|
Laughing Injuries Away?
Does your new year’s
resolution include decreasing your
stress levels? Does it include reducing
your blood pressure? Or does it relate
to being happier and/or more positive?
Well, ensuring you include a couple of
good belly laughs in to your daily
routine might just let you achieve your
resolution. Gelotology is the
physiological study of laughter, and
research has found a significant impact
of humor on the human body.
| |
Laughter is the physiological response to humor. It
consists of 2 parts – a set of
physical gestures, as a result of
muscle contraction, and the
production of sound, a result of the
epiglottis half-closing the larynx.
When we laugh, the brain pressures
us to conduct both of these
activities simultaneously. It has
been suggested that humans have a
“detector” that responds to laughter
by triggering other neural circuits
in the brain, which in turn,
generates more laughter. Have you
ever experienced how laughter seems
to be contagious? |
We know that certain parts of the brain
are responsible for certain human
functions. For example, emotional
responses are the function of the
brain’s frontal lobe. However,
researchers have learned that the
production of laughter involves various
regions of the brain. Peter Derks
(1997), professor of psychology at the
College of William and Mary, traced the
pattern of brainwave activity in
subjects responding to humorous
material. Subjects were hooked up to an
electroencephalograph (EEG) and their
brain activity was measured when they
laughed. In each case, the brain
produced a regular electrical pattern.
Within four-tenths of a second of
exposure to something potentially funny,
an electrical wave moved through the
whole cerebral cortex (the largest part
of the brain). If the wave took a
negative charge, laughter resulted. If
it maintained a positive charge, there
was no response. Further findings
included:
-
The left side of the cortex first
analyzed the words and structure of
the joke.
-
The large frontal lobe (which is
involved in social emotional
responses) then became very active.
-
The right hemisphere of the cortex
carried out the intellectual analysis
required to “get” the joke.
-
Brainwave activity then spread to the
sensory processing area of the
occipital lobe.
-
And finally, stimulation of the motor
sections in the brain evoked a
physical response to the joke.
So what makes one laugh? There are
three traditional theories about what we
find humorous:
1)
The incongruity theory- suggests that humor arises when logic and familiarity are
replaced by things that don’t normally
go together.
2)
The superiority theory – when we laugh at jokes that focus on someone else’s
mistakes, stupidity, or misfortune.
3)
The relief theory – as we try to cope with two sets of emotions and thoughts, we need a
release and laughter as a way of
cleansing our system of the built up
tension and incongruity (also known as
comic relief).
 There are several obvious differences in people that
affect what they find humorous, with the
most significant being age. For
example, infants and children are
constantly discovering the world around
them. A lot of what goes on seems
ridiculous and surprising, which strikes
them as funny. What’s funny to a
toddler consists of short and simple
concepts, like an elephant joke or
someone making funny sounds with their
mouths. The pre-teen and teenager years
are, almost universally, awkward and
tense.
|
Lots of adolescents and teens laugh at jokes that
focus on sex, food, authority
figures and any subject that adults
consider off-limits. It is an
insecure time of life and teens
often use humor as a tool to protect
themselves or to feel superior. As
we mature, our mental outlook grows
and changes. By the time we are
grown, we have experienced much of
life, including tragedy and success,
thus our senses of humor are more
mature. We laugh at other people
and ourselves in shared common
predicaments and embarrassments.
The adult sense of humor is usually
characterized as more subtle, more
tolerant and less judgmental about
the differences in people, or rather
laughing at the issues that stress
us out. |
|
Many researchers have investigated the
effects of laughter on the body (Fry,
1994; Fry & Savin, 1988). Particularly,
Dr.
Lee Berkand
Dr. Stanley Tan (1989), Loma Linda
University Medical Center, have produced
carefully controlled studies showing the
effects of laughter on the body,
particularly the immune system. Studies
have found the effects of laughter on
the body to include:
Ø
Decreased blood pressure
Ø
Decreased cortisol levels (stress
hormone released by the adrenal glands)
Ø
Increased number and activity of natural
killer cells, and increased number of T
cells that have helper / suppressor
receptors
Ø
Increased level of disease fighting
proteins Gamma-interferon and B-cells
Ø
Strengthened cardiovascular functions
The bottom line is that laughter
stimulates the immune system, thereby
off-setting the immunosuppressive
effects of stress. As stress in the
work place can be a contributing risk
factor for injury, including a good
belly laugh throughout the day may be
one more way to help you to reduce your
risk. Apparently even Abraham Lincoln
recognized the positive impact of
laughter, stating “With the fearful
strain that is on me night and day, if I
did not laugh I should die.”
References
Derks P., Gilliking L.S,
Bartolome-Rull D. S., & Bogart E.H.
(1997).
Laughter and electroencephalographic
activity. Humor -
International Journal of Humor Research.
Volume 10, Issue 3.
Berk, Lee S., Tan,
Stanley A., Fry, William F. MD, Napier,
Barbara J. BS, Lee, Jerry W., Hubbard,
Richard W., Lewis, John E., & Eby,
William C. (1989). Neuroendocrine and
Stress Hormone Changes During Mirthful
Laughter. The American Journal of the
Medical Sciences. Volume 298, Issue
6.
Fry, W.F. & Savin, W.M.
(1988). Mirthful laughter and blood
pressure. Humor- International
Journal of Humor Research. Volume 1,
Issue 1.
Fry, W.F. (1994). The
biology of humor. Humor-
International Journal of Humor Research.
Volume 7, Issue 2.
|
