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Bhanu gets on my nerves when he’s being cussed. Suddenly we are strangers, going at each other. He is quoting me out of context from the early ’90s and I am tearing my hair out! Can’t even remember what started it. But, gosh, before you could tell, it had escalated from being a border skirmish to a full blown war.
His cell phone rang. Oh, what joy! The call centre chaps know exactly when to call. Bhanu gritted his teeth and asked the caller to go away. Ok, so where were we…? The phone rang again. “What kind of a moron are you?” he started off, going red in the face. Suddenly his expression changed. Oops, it was old Mr Mani, our exasperatingly nitpicking neighbour. “Extremely sorry sir. I thought it was the call centre chap yet again. I will call you back in a moment,” Bhanu said, as he hung up. We cracked up and did the high fives!
Within minutes we were laughing hysterically, all arguments were forgotten (for the moment at least). Then we hugged and made up! This was not my first photo-op with the power of humour. See why a good laugh can ease tension like magic?
Humour helps you take things in your stride. It is a great stress buster, a cathartic tool, a social lubricant and is totally feel-good – what else can I say? That laughter is good for you is nothing new, but now science believes that its benefits go beyond just easing tension. Research has established that humour is a heal-all tonic. Studies have proved that it helps reduce stress, burn off calories, improve digestion, stimulate the appetite, reduce the heart-rate, control blood sugar, keep you heart-healthy and more. Now you know why in ancient times, kings and emperors had court jesters to make them laugh?

How humour helps
That you can actually laugh your way to health was demonstrated effectively 25 years ago by Norman Cousins. He used the positive emotions of faith, hope, laughter and joy to counteract the effects of a stressful lifestyle that he believed had led to his illness. He watched funny films several times each day and laughed loudly. He used it to recover from ankylosing spondylitis. Wondering what that is? An incurable degenerative disease that causes the breakdown of collagen, the fibrous tissue that binds together the body’s cells. He discovered that 10 minutes of solid belly laughter would give him 2 hours of pain-free sleep. Cousins popularised the use of humour as a method of healing. “Laughter changes our feelings, thoughts, behaviours and biochemistry. It provides an opportunity for the release of uncomfortable emotions that, if held inside, may create biochemical changes which are harmful to the body,” agrees Dr Ashima Puri, consultant psychologist, Delhi.

Laugh loudly, fake it if you must
Easier said than done, you’re thinking. You have seen people at a neighbourhood laughing club gathered in a circle, throwing up their hands and practising laughter. Strange guys, you must have thought. How could forced laughter work? Apparently it does! Charles Schafer, psychology professor at Fairleigh Dickinson University in Teaneck, New Jersey found in his research that even self-imposed smiling and forced laughter can boost mood and psychological well-being tremendously. “Phoney laughter works because your body doesn’t know its fake, even though your brain might,” he says. “Once the brain signals the body to laugh, the body doesn’t care why. It’s going to release endorphins; it’s going to relieve stress as a natural physiological response to the physical act of laughing,” he adds.

Combat stress
The old saying, “it’s the little things that get you,” is true. Daily stress, unchecked over time, is the biggest cause of illnesses. “We use skills galore to deal with daily stresses—time management techniques, breathing exercises and muscle relaxation, but one of the better mechanisms on hand is humour. Humour as a self-care tool is available at no cost and there is no limit to the number of times it can be used,” suggests Dr Puri. “Stress creates unhealthy physiological changes and the connection between stress and high blood pressure, muscle tension, immuno-suppression and many other changes is clear enough. Humour and laughter create the exact opposite effects and are perfect antidotes for stress,” she adds.

Prime your body
Want to get fit? Exercise laughter every day! For one, laughter is literally an aerobic exercise. A hearty laugh can burn calories equivalent to several minutes on the rowing machine or the exercise bike. And after it’s over, the body is relaxed. Plus, people who laugh heartily on a regular basis have lower standing blood pressure than the average person. “When you have a good laugh, initially the blood pressure increases, but then it decreases to levels below normal. Breathing then becomes deeper which sends oxygen-enriched blood and nutrients throughout the body,” explains Dr Puri. Clinical research has also indicated that humour has a direct effect on the body’s ability to fight infections—it augments the body’s immune system. Researchers have found that antibodies in the mucous membranes of the nose and respiratory passages increase after laughter therapy. The frequency of colds, sore throats and chest infections is significantly lowered as a result!

Help your heart
In a study done at the Maryland School of Medicine, US, volunteers were shown funny and disturbing movies to test the effect of emotions on blood vessels and the results showed that laughter is linked to healthy functioning of blood vessels. Laughter, it appeared, causes the tissue that forms the inner lining of blood vessels, the endothelium, to dilate or expand in order to increase blood flow. When the same group of volunteers was shown a movie that produced mental stress, their blood vessel lining developed a potentially unhealthy response called vasoconstriction, reducing blood flow. These findings confirmed that there is a link between mental stress and the narrowing of blood vessels. This must have a direct bearing on the heart’s health. This study was presented at the Scientific Session of the American College of Cardiology on March 7, 2005, in Orlando, Florida. Experts say that laughter also helps ward off heart attacks by easing tension, stress and anger, plus it helps prevent the circulatory sluggishness that leads to strokes.

