Find a reason to laugh

We have all heard people say, “laughter is the best medicine.” And it truly is. Humour is excellent emotional caffeine. When you experience that bit of joy, it blocks whatever bad feeling you may have had.

In a 2010 study in the Journal of Aging Research, one group of senior citizens received “humour therapy” – meaning that they received daily jokes, laughter exercises and funny stories for eight weeks. A second group did not. When the study began, both groups reported similar happiness levels. At the end of the experiment, the people in the first group reported feeling 42 percent happier than they did at the beginning. They also experienced a decrease in pain and loneliness.

It appears that the type of humour you consume and share also matters. Humour, when it does not belittle others, or when it makes you laugh at your circumstances, is associated with increased self-esteem, optimism and life satisfaction and a decrease in depression, anxiety and stress. Humour that attacks others, follows the exact opposite pattern: while it can feel satisfying in the moment, it does not block negative feelings (so it is more like your decaf coffee).

A really good strategy to employ either at work or at home, is to finish up a meeting or dinner conversation, sharing one thing that made you laugh today. If we can deliberately cultivate positive emotion, it not only increases our own personal joy, but it makes us more creative, more productive and more attractive to be around.