Imagine waking up with a sore body and going to work. A friend would start to telling this really funny story that happened yesterday and after the hilarious explanation both of you break into hysterical laughter. Do you ever feel much better after the pain was lessened by the laughter?
A recently researched report was published three weeks ago by the Proceeding of the royal society B revealed that having a good laugh with friends increases your threshold for pain.
A research team based at Oxford University conducted their first experiment to test participants for their pain threshold. The participants were then divided into two groups where they were exposed to 15 minutes of comedy videos whilst the others were shown the material that the researchers deemed boring - such as golfing programmes.
They found that laughing leaves us exhausted which triggers the release of a brain chemical that help us to manage pain and promote feelings of well-being known as protective endorphins.
Lead Scienetist Professor Robin Dunbar, Head of the Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology at the University of Oxford, said: “Very little research has been done into why we laugh and how does it benefit our health.’ He further explained "We think that it is the bonding effects of the endorphin rush that explain why laughter plays such an important role in our health."
Situation Comedies
The type of laughter was very important in understanding whether laughter is truly the best medicine. This is due to the fact that endorphin release often occurs after physical exercise thus the researchers hypothesise that the muscular exertion involved is sustained making laughter responsible for an endorphin release. Although, tittering and giggling did...
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...vation. The next stage will be to see whether laughing really allows groups to bond together and work as a group better and act more generously towards each other," he says.
Professor Dunbar, psychologist Professor Emma Cohen New York University and Doctor Drake Remoray an Associate Professor from the Institute of Cognitive and Evolutionary Anthropology are said to team up to research the bonding of laughter in human society.
In a recent interview Doctor Remoray expressed his feeling for his upcoming project quoting “This will be a very exciting study which I am very honoured to be apart off. I’m so curious to see the outcome of this whole research due to the fact that if the theory was supported, it will help understand why two million years ago the first humans were able to form a large tribal community.”
The research is said to commence December next year.
As the story continues and McMurphy’s influence over the patients strengthens, the reader sees other occasions where the laughter is healing. With McMurphy’s big, boisterous laugh dominating the ward, the patients begin to laugh themselves. Their laughs sound awkward at first- forced, simulated- but nevertheless they are laughing and whether the patients, or Bromden realize it, this phony laugh does begin to heal them.
This book is about so many things, it is hard to stay on one topic for any length of time. In order to focus on the laugh and laughing as a healing agent, I would like to look towards other influential writers and thinkers to tie together laughing and healing. First, let’s see what laughter is according to Meriam Webster: laughter- n. a cause of merriment. Using this simple definition, we can assume that laughter can come from any form of merriment or emotion like triumph, contempt, relief, and almost any other emotion there is. It is easy to picture in your head different underlying emotions in laughter; the sinister laughs of witches and ghosts, the insincere, fake laughs you hear after pointless, humorless attempts at jokes on the six o’clock news, to the silent laughs of mimes and clowns that fill the people around them with a happy feeling. These are all examples of what laughter is and how it is used. But why do we do it? What in nature created the laugh and made it so successful?
Although modern science has allowed us to develop many complex medicines, laughter is still the strongest one available in the real world and in the book. Laughter proves to be a strong medicine in more ways than one and is completely free, allowing anyone to use it at anytime. It allows us to connect socially with people, it can be used as a way of overthrowing power, and it is good for your health. As Randle McMurphy showed in the novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, laughter can lighten the mood in the darkest situations.
Laughter is an interesting topic. Mainly because of the lack of thought that goes with it as to why we laugh. In an article titled Laughter: An Essay on the Meaning of the Comic by Henri Bergson, the theory behind why things are funny is explored. He mentions many different things in his article pertaining to the comic, however, there are a few that stand out more than others. He talks directly about the fact that things are only funny if they relate to humans. Then he touches on the idea that accidents are funnier than planned events. Finally, he speaks on laughter being directly related to social setting. The 1992 film Noises Off is a perfect demonstration of everything that Bergson writes about. Henri Bergson’s essay on laughter is perfectly supported by the film Noises Off.
