Good day, dear Take in Mind readers! It is a paradox or, on the contrary, quite logical, that a huge number of quotes, aphorisms, and sayings of the wisest philosophers, the most serious writers and other smartest historical persons remaining in the memory of descendants, are devoted to… yes, yes… their thoughts about laugh and humor.
Here is, for example, a philosophical one by Lao Tsu:
As soon as you have made a thought, laugh at it
Or a very vised one by Friedrich Nietzsche:
And we should call every truth false which was not accompanied by at least one laugh.
Or a physiological quote, this time by Maurice Chevalier:
You don’t stop laughing because you grow older. You grow older because you stop laughing.
And here is a great idea by the wonderful producer, actor, and very funny person, Mel Brooks:
Humor is just another defense against the universe.
In the real-life, a good sense of humor is a better way to treat different (even, the most complicated) adversities of life (Abel, 2002). In general, the establishment and consolidation of social ties can be facilitated by humor, and this statement is not the opinion of the stand-up comedians but it’s supported by the scientific investigation (for example, see Hay, 2000).
So, the idea “to laugh for life” is not just a common motto. Amongst others, humor may strengthen the immune system (Lefcourt et al, 2009), lower blood pleasure (Lefcourt et al, 1997), and increase the tolerance to pain (Stuber et al, 2009). In the area of mental health, humor can contribute to a more optimistic attitude towards life (Vilaythong et al, 2003; Szabo et al, 2005). Humor is also used to lower the anxiety and nervousness of patients and mitigate resistance to painful therapies.
Schneider et al (2018) noted that the positive effects of humor as an individual’s inherent resource (N.B. I was so grateful to find these three words given our biohacking and cyborgs’ era) are used in health care systems to support healing processes. And what’s about the hospital clown care? Lamas (2015) reported that the combined use of cognitive therapy and therapeutic humor lowers the anxiety of parents whose children are hospitalized.
Let’s put on a serious mask for a second: Researchers over the past hundred years have decomposed humor and laughter into molecules, and they define a variety of cognitive, social, and emotional aspects (Martin, 2007). The famous Sigmund Freud (1928) distinguished three types of cheerful experiences: humor, wit (i.e., jokes), and the comic; he considered the use of humor a defense mechanism of the ego. Not less famous Abraham Maslow (1954) focused on different applications of humor. In his opinion, self-actualizing individuals with a high degree of psychological health are often characterized by a thoughtful sense of humor. Thus, it is important to consider your own style, and subtly feel the mood and the styles of the humor’s companions.
Martin et al (2003) characterized different humor styles which might have either positive or negative links with mental health:
- Affiliative humor establishes and strengthens social bonds; telling jokes and humorous anecdotes is used to amuse others, strengthen interpersonal bonds, and reduce tension.
- Self-enhancing humor describes a humorous attitude towards stressful events and adversity in life, and has an intrapsychic focus; this humor style refers to the usage of humor as a coping strategy to regulate emotions and to reduce stress.
- Aggressive humor downgrades other people; it includes sarcasm and ridicule, but also contains manipulative components such as an implied threat of ridicule; the underlying intent is to harm or expose other people.
- Self-defeating humor: individuals who use self-defeating humor are regarded as humorous and entertaining, but they direct their humor against their own self in order to amuse others; this style of humor is accompanied by a strong wish to belong.
The first two humor styles may be considered health-promoting humor styles. Their goals lie in the strengthening of social ties and of self-efficacy in a benign and self-accepting way. In contrast, aggressive humor and self-defeating humor may be considered health-endangering humor styles. They may threaten social ties and are directed against the own self. By the way, men use aggressive and self-defeating humor styles more often than women; older individuals use less aggressive humor styles than younger individuals (Martin et al., 2003).
Thus, different forms and styles of humor and laughter can have both positive and negative effects on a person’s mental state. Moreover, humor can have not only a slow-motion effect but also really become a quick “tool” for healing or killing.
By the way, about the “acute” murder… Death from laughter is a rare pathology in which uncontrolled laughter leads to either cardiac arrest or asphyxiation and, finally, to the tragicomic end. Here are some examples (documented files and legends):
- One day Calchas (Greek soothsayer of XIII-XII century BC), was planting grapevines. His colleague went near and foretold that Calchas would never drink the wine produced from the grapes. After the grapes ripened and wine was made, Calchas invited the soothsayer to taste it together. As Calchas held a cup of the wine in his hand, the soothsayer repeated the prophecy. This initiated such a fit of laughter in Calchas that he suffocated and died.
- Chrysippus (Greek philosopher of III century BC) died from a fit of laughter after seeing a drunken donkey that ate some figs. But maybe, the donkey first ate the figs, and then Chrysippus gave wine to the donkey…
- The Scottish writer Sir Thomas Urquhart (1611-1660) died laughing upon hearing of the restoration to the throne of Charles II.
- In 1989, the Danish physician Ole Bentzen died from a fit of laughter after watching the film A Fish Called Wanda. Bentzen laughed so hard that his heartbeat accelerated to a rate till 500 beats a minute and he was seized by a heart attack and died.
And of course, how not to recall “The Funniest Joke in the World” sketch by the British comedian troupe “Monty Python”… But let’s be honest – these are just very few cases. And the benefits are a million times greater. So, laugh, gentlemen, for the good health!
N.B. The title is the genius Mark Twain’s quote. Who else could say so accurately and succinctly?
References:
Abel, M. H. (2002). Humor, stress, and coping strategies. Humor, 15, 365–381.
Freud, S. (1928). Humour. International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 9, 1–6.
Hay, J. (2000). Functions of humor in the conversations of men and women. Journal of Pragmatics, 32, 709–742.
Lamas, F. (2015). Effects of a cognitive behavioral therapy program of humor on anxiety in parents of children hospitalized. Psycho-Oncology, 24, 146–147.
Lefcourt, H. M., Davidson-Katz, K. & Kueneman, K. (2009). Humor and immune-system functioning. Humor, 3, 305–322.
Lefcourt, H. M., Davidson, K., Prkachin, K. M. & Mills, D. E. (1997). Humor as a stress moderator in the prediction of blood pressure obtained during five stressful tasks. Journal of Research in Personality, 31, 523–542.
Martin, R. A., Puhlik-Doris, P., Larsen, G., Gray, J. & Weir, K. (2003). Individual differences in uses of humor and their relation to psychological well-being: Development of the Humor Styles Questionnaire. Journal of Research in Personality, 37, 48–75.
Martin, R. A. (2007). The psychology of humor: An integrative approach. Amsterdam: Elsevier Academic Press.
Maslow, A. H. (1954). Motivation and personality. New York: Harper.
Schneider M, Voracek M, Tran US. “A joke a day keeps the doctor away?” Meta-analytical evidence of differential associations of habitual humor styles with mental health. Scand J Psychol. 2018 Jun;59(3):289-300.
Stuber, M., Hilber, S. D., Mitnzer, L. L., Castaneda, M., Glover, D. & Zeltzer, L. (2009). Laughter, humor and pain perception in children: A pilot study. Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, 6, 271–276.
Szabo, A., Ainsworth, S. E. & Danks, P. K. (2005). Experimental comparison of the psychological benefits of aerobic exercise, humor and music. Humor, 18, 235–246.
Vilaythong, A. P., Arnau, R. C., Rosen, D. H. & Mascaro, N. (2003). Humor and hope: Can humor increase hope? Humor, 16, 79–89
Featured image by Poison_Ivy from Pixabay.
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