{"id":55390,"date":"2021-01-01T12:19:59","date_gmt":"2021-01-01T20:19:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/world.edu\/?p=55390"},"modified":"2021-01-01T12:19:59","modified_gmt":"2021-01-01T20:19:59","slug":"the-virtues-of-laughter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/world.edu\/the-virtues-of-laughter\/","title":{"rendered":"The virtues of laughter"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Jokes, pleasant surprises and the laughter they can provoke give relief to everyday life.<\/p>\n

When we giggle or laugh, we can have the impression of making noises that are a bit ridiculous or stupid.\u00a0But laughing actually takes a lot of work, because it activates\u00a0many areas of the brain<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0: areas that control motor, emotional, cognitive and social processes.<\/p>\n

As I saw in writing\u00a0\u201cIntroduction to the Psychology of Humor,\u201d<\/a>\u00a0researchers now even see laughter as a potential factor in improving physical and mental well-being.<\/p>\n

The powers of laughter over physiology<\/strong><\/h4>\n

People start to laugh from childhood, which helps us build muscle and\u00a0upper body<\/a>\u00a0.\u00a0It’s not just about breathing: laughing relies on complex combinations of facial muscles, often involving movements of the eyes, head and shoulders.<\/p>\n

Laughing, whether you are laughing yourself or watching someone else laugh, activates multiple areas of the brain: the motor cortex, which controls muscles, and the frontal lobe, which helps you understand. the context, and the\u00a0limbic system<\/a>\u00a0, which modulates positive emotions.\u00a0Activating all of these circuits strengthens neural connections and helps a healthy brain coordinate its activity.<\/p>\n

By activating neural pathways for emotions such as joy and mirth, laughter can help improve our moods and lessen our physical and emotional responses to stress.\u00a0For example, laughing can help control brain levels of the neurotransmitter serotonin, just like\u00a0antidepressants do<\/a>\u00a0.\u00a0By minimizing our brains’ responses to threats, laughter limits the release of neurotransmitters and hormones, like\u00a0cortisol<\/a>\u00a0, which can strain our\u00a0cardiovascular, metabolic, and immune systems<\/a>\u00a0over time.\u00a0Laughter is like an\u00a0antidote to stress<\/a>\u00a0, which weakens our protective systems and increases our vulnerability to disease.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Understanding a joke is good brain training.<\/p><\/div>\n

The cognitive powers of laughter<\/strong><\/h4>\n

When someone makes a joke, the laughter that follows is largely dependent on our social intelligence and memory.<\/p>\n

Laughter, like humor, often arises when recognizing\u00a0incongruities or absurdities in a situation<\/a>\u00a0.\u00a0Before laughing, one must be able to mentally resolve the dissension caused by the surprising behavior or event.\u00a0Infering the intentions of others and\u00a0understanding their point of view<\/a>\u00a0can reinforce the comedic effect and the intensity of the laughter.<\/p>\n

To understand a joke or the comedy of a situation, you need to be able to see the lighter side of things, be open to non-literal interpretations, for example when being\u00a0amused by comics with talking animals.<\/a>\u00a0, like Donald, Jolly Jumper or Rantanplan.<\/p>\n

The social power of laughter<\/strong><\/h4>\n

There are many cognitive and social skills that come together to help you determine when and why laughter occurs during conversations.\u00a0You don’t have to have heard laughter to be able to laugh, as demonstrated by the use of laughter to\u00a0punctuate sentences in sign language<\/a>\u00a0, much like emoticons in written text.<\/p>\n

Laughter creates bonds and increases intimacy with others.\u00a0Linguist Don Nilsen notes that laughter\u00a0rarely occurs when one is alone<\/a>\u00a0, which underlines its social role.\u00a0From an early age, laughter in infants is an outward sign of pleasure that helps strengthen bonds with those who care for them.<\/p>\n

Later, it’s an outward sign of sharing an appreciation of the situation.\u00a0For example, speakers and\u00a0comedians<\/a>\u00a0try to make the audience laugh so that they feel psychologically closer to them, to create intimacy.<\/p>\n

Practicing laughing a little every day can improve social skills that may not come naturally to you.\u00a0When you laugh in response to a touch of humor, you are sharing your feelings with others, which teaches you to juggle the risks of a social response (such as having your response accepted, shared or appreciated by others, rather than rejected, ignored or frowned upon).<\/p>\n