In “Monkey See, Monkey Do, Monkey Connect”, de Waal explains that people form bonds from mimicry. People and animals also form bonds by laughter. So the laughing humans in the first paragraph are like the playful chimps in that they both laugh when others do. That’s where the mimicry of the humans and the chimps plays in. As de Waal explains, “The infectiousness of laughter even works across species”(123). As he also says, “This is why comedy shows on television have
The spectrum of therapeutic techniques available within the health care continuum is very complex and varied. From traditional medicine, to holistic remedies, and anything in between, nurses have a rather large arsenal at their disposal when it comes to treating the patients that are under their care. Humor as an alternative therapy has long been understood as a proven means to aid in the recovery process. “With so much power to heal and renew, the ability to laugh easily and frequently is a tremendous resource for surmounting problems, enhancing your relationships, and supporting both physical and emotional health” (Smith & Segal, 2015). The purpose of this paper is to discuss situations in which humor would be a viable alternative therapy
Laughing is resorted to in times where we need to laugh. It’s an escape from reality, its comfort, its fear. Laughing subdues any emotion that is too high strung in our system. It lets it vapor out in a melancholy form that helps us cope with problems that no one else can really understand and help us with. In One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest it allowed emotional tension escape from the patients and made nurse Ratched lose her ward.
In “Happiness and Its Discontents” Daniel M.Haybron describes the relationship between pain and happiness. Put simply, pain doesn 't bring happiness,happiness comes from within.
In the end, laughter is proven as the best medicine by what it has done for the men on the ward; they have grown stronger and more confident, finally overtaking the Nurse for good. In the beginning they were weak and willing to do anything the Nurse told them to do, and even though laughter on the ward set them off guard, it made and impact on them immediately. Laughing for the men shows that they are sane and allow them to be happy. For as Sean O’ Casey said, laughter makes life worth living, and for the men, laughter made them stronger and allowed them to finally be free.
When one laughs, a public expression of feelings is being made. One’s guard is let down, and the act of laughing and the emotion that catalyzed it often appears to leave the immediate control of the laugher. Ironically, the more inappropriate the situation, the more full bodied and unstoppable one’s laughter can become. Both Minnie of “Dry September” and Nancy of “That Evening Sun” laugh at seemingly ill-timed occasions.
Humor is an instinct that evolved to serve a distinct purpose in everyone’s lives especially to stay healthy emotionally. The passage, What Makes Us Laugh by Leon Rappoport thoroughly analyzes the different theories in people’s reactions of humor. Rappoport discusses how certain jokes succeed and fail, why we laugh when we don’t think we should, and why sometimes we might not react to humor. Humor can range depending on the person listening and their perspective or beliefs. Following that, there can be a number of responses whether it is laughable, not laughable, or a bad/good joke.
3. Apte, Mahadev L. Humor and Laughter: An Anthropological Approach. Ithaca, NY: Cornell UP, 1985.
Feeling down and depressed? Laugh all those troubles away. Laughter is a simple yet substantial way of putting that little spring back in the step. When people say “Laughter is the best medicine,” what are they referring to? Laughing acts as calorie burner, prevents heart disease or other illnesses, can increase learning abilities and focus, or even bring a more optimistic outlook on life.
Those who use humor to its best advantage teach others by example. Instead of getting angry when something goes wrong, we should try to look for the humor in the situation. It eases tensions and keeps things in perspective. Humor can energize us when a task has become tedious. Humor can make even the worst of situations tolerable.
If there is one way to bring a smile to someone’s face, it is laughter. Funny jokes, comical stunts, sarcasm- Every person is different when it comes to what makes them laugh. Some find dry humor comical. Others think sarcasm or joke-filled ranting are the best. ‘Comedy’ is such a broad term, broad enough to allow everyone to find something they find comical. In fact, ‘comedy’ includes a specific type of drama, one where the protagonist is joyful and happy endings are expected. Comedy is like a drug; it allows you to escape reality. When we say the word ‘comedy’ in the present, we are generally referring to a type of performance which provides humor. However, in its broadest sense, comedy has only one purpose: comedy makes people smile and