Most people know that humor and laughter are beneficial for relieving stress. In fact, research supports laughter as a tool for lowering blood pressure, boosting immune function, releasing endorphins, which are the body’s natural painkillers, and producing a general feeling of overall well-being. Experts say that as you grow older, your view of the world becomes altered and your perspective on things changes. This means that what you found funny when you were younger, may no longer apply today.
Laughter and a sense of humor are natural resources, easily attainable and free. What people find funny depends on three theories:
1. We enjoy incongruities, like an unexpected fall or the surprise factor of a punch line.
2. We laugh at someone’s mistakes, stupidity or calamities, since it makes us feel better about ourselves.
3. We appreciate the timing of comic relief when tension is released by a funny moment.
Sometimes people are so overwhelmed with their daily responsibilities, that they don’t allow themselves the luxury of relaxation and mirth. It becomes difficult to find humor in the situations that are straining, agonizing and rattling. However, a change in disposition can do wonders in terms of how you approach most challenges. Even depression can be lifted by finding humor in life’s everyday foibles. Some people may have to LEARN to laugh because it’s not as natural as other behaviors. In essence, if you reassess the nature of your sense of humor, you can raise the scope of your “humor index.”
You do this by considering the following:
• Are you the type to initiate humor or do you enjoy laughing along with others?
• What are the kinds of things you find most humorous (jokes, movies, one liners, etc) and what don’t you consider funny (sarcasm, ethnic jokes, etc)?
• Can you be silly and laugh at yourself easily?
• Must you be in a good mood to laugh, or can something amusing change your mood?
It’s great to have a repertoire of things you find funny that you can access when you need it. It’s also great to schedule daily moments of frivolity for ridding yourself of excess emotional weight, built up from the day.
We, baby boomers, need to explore being less judgmental and more tolerant so that the subtleties of life become the fuel that tickles our funny bones. And remember that a sense of humor keeps minor problems in perspective and enables you to endure life more easily– by cleansing the system of excess tension and keeping you emotionally fit.
on Aug 23rd, 2007 at 6:50 pm
Without a sense of humor, we are lost! It is so important to be able to step outside of a given situation that might be stressful and poke some fun at it, or at ourselves and our own reactions to it. I find it very helpful to chat with a friend who has experienced a similar problem, and engage in a bit of joking around over it. The connection with the friend is extremely helpful just in itself, and the ability to share some laughs does wonders!
I also find it important that we not take ourselves or our situations too seriously all of the time. We can get caught up in the drama of what is happening, and forget that a little humor interjected into almost any situation can help tremendously. A few good laughs can clear your head, and enable you to see things in a different way, or at least to not be so stressed over what has been bothering you. Some of the most difficult times of my life were much more bearable thanks to humor!