Studies by psychologists\u00a0have shown<\/a>\u00a0that men with\u00a0type A personality characteristics<\/a>\u00a0– for example, competitiveness and hyperactivity – tend to laugh more, while women with these characteristics laugh less.\u00a0Women and men laugh more with others than when they are alone.<\/p>\n

The effects of laughter on the mind<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Positive psychology researchers are studying how people can live meaningful lives, and thrive.\u00a0Laughter produces positive emotions that lead to this kind of fulfillment.\u00a0These feelings – like fun, happiness, mirth, and joy – build\u00a0resilience and increase creative thinking<\/a>\u00a0.\u00a0They increase subjective well-being and\u00a0life satisfaction<\/a>\u00a0.\u00a0Researchers have found that these positive emotions experienced with humor and laughter correlate with\u00a0appreciation for the meaning of life<\/a>\u00a0and help older people have a positive view of the challenges they have encountered in their lifetime.<\/p>\n

Laughing in response to fun is a healthy coping mechanism.\u00a0When you laugh, you take yourself less seriously and you may feel\u00a0more able to solve problems<\/a>\u00a0.\u00a0For example, psychologists measured the frequency and intensity of laughter in 41 people over a two-week period, as well as their level of physical and mental stress.\u00a0They found that the\u00a0more laughs<\/a>\u00a0, the lower the stress – regardless of the sound level of the laughs studied.<\/p>\n

Can we work on our laughter to benefit from it?<\/strong><\/h4>\n

A growing number of therapists advocate the\u00a0use of humor and laughter<\/a>\u00a0to help patients regain confidence and\u00a0improve their work environment<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0;\u00a0a review of five different studies found that\u00a0measures of well-being increased<\/a>\u00a0after laughter interventions.\u00a0These interventions take the form of daily humorous activities – surrounding yourself with funny people, watching a comedy that makes you laugh, or writing three funny things that happened today.<\/p>\n

You can practice laughing even when you are alone.\u00a0Intentionally take a prospect who appreciates the funny side of events.\u00a0The\u00a0Laughter Yoga<\/a>\u00a0is a technique that involves using the breathing muscles to get the positive physical reactions natural laugh with a forced laugh ( “hahaha hihihi hohoho”).<\/p>\n

Researchers today don’t take these studies lightly, but much of the research on the influence of laughter on mental and physical health still relies on self-reports.\u00a0More focused studies of experimental psychology, around laughter or the contexts in which it occurs, will likely confirm the importance of laughing throughout the day.\u00a0They may even suggest other ways to use the benefits intentionally.<\/p>\n

Author Bio:<\/strong> Janet M. Gibson is Professor of Cognitive Psychology at Grinnell College<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jokes, pleasant surprises and the laughter they can provoke give relief to everyday life. When we giggle or laugh, we can have the impression of making noises that are a bit ridiculous or stupid.\u00a0But laughing actually takes a lot of work, because it activates\u00a0many areas of the brain\u00a0\u00a0: areas that control motor, emotional, cognitive and […]\n… learn more→<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":55391,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[95],"tags":[351687],"coauthors":[11733],"class_list":["post-55390","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle","tag-laughing"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe virtues of laughter - World leading higher education information and services<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/the-virtues-of-laughter\/\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The virtues of laughter - World leading higher education information and services\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Jokes, pleasant surprises and the laughter they can provoke give relief to everyday life. When we giggle or laugh, we can have the impression of making noises that are a bit ridiculous or stupid.\u00a0But laughing actually takes a lot of work, because it activates\u00a0many areas of the brain\u00a0\u00a0: areas that control motor, emotional, cognitive and […]\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/the-virtues-of-laughter\/\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"World leading higher education information and services\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-01-01T20:19:59+00:00\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/women-laughing-together.jpg\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"680\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"408\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kevin\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kevin\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/the-virtues-of-laughter\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/the-virtues-of-laughter\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Kevin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee\"},\"headline\":\"The virtues of laughter\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-01-01T20:19:59+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/the-virtues-of-laughter\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1016,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/the-virtues-of-laughter\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/01\\\/women-laughing-together.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Laughing\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Lifestyle\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/the-virtues-of-laughter\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/the-virtues-of-laughter\\\/\",\"name\":\"The virtues of laughter - 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