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Positive effects of laughter on emotional and physical health essay
Essay on Health benefits of humor and laughter
Essays about the positive effects of laughter on emotional and physical health
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Although hundreds of languages and thousands of dialects divide the world, laughter is universal. Laughter is not hindered by disability or the ability of legitimate speech. People in our society are extremely serious and uptight. This makes sense, as there is numerous responsibilities required of each person. It is estimated that one in ten American adults are afflicted with depression, a mental illness characterized by persistent low mood, low self-esteem, and a loss in pleasure of normally enjoyable activities. If people learned to laugh more often, I believe that people would experience less depression and sadness.
Scientific research has proven that laughter truly is the best medicine. Laughter, real or faked, has the same effect on the body. It releases endorphins, the feel-good chemicals, and can temporarily relive pain. Laughter also relieves physical stress in the body, relaxing the muscles, increasing the body’s resistance to disease and improving blood flow. Whenever I’m feeling stressed or starting to catch an illness, I always turn to funny YouTube videos, a hilarious movie, and surround myself with people who always crack jokes or say ridiculous things. It always makes me feel better physically, as well as brighten my mood for the rest of the day.
Depression is a serious mental illness that has many routes to treatment. Some of these include counseling, prescription medication, exercise, and proper sleeping and eating habits. Along with the use of any of those treatment methods, laughter can help lighten the mood of the person experiencing depression. Often, people who have been diagnosed with depression say that they experienced an unnaturally low mood and lost interest in things that used to bring joy and pleas...
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...not full of regret. Life is meant to be a wonderful adventure, filled with loved ones, good memories, and laughter. However each person decides to use that humor is up to him or her, but it is a necessary piece to puzzle of life.
What would society look like if every person laughed ten more times in a day? What would the world look like if people viewed it as endless opportunity rather than endless turmoil? What else can people turn to besides humor? How would the individual life of each person be different if he or she tried to find the humor in every situation rather than the embarrassment? What would it look like to turn on the local news and not see tragedy at every turn? The world would be drastically different if people learned to cope with stress in healthy ways, blow over everyday mistakes, laugh at themselves, and find the bright side of tough situations.
“The practical disengagement of humor…helps explain the opposition between amusement and negative emotions.” (530) There are three effects of humor; irresponsibility, blocking compassion, and promoting prejudice. Humor can take away what we are/should be doing in life and sometimes there isn’t anything wrong with that. Sometimes when we hear a hateful thing we just laugh it off as if it was no big deal when it really was. “An
Unfortunately life has many hurdles and roads unturned. I do not feel we should regret the mistakes we have made in our past. Or else, we may be too hesitant to make correct choices in our future.
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?
Many members of our society have sculpted their listeners into fooling their selves into believing that there are only two types of “happy”, happy or depressed. This leads to individuals suppressing their problems or believing they are suffering from a chronic illness when sadness is just a natural emotion that a person faces throughout their lifetime. Begley mimics “get over it: take a pill” (558). When living in a world where not being “happy” can provoke your friends and family to encourage drug use or choose to decline spending time with you until you are “happy again may cause many people to not even tell someone they are having problems which can result in the sadness to increase. It is soothing to know not all experts would say you are sick and need help just for an ordinary feeling. A lay reader that has no idea of what most psychologist feels about the evading happiness situation, may have thought all professionals insist on everyone being happy even when they have no desire
The therapeutic use of humor can be loosely defined as any activities that use the positive emotional responses associated with humor, smiling and laughter to specifically benefit one or more clients’ social, emotional, physical, cognitive or wellness domains. Using humor, therapeutically, involves establishing specific desired outcomes for a client which are facilitated by the use of humor and related techniques. Dattilo & McKenney, (2011) define the therapeutic use of humor when “specialists and others use humor in practice, they play for it to lead to specific therapeutic outcomes”. They emphasize the use of evidence based practice and a goal oriented approach as essential in using humor for therapeutic purposes. Similar to other techniques used, Therapeutic Recreation is using humor to achieve client-established goals requires a systematic approach that harnesses the medicinal benefits of the involved and evoked behaviors.
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.
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
Laughter also proves a vital role in helping the patients deal with their problems. Not only does it help them deal with problems but it also gave them the push toward progress on getting out of the institution.
Let’s take a look at how we interact and form relationships. Happy people like being around other happy people. It’s safe to say it is natural to surround ourselves with the kind of people we want to be. Conversly, it is natural for us to retreat and isolate when our health is failing physically or emotionally. One’s social skills are telling of how healthy they are all around. Ideally a person has a nice balance of social time and personal time. We have a good idea who we are and are comfortable being ourselves in all situations. Get involved in your community and give back. Paying it forward is the best medicine next to laughter. Practice the golden rule and treat others as you want to be treated. Respect goes a long way. Know what you are okay with and set boundaries with people so you can develop healthy relationships. These relationships are built on trust, communication, and solving problems together. Maintain these relationships and keep your social support network close and you will live a happy life. Be sure to surround yourself with people who bring you up and encourage you to grow and be a better
Psychologists, sociologists and anthropologists study humor because it is a fundamental culture value, but they still can’t determine why certain things make some people laugh and others not. There are “humor quotient” tests that are designed to measure an individual’s sense of humor, but these tests are questionable. These tests aren’t accurate because almost all humor depends on cultural background knowledge and language skills. Not every person in the whole world, or even in one country share the same background knowledge and skills, therefore they cannot have the same type of humor. “The fact remains that individuals vary in their appreciation of humor” (Rappoport 9). Since humor varies from individual to individual, humor lies in the individual. How successful or funny a joke is depends on how the person receives the joke, humor cannot be measured by a statistical
Yoshino S., Fujimori J., Kohda M.. Effects of mirthful laughter on neuroendocrine and immune systems in patients with rheumatoid arthritis [letter]. J Rheumatol 23: 793-4 (1996).
Therefore, laughter therapy can be a series of cognitive-behavioural therapies that helps to make physical, psychological, and social relationships healthy and ultimately improves the quality of life (Ko and Youn 2011). It has taken a very long time for laughter to become a recognized medical therapy. Dr. William Fry of Stanford University School of Medicine developed a theory of laughter therapy, and found that humour and laughter produced natural painkillers in pituitary, such as endorphins, improved blood circulation, and decreased stress (Fry and Salameh
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.
Humor has been the source of entertainment throughout history. Today humor is practiced in movies, plays, songs, television shows and radio. Humor has brought fame and fortune to those who have mastered its power.
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