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Laugh Your Way to Good Health: The Power of Humor in Wellness

Discover how humor impacts health through laughter therapy, humor in healthcare, and the effects of humor on heart health and coping mechanisms. Explore the connection between humor, longevity, and overall well-being.

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Laugh Your Way to Good Health: The Power of Humor in Wellness

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  1. Class 24:Humor and Health A good laugh and a long sleep are the best cures in the doctor's book.  Irish Proverb

  2. FINAL EXAM MONDAY DECEMBER 17 12:00-3:00 Other Important Info: Diary Study Write-Ups: Due Today

  3. How Mirthful Laughter Might Be Cardioprotective Miller & Fry, 2009 Funny Things Releases Endorphins Vessel Dilation Endothlium Reduced Platelet Aggregation μ-3 receptor activation by endorphins increases nitric oxide production Reduced Vascular Inflammation Nitric Oxide

  4. Test of Mirthful Laugher / Heart Protective Hypothesis Miller & Fry, 2009 Subs. view funny scene (SNL) then disturbing scene (Private Ryan), or vice versa. Subs. undergo Brachial Artery Reactivity Test (BART), Measures vaso-reactivity. Higher score = more dilation Percentage Change in Vasodilation Vasodilation Change

  5. Sense of Humor and Survival Among Patients with Terminal Renal Disease Svebak, 2006 Subjects: 41 patients receiving dialysis for terminal renal disease Subjects report: 1. Demographics (age, gender, education) 2. Illness facts (duration, # treatments per week, co- morbidity) 3. Psycho-social: Sense of humor, Quality of Life Results at 2 years: 1. 19 patients die (46%) 2. Older patients die sooner 3. Illness facts not predictive 4. Sense of humor strongly predicts survival

  6. Humor and Health Care Professionals Emergency care professionals encounter intense stress, suffering, and tragedy routinely. Use humor to cope. Use of humor, especially related to treatment crises, related to: Satisfaction Accomplishment Morale Objectivity

  7. Sick Humor, Coping, and Religion Saroglou & Anciaux, 2004 Hey everybody! Look at me! I’m a cowboy! Howdy Howdy Howdy! It’s still hungry. And I’ve been stuffing worms into it all day!

  8. Death Disability Disgust “Sick Humor” jokes based on “3-Ds”: AND Neutral humor jokes Subs. 1. Rate jokes 0= not funny, 5 = very funny 2. Complete coping styles measure 3. Complete measure of religiosity Sick humor is related to “Emotional Coping” -- Disclosing, venting, getting emotional support, negatively related to religiosity. Who benefits more from sick humor? ___ Men ___ Women Neutral humor is related to “Active Coping” –planning, active responses, not disengaging, not using substances, unrelated to religiosity. Perhaps people who like sick humor are less inhibited, more freely engage with taboo topics. What is benefit of being less inhibited? X Free disclosure  immunocompetence

  9. Laughter Therapy Let us take a dose of medicine https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEZkb97rRtI Laughter Clubs: Cancer Treatment Centers of America (CTCA) 1. Laughter clubs adjunct to regular treatment 2. Not based on humor or jokes, instead laughter as exercise 3. Patients in circle, fingertips on cheek, chest, abdomen 4. All make “hee hee” or “ha ha” sounds 5. Pats. say: first time laughed in months, mind off cancer

  10. More Research is Needed!

  11. Environmental Cues and Health: Ellen Langer’s Odd Study Subjects: 8 men in 70s. Procedure: Live in monastery converted to look like 1950’s apartment: Music, TV, books, magazines from 1950s—BUT NO MIRRORS Men told to live like they had 20 years earlier; be as active, self-reliant told to talk about 1950s events as if they were current events Outcome: Relative to 8 men in control condition (stayed in “normal” monastery) Better manual dexterity; sat taller; looked younger to “blind” judges AND Better Eye-sight! BBC Video: The Young Ones www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00ttrqq

  12. You Feel as Good as You Look? Hair and Blood Pressure Subjects: Women at salon for hair styling or hair coloring. Procedure: BP recorded, hair styled, complete “satisfaction” survey, BP recorded Outcome: Women who reported looking younger after hair style had lower BP

  13. Attitude About Activity Affects Benefits of Activity Crum & Langer, 2007 Work is exercise mindset Daily required work mindset Subjects: Maids at hotels told to regard work as exercise—more than Surgeon General recommends. Or not given this mindset Outcome: “Work is Exercise” maids lost weight, better Body Mass Index (BMI) better Hip to Waist ratio. Even though actual behavior did not change!

  14. Uniforms and Health Hsu, Chung, &Langer, 2010 Question: Does wearing a uniform improve health? If income low, uniform is related to worse health If income middle-range or higher, uniform  greater longevity Why? Clothing implies social status, and ability. Professional garb is an equalizer; Look the same at 70 as at 30, in terms of clothing. “Clothing makes the man (or woman)”

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