“Doctor, I have a ringing in my ears.” “Don’t answer!”

– Henny Youngman, Quoted in Zur Institute

Hello Everyone,

What an interesting thought, addressing ‘everyone’.

Hhhhhmmm. I wonder who you all might be?

And do I include myself in the ‘hello’?

 

Anyway, thank you for your interest in my musings.

 

This week is about why laughter and humour are helpful to the here-and-now.

There seem to be two discrete areas for me to point to:

1. Why humour is so important for the here-and-now, the mental health benefits of learning to be present to situations.
2. The actual physiological reasons – neurological, hormonal, haematological and metabolic changes and other physical health benefits which are effected as we laugh.

Below is a short précis of the mental and physical benefits of laughter which was written by Dr Ofer Zur of The Zur Institute. It is particularly comprehensive in a very short amount of space and is far better articulated than I could ever do. So have a read and you might get to feel the importance of laughter in the here-and-now – when you laugh you are completely present to the moment and out not ‘in your head’. This hints at how Mindfulness forms such a crucial part of the here-and-now, and why my further posts will concentrate more on this topic.

I have shortened some of what appears on Dr Zur’s site.

 

Following are some serious facts about Humor Therapy:

• Researchers say children laugh about 300 times a day, adults perhaps 15 times a day.
• The sound of roaring laughter is far more contagious than any cough, sniffle or sneeze. Humor and laughter can cause a domino effect of joy and amusement.

Laughter is very powerful medicine. Some of the health benefits of humor and laughter include:

• Fosters instant relaxation and lowers blood pressure
• Boosts immune system.

• Improves brain functioning and protects the heart.
• When we laugh, natural killer cells, which destroy tumors and viruses, increase along with Gamma-interferon (a disease-fighting protein), T-cells (important for our immune system) and B-cells (which make disease-fighting antibodies).

• Laughter increases oxygen in the blood, which also encourages healing.

• “When you laugh, your mind, body, and spirit change” Mark Twain

Mental health benefits of humor and laughter include:

• Reduces stress, depression, anxiety and fear.
• Elevates mood.

• Increases energy and can help us perform activities that we might otherwise avoid.

• Can be a safe way to introduce ourselves to others.

• Laughter, like a smile, is the shortest distance between two people. It makes people feel closer to each other.

• When we experience humor, we talk more, make more eye contact with others, touch others, etc.

• Marriages and relationships can tremendously benefit from humor and laughter.

• When people laugh together, they feel bonded and can better go through hardship together.

• A healthy sense of humor is related to being able to laugh at oneself and a way of accepting oneself.

Benefits of humor in therapy:

• Enhances therapeutic alliance and increases trust between therapists and clients.
• Helps clients feel good about themselves.

• Helps clients gain perspective.

• Humor can help clients’ thought processes by helping them to get unstuck.

• Helps clients cope with difficult situations, such as death and illness.

• Helps clients accept themselves. (“The older you get, the tougher it is to lose weight, because by then your body and your fat are really good friends.” – Bob Hope)

• Activates the chemistry of the will to live and increases our capacity to fight disease.

• Humor can be used diagnostically. Goethe said: “People show their characters in nothing more clearly than in what they think laughable.” The kind of humor people use often shows the kind of people they are.

• Laughter is cathartic.

 

So maybe take a moment to reflect on the above and perhaps imagine something funny that happened to you and what it felt like to laugh. As mentioned, my next post will concentrate more on Mindfulness, as well and offering further personal perspectives and actual humorous clinical interventions which emerge in my group sessions.

Michael Cohn – 6th May 2015