Very Funny, and Healthy
When was the last time you laughed until your stomach hurt? Did you know that laughter helps patients cope with illnesses and even speeds up recovery? A funny article that takes humor very seriously.
- רחלי רוזנברג
- פורסם י"ח חשון התשע"ד

#VALUE!
Everyone laughs and everyone loves to laugh - it's a known fact. In fact, humor and laughter are an inseparable part of our lives, right from the moment we enter the world. Laughter, as everyone knows, is a natural and primary trait that can be found in infants. Scientists researching the field have determined that laughter is a kind of reflex present in each of us. It is also known that infants around the world smile roughly at the same age and in the same way. Even infants born blind, who have never seen a smile, and deaf infants, who have never heard laughter - all smile and laugh.
However, have you ever wondered how our lives would look without jokes, laughter, and a bit of dark humor? And why do children laugh much more than adults?
What makes people laugh?
Have you ever thought about what makes you laugh and what humor actually is? Is humor a collection of situations that make us laugh heartily, or perhaps a series of jokes from a funny stand-up comedian? Is humor a genetic or acquired phenomenon? And overall, what causes people to laugh?
In fact, if you think deeply about it, you'll surely discover that what amuses one person does not necessarily amuse another. Indeed, researchers and philosophers who have tried to define humor have encountered many difficulties. "Although the phenomenon of humor has universal components shared by all humans, it also depends on environmental factors," smiles Dr. Chaya Osterwer, a humor researcher and psychology lecturer. "If, for example, you tell someone in a remote tribe in Africa a joke about the internet, it's likely he won't understand what you are talking about at all. Accordingly, humor depends on the society we live in, the culture, our personality, the situation we are in, and more."
Laughter - The Amazing Gift from Hashem
"Scientists and medical professionals agree on the fact that during laughter, chemicals called endorphins are released in our brain," claims Enzo Agada Goren, who runs laughter workshops across the country. "These endorphins act on the nervous system just like morphine - preventing pain, calming, and creating pleasant feelings throughout the body. Additionally, research has shown that laughter boosts our immune system, regulates blood pressure, and muscular system, helps us breathe properly, and mainly allows us to look at life from a positive and optimistic perspective."
Laughter and humor are, in my opinion, the most amazing gift given to us by Hashem," says Alon Shapira, a teacher of awareness who conducts laughter workshops. "Laughter, in fact, is like the shock absorbers in a car. If it didn't exist, we would feel every stone on the road, every bump and difficulty in life. If we did not use humor, all of our lives would be much more boring, sad, and also more difficult. For me, situations that in the past would immediately cause nerves, stress, and tension, I now handle more easily by using humor. As a child, I was considered someone who always walked around with a sour and angry face, a child who didn't know how to smile. Since I started using laughter and humor, I can definitely say there's been an enormous improvement in my quality of life.
Laughter, in my opinion, is a wonderful creation of Hashem, an efficient and inexpensive creation. It can be used at any hour of the day without limitation. It is a creation that helps us all improve our mood, relax, and then also become more patient and creative. The energy of laughter releases and influences both the body and soul alike. Laughter was given to us by Hashem for free, and since it can be given to others with no difficulty, the benefits are doubled and even multiplied."
Humor Has Many Functions
"Humor and laughter have many functions and roles," explains Dr. Osterwer. "Firstly, humor is a social tool that contributes to social processes like boosting group cohesion, reducing tensions, and creating a positive atmosphere among its members. In his book 'Humor and Personality', Prof. Avner Ziv writes that humor also allows us to momentarily free ourselves from the chains of rational thinking, enjoy the distortions of words and meanings, and gives us the opportunity to violate the laws of logic. Humor allows us intellectual freedom, enables us to think, enjoy absurd situations, and solve problems in a non-routine way.
Humor is also one of the human defense mechanisms, which helps to release feelings of stress and anxiety. When we laugh at scary things, we actually make them less frightening. For example, if we laugh with our child about the monster in the closet, it becomes far less scary to him. Even during the Holocaust, prisoners relied on black and macabre humor - humor that clearly helped them endure the ordeal and survive."
Laughter is Good for Health
Believe it or not, but in recent years, laughter has become very serious business, and if you happen to visit, heaven forbid, the corridors of hospitals in the country, don't be surprised if from one of the rooms a clown with a red nose, a funny hat, and huge shoes suddenly emerges. Yes, indeed, medical clowning has in recent years carved out a place of honor even among those serious and stern-faced doctors. Studies published in the field recently have proven that humor and laughter definitely help patients cope emotionally and mentally with illness and even contribute to hastened recovery.
