Let’s paint the scene. You’re driving to a party at a friend’s house for Christmas. Thinking back on the day, you sigh. You couldn’t finish that dumb report technically due at the end of the day and stubbed your toe on the little bump in the entrance to your apartment this morning. Your toe still hurts.
To lighten the mood, you turn on a podcast from one of your favorite comedians, and pretty soon small huffs turn into chuckling. Before you know it, you’re all out laughing when you pull up to the party.
Humor is a great way to cope with life’s stresses. In the book, The role of humor and the self1, people who respond to stressors humorously are “more likely to emerge from emotional duress and enjoy a restoration of positive mood states”. Other researchers found that study participants who recalled humorous times in their past had a higher pain tolerance threshold and a decrease in hormones associated with stress2. Ziv (1976)3 also saw adolescents who openly laughed at humorous stimuli scored higher on a creativity test than those who didn’t. Laughing will allow your mind to relax and explore those more “out there” thoughts which can lead to deeper and more engaging discussion with those around you.
Next time you’re in the car tapping anxiously on the steering wheel, pop on a podcast or remind yourself of the funny times in your past. You might just create another memory you can look back on and laugh.
- Lefcourt, H. M., & Davidson-Katz, K. (1991). The role of humor and the self. Handbook of social and clinical psychology: The health perspective, 41-56.
- Greenberg, M. J. (2024). Self-Guided Humorous Imagery Mitigates Pain and Anxiety: A Repeated Measures Pilot Study. Journal of Holistic Nursing, 42(2), 121-132.
- Ziv, A. (1976). Facilitating effects of humor on creativity. Journal of educational psychology, 68(3), 318.
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This is so true and what a great reminder. Thanks for the fun and levity you bring to all our lives!
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