A longing for lightness is growing in me. I don’t want to hear or see any news, but I am grateful for the little films via Whats App, Telegram, Threema and Instagram! In the past I used to click away videos or was annoyed by them – according to the motto, who disturbs at work? In times of curfew and contactlessness I gratefully accept this and celebrate the interruption. I have the impression that here in the Spanish speaking part of the world people compensate a lot with humour, at least my Spanish teacher confirmed this impression to me.
Therefore, today’s tip is about humour and laughter against threatening depressive moods.
A study by the University of Zurich (2004) found that people who first watched 20 minutes of funny films are more pain tolerant immediately afterwards. (Don’t worry, nobody was hurt during the study, the test persons had to dip their hands in ice water and take them out as soon as it hurt). In other trials it was found If people are to consciously look at a situation in a photograph with humour, they feel a greater distance to what they see than people who are supposed to look at the same thing “just like that”. They even intuitively tend to use positive humour rather than becoming ironic or sarcastic.
An attitude with humour creates healthy distance and this reinterpretation increases stress tolerance. In the meantime, various therapy and coaching approaches work with humour, as it creates cognitive flexibility and can be practiced to a personal coping strategy.
The skills needed to be able to laugh about certain situations are complex: first of all to observe and understand, to recognize a certain timing, to allow playful joy and to laugh about oneself. In simple terms, our brain is thus busy at the moment and does not produce any bad feelings. In addition, laughing requires many facial muscles such as the zygomaticus muscle. During a laughing fit, up to 300 muscles from head to stomach are busy. This makes us feel so relaxed afterwards – basically it is almost a self-massage.
To build humour into your everyday life, follow these tips:
- Search for humor in your environment and cultivate laughter
- Do not take yourself so seriously, find a playful attitude for yourself
- Just laugh away, even in stressful situations Do not take yourself so seriously, find a playful attitude for yourself
It is enough to enter “laughing fit” on Youtube and your own laughing flash is guaranteed. I can also laugh wonderfully and heartily about the ventriloquist Sascha Grammel and his Josie or about Mr. Bean.
What did you laugh about today?
I wish with all my heart many wonderful laughing fits and interruptions with humour – whether at work, in the middle of the telecom or with the children at home!
PS: This text was interrupted by 5 laughter breaks!