One of the studies even described a group of patients who recovered following intensive viewing of comedic films that incited healthy laughter. It all started, they say, thanks to a special American doctor named Dr. Patch Adams, who initiated the concept of laughter and medical clowning as a treatment method. This doctor founded a hospital in Virginia, USA, that emphasizes the use of humor. Dr. Adams believed that the relationship between the patient and the doctor should be based on trust and friendship, and not on alienation and professionalism alone, with the doctor's goal being to encourage the patient to have a positive approach to life.
"It turns out that even primitive tribes living in remote places like the Amazon jungles recognize the healing importance of laughter," says Shapira. "Researchers and anthropologists who studied these tribes tell that when a member of the tribe is sick, they organize a laughter festival for him, specifically to boost his mood and improve his health."
Laughter - The Most Natural Thing in the World
In her book "Humor", the author Anat Zeidman notes that different children laugh at different things, according to the culture and environment they live in, as well as individual variables directly related to their character and personality. However, understanding humor, the ability to create it, and enjoyment from it requires a certain level of cognitive development. Infants who laugh and smile do exhibit enjoyment caused by external stimulation, but their response does not indicate enjoyment of humor. The first signs of humor appear only around the age of two. "In childhood, as in adulthood, humor can be seen as a way to cope with anything you wish to control," Dr. Osterwer concludes. "Before school years, for instance, children strive to master language, and therefore nonsensical words become, for them, a source of enjoyment. At ages 3-5, they already begin to tell jokes, and although they start to grasp the basic form of a joke, they still do not understand what makes a joke funny. Humor at this age allows children to explore emotionally charged topics and cope with them, so it's not surprising that silly humor is almost universal in this age group. Children aged 6-9, on the other hand, prefer humor that is on the edge of their cognitive understanding. Indeed, humor develops in children with the acquisition of new cognitive and linguistic abilities. Telling a joke has social significance and function for children, just as for adults. Even among children, humor holds great importance in social relationships and helps children gain acceptance and approval, or at least someone's attention."
"Researchers have checked and found that children up to approximately age 5 laugh between 300 to 400 times a day. In contrast, adults laugh no more than ten times a day," says Goren. "Unfortunately, our society, mainly adults, stifle healthy laughter. Someone who laughs just like that is considered impolite and immature, and that is the message we pass on to our children as they grow."
Don't Stop Laughing
"One of the most beautiful things related to laughter and humor is that you can't be angry and laugh simultaneously," says Dr. Osterwer. "Therefore, when you turn a quarrel into something funny, it simply dissipates the anger and nerves. This wonderful tool called 'humor' can help parents create better communication with our children and also help solve fights and disagreements in a more pleasant way. If parents are clever enough to use humor, they will look at the quarrels with their children from a different perspective and find within the not-so-pleasant situation the funny parts, making coping much easier. Although it definitely requires practice and self-work, if we succeed in turning the quarrel to its humorous side, we can move the other party and make them cooperate more easily. It's important to remember that humor is not a genetic trait but an acquired one. Therefore, when the parents have a well-developed sense of humor, it's likely their children will also use humor and rely on it to solve everyday problems."
Approach Life with Humor
"A sense of humor, although defined as a 'sense,' is actually not a sense at all," adds Goren. "No one is born with this sense, and therefore everyone can develop it. I, for instance, use a unique technique that incorporates laughter yoga. Using this technique, we actually 'train' our brain to release those same endorphins artificially. The brain does not distinguish between real laughter and artificial laughter, so it responds accordingly. At first, it may seem strange to roll with laughter without something funny happening, but after training and investing, you can definitely train the body to laugh.
Laughter in your children is the most natural and easy thing in the world," concludes Shapira, "but over the years, the amount of their laughter decreases, mainly because of us adults, so the hottest and most useful advice I can give you is not to stop laughing. If your children see you laughing and taking life with humor, it will be easier for them to take life lightly, and then your communication with them will also become easy and pleasant. As said, laughter is good for health." And let's end with a well-known saying - 'The most wasted day in our life is the day we didn't laugh.' So if you want to live at least to 120 years - never stop laughing.