Laugh away sugar
Diabetes in the family? Here’s an easy prevention route. Researchers at the University of Tsukuba in Japan have found that getting a few good belly laughs helps your body process its sugar. On two separate days, the same meal was given to diabetic and non-diabetic patients. On one day, the subjects listened to a boring lecture; alternatively, they joined the audience of a comedy show. Post-meal levels of blood glucose were consistently lower after the comedy show in all the patients. The study, published in Diabetes Care, suggests that the positive effects may stem from increased energy consumption or changes in the neuroendocrine system.

Shed your inhibitions
The first thought in Mrinal Rathore’s (name changed) mind whenever she had to meet a stranger was, “I’ll make a fool of myself.” She would stammer, her hands would start shaking and she was convinced that she was a social embarrassment. She somehow finished her graduation but dropped the idea of pursuing an MBA, as social anxiety weighed her down at all levels – occupational, personal and interpersonal. When things kept getting worse, she sought professional help. Sessions with a specialist suggested that a lonely and disturbed childhood was manifesting itself as social anxiety. At 22, Mrinal was a minor wreck unable to face the world. But all this changed when a perfect solution to diffuse her problems was found. “The day she learnt to laugh at past bad experiences, she started controlling her current problems better,” says Dr Sanjay Chugh, a Delhi-based psychologist. Mrinal surfed the Web and compiled 15 humorous one-liners to use if someone commented on her stammering, or if she slipped due to nervousness in a social gathering. The first time she used one of them, she found people laughing with her and not at her and this was the beginning of her healing.

So laugh some more…
If it does not come easy, maybe the way ahead is to make a conscious effort to laugh every day till it becomes a habit. Maybe we should add a laughing room to our offices, health clubs and even our homes. Or join a laughing club! Madan Kataria of Bombay started the first of the Laughing Clubs International in 1995 and expanded to 80 clubs within a year. Every morning the members of these clubs gather in the park, raise their arms in the air and start with ho-ho, ha-ha, silent laughter with a closed mouth and then silent laughter with an open mouth. Some even incorporate jogging with laughing. Members of the laughing clubs say they feel better, more upbeat; some say they have lost weight. Most feel that just getting out of homes and meeting people to practise laughter therapy helps. Most important, a majority say they feel happier!

Robert R. Provine, a professor of Psychology and Assistant Director of the Neuroscience Programme at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County has made some interesting conclusions about humour in his book Laughter.
Less than 20% of laughter is in response to anything resembling a joke. But it helps.
People are 30 times more likely to laugh in groups than alone.
Women laugh more than men (except when they are listening to a woman!)
The talker chuckles nearly 50% more than his/her listener does.
Social situations increase laughter and help you relax.
Men are the leading humour producers and women are the leading laughers.
Speakers generally laugh more than their audience!

10 WAYS TO Practise Humour
Some practical suggestions to make you happier and healthier
Write a laughter contract with yourself.
1. I _______________________ (name) will do one thing each day to get more laughter in my life.
(Signature and date)
2. Create a laughter first- aid: kit Humorous videos, tapes, books and cartoons. Use it when you want to feel better and loan to people who need to.
3. Experiment with jokes: Learn one a week and spread it around as much as you can.
4. Laughter is contagious: When you need a chuckle, call a humour-buddy or hang around with people who make you laugh.
5. Learn your lessons from kids: On an average children laugh 400 times every day compared to adults who only do it 15 times. They teach us that “the world is filled with things for our enjoyment. The trick is to open our eyes and look for them.”
6. Meet your daily goal of laughter: Use the Rs of Humour: Remind, Remember and Retell. Remind yourself that you will look for something humorous in your life. Remember the humour when it occurs, and then commit to Retelling what happened to someone else.
7. In retrospect, almost everything has humour: Look at today from tomorrow’s hindsight. At times it takes a little longer to see the humour in your dilemmas. Sometimes it takes 10 seconds, sometimes 10 years. You can shorten the gap if you can remember to say, “Some day I might laugh at this.” You will get closer to doing so.
8. Remember a funny moment: The last time some joke, movie or a moment kept you laughing and smiling through the day. The time you laughed so hard and for so long you forgot what was funny to begin with? Do it again and again and again. It will leave you relaxed.
9. Use smilies often: Sign off your communication (in cell phone text messages, chats and personal email) with a smilie
10. Can’t laugh? Smile! Can’t smile? Fake it! Start somewhere, but do it. Like we said, phoney laughter works because your body doesn’t know its fake, even though your brain might.

Article by Kavita Devgan