uncontrollably with them.
There are many kinds of humour and many opportunities for developing humour. We can learn to laugh more frequently by expanding our sense of humour and using it with others. Learning about the nature and variety of humorous experience helps us see that our lives abound with opportunities for finding humour and exercising laughter.
Hire a comedy DVD. Go and see a funny play. Hone your joke-telling skills and make others laugh. Listen to children laughing and join in. If you’ve ever had a tear-streaming, lung-busting, cheek-numbing belly laugh, you’ll know how much physical exercise your body gets when it happens. Your heart benefits, too!
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Positive psychology is an emerging field of mental wellness, and many experts who design stress-control programs harness its principles. It focuses on determining and promoting the factors that permit people to thrive. Rather than search for the roots of unhappiness, research coming out of this field investigates the ingredients of a good life and weighs the effects of traits like optimism, humour and even eccentricity.
Optimists, for example, tend to do better than pessimists when coping with stressful situations. They are more likely to put a positive spin on stressors, look for ways to make the best of a bad situation, and use problem solving strategies to tackle difficulties.
Some studies indicate that optimists often fare better physically, too. A long-term study of more than 830 Mayo Clinic patients published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings in 2000 found that those classified as pessimists had a 19 percent higher risk of mortality over the course of 30 years than those who were optimists. A 10-year study of 1 300 men suggested that a sense of optimism may protect older men against developing heart disease.
If you’re not a natural optimist, this information could merely fuel your pessimism. Don’t let it. Take a deep breath and relax. Evidence suggests avoiding pessimism is more important than boosting optimism.
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