SYBF Week 2: Harness Humor
Did you know that developing your sense of humor is a proven strategy for changing your mood and strengthening your brain? We often think of humor as a “lower” art form. But when we look at the science, humor is far more than silly pratfalls and foul language. Humor requires many brain functions work together to create new connections and meaning. Essentially, humor is the sandbox of the mind, a place the brain gets to play.
As always, we set the stage for our week with…
Science
Researchers at the University of Southern California studied the brains of highly trained professional comedians and non-comedian everyday people as they created comedy. They did this by asking people to write captions for New Yorker Cartoons. In this study, researchers found that amateurs (those who have not previously studied the art of or performed comedy) both relied on and grew in their executive function abilities.
What is Executive Function?
Executive Function is mostly handled in the frontal lobe (our forehead region) and is an essential part of using our full brain capacity. It is responsible for the everyday skills we need to learn, grow, work, make decisions, follow directions, handle strong emotions, and think flexibly and creatively.
This is great news for all of us - humor is a fun way to grow the brain! Creating humor, even just a tiny bit of silliness, requires us to use our brains in new and different ways. Sure, we feel uncomfortable when we first start, but when we can take ourselves a bit more lightly and laugh at ourselves, extra bonus. Humor gets Humor!
In essence, comedy forces us to see the world differently than we typically do. For comedy to work, we must consider how others might see the world. That’s the point of humor: to create something that resonates beyond ourselves and connects us with others.
The downside of having just one brain is that we can only see and interpret the world with that one brain. Comedy allows us to see the world from perspectives outside our own; through that practice, we broaden our view of the world around us.
The Health Benefits of Laughter and Comedy
Laughter is really “good medicine”. Here are just a few of the health benefits of laughter:
Endorphins are released during laughter. They attach to opioid receptors in the brain and make us feel good—literally a “natural high.”
Serotonin, a known antidepressant, is also released during laughter. These naturally occurring brain chemicals can be as powerful as prescription antidepressant medications. But they don’t last as long, so the more often you laugh, the more natural medicine you have!
When laughing with others, the release of endorphins creates social and relational bonds, which strengthen and support friendships and family relationships. This togetherness creates a sense of safety, which keeps that reptilian brain from overreacting (remember that from week 1?).
When we laugh, we release physical and emotional tension, elevating our mood and enhancing our cognitive functioning. It even increases overall friendliness as it calms down the reptilian brain, allowing us to see others as helpful instead of threatening.
Laughter has been shown to boost the immune system and minimize chronic illness symptoms by releasing neuropeptides.
When you laugh, you breathe more deeply, enriching your blood with oxygen and stimulating your heart, lungs, and muscles.
Laughter can relieve pain, as some released hormones are natural painkillers.
Laughter can significantly reduce the symptoms associated with depression and anxiety, again due to the powerful hormonal cocktail.
Activities:
Look for the Humor
Try looking for humor in something that stresses you out or makes you irritable. Even the smallest, silliest thing can bring a bit of levity, making the situation easier to deal with.
Can’t find the humor in a difficult situation? Shift gears and find humor elsewhere—movies, TV, YouTube, books, asking someone to tell you a joke or a funny story, asking Chatgpt, Alexa, or Siri to tell you a joke—wherever you find humor works! Any laughing, even forced laughing, releases some of the happiness hormones we noted above.
Try playing with everyday phrases and devise humorous little twists, such as plays on words or puns. This TED-Ed Video How to make your writing funnier, is a quick 5-minute orientation on how to find funny in ordinary life.
Phone a friend and ask them to tell you a funny story.
Humor as a Daily Practice
Try these great activities called “practice prompts,” created by Rick Olson.
Laugher Yoga
Yes, laughter Yoga is a real thing. In this form of yoga, people practice laughter as a group. This laughter may start forced, but it can soon turn spontaneous. Check out this video on Laughter Yoga from the Mayo Clinic or the wonderfully spirited Judith Anne Walker.
Mad Libs
Mad Libs is a word game in which you create a list of words to substitute for blank spaces in a story. After all the words have been provided, the story is read aloud with the list of words incorporated. The humor in Mad Libs comes in a few forms and is an activity that can be done alone and with others. Mad Libs Online is a free and easy online mad lib generator that can lift your spirits in just a few short brainstorming minutes!
One VERY important note: The only kind of humor that is off-limits here is the kind that hurts or humiliates others. If the joke or humor could hurt someone’s feelings or is at their expense, it’s off-limits. Only humor that unites us and builds us up is allowed here. 🤗
