Laughter as a medicine for stress

How To Use Humor And Laughter As A Coping Mechanism For Stress!

Humor and Laughter should be used as coping mechanisms for stress, though it seems to only be used as an outlet for the emotion produced by humor or happiness. Do we laugh because we are happy, or are we happy because we laugh? Many times a humorous speaker can help us to see the light in the darkness situations. Both of these are probably true, but we only exercise the former. Laughter is a fascinating phenomenon that works like a medicine. Although most drugs affect everyone differently, laughter is always the same. It exercises your entire body causing you to feel relaxed and pain free. And this is where a professional humorous speaker can help you improve your next meeting or event. The fact that laughter and humorous speaking is good for one's health should be quite evident. So why not laugh? When one laughs, it is like taking a drug, yet there is no such thing as an overdose or, "laughter toxicity," as humorous speaker, Dr. Madan Kataria says. Maybe we can now say "A laugh a day keeps the doctor away." Dr. Kataria is a world authority on laughter and humorous speaking

There's no doubt that laughter feels good, and that a humorous speaker can help, but is there real neurophysiology behind it and what can you do about it? In a paper being presented in an American Physiological Society session at Experimental Biology 2006, humorous speaker, Lee S. Berk of Loma Linda University, reports that not only is there real science and psychophysiology, but just the anticipation of the "mirthful laughter" provided by humorous speakers involved in watching your favorite funny movie has some very surprising and significant neuroendocrine/hormone effects.

According to Humorous Speaker Berk: "The blood drawn from experimental subjects just before they watched the video had 27% more beta-endorphins and 87% more human growth hormone, compared to blood from the control group, which didn't anticipate the watching of a humorous video. Between blood pulls, the control group stayed in a waiting room and could choose from a wide variety of magazines," he explained. *Paper presentation: "Beta-Endorphin and HGH increase are associated with both the anticipation and experience of mirthful laughter, through humorous speakers" 12:30 p.m. - 3 p.m. Sunday April 2, APS Behavioral neuroscience & drug abuse Section abstract 233.18/board #C706. Research was by humorous speaker, Lee S. Berk, Department of Health Promotion and Education, School of Public Health and Department of Pathology, School of Medicine, Loma Linda University; humorous speaker, Stanley A. Tan, Oakcrest Health Research Institute, Yucaipa; and humorous speaker, James Westengard, Dept. of Pathology, School of Medicine; Berk is associated with all three institutions and humorous speakers. HGH, endorphin difference is long-lasting; setting the baseline and environment is key Berk said that the strong difference between the two groups in terms of human growth hormone (HGH) and beta-endorphin blood levels was maintained from just prior to the beginning of video watching, throughout the hour of viewing and afterwards, also.

Most laughter has nothing to do with jokes, concludes researcher and humorous speaker, Prof. Robert Provine. For years he has studied laughter, humorous speaking and humorous speakers and what provokes it. Some of Provine's conclusions: * Less than 20% of laughter was in response to anything resembling a joke * People and humorous speakers are 30 times more likely to laugh in groups than alone (hence, TV's laugh tracks) * Female humorous speakers laugh more than male humorous speakers, except when they are listening to a woman * The talker chuckles nearly 50% more than his/her listener does. If you follow these tried and true steps to laugh more, you will see that you are managing your stress better through the use of humor and humorous speakers. http://www.dougdvorak.com

Article source: Doug Dvorak (GoArticles.com)

About the Author
Doug Dvorak is the CEO of DMG Inc., a worldwide organization that assists clients with productivity training, corporate humor and workshops, as well as other aspects of sales and marketing management. Mr. Dvorak's clients are characterized as Fortune 1000 companies, small to medium businesses, civic organizations and service businesses. http://www.dougdvorak.com