Being one of the most common human behaviors, laughter is not regarded as something strange and worth special studies. It has become a fundamental part of everyday life and, therefore, people do not strive to understand the nature and the importance of this complex phenomenon to make use of it.
Laughter is defined as “a regular series of short, vowel like syllables that are usually transcribed in English as ‘ha-ha, ‘ho-ho’ or ‘he-he’” (Provine, 2000, p.1). The combinations of sounds that define laughter are recognized universally which contributes to uniting function of laughter. The latter is instinctive behavior programmed by people’s genes and not in the vocal community in which they grow up (Provine, 2000, p.1).
If we consider the process of taking pictures we will observe that photographs often encourage their models to smile as smiling and laughing makes them look better and healthier. In T. Eberhart’s research The Laugh Track to Health (2000) we find that children laugh 400 times a day and adults laugh 15 times a day (p. 15). The low level of adults’ average daily laughing if compared to children’s one is determined by the pressures and stresses adults encounter, because of the increased fastness of living people do not believe it necessary to find time for laughing and, what is more important, they do not see laughing necessary. If adults were aware of positive effects of laughter, the average of laughing would surge.
Roughly, laughter can be divided into three types: laughter of pleasure, laughter of social obligation and laughter as relief from tension (Akira, 2001, p. 53). Each of them operates in three domains affecting people’s psychology, health, and social behaviors.
Laughter of pleasure can be further classified into “laughter of fulfillment” that occurs when one achieves one’s goal, “laughter of superiority” which occurs when one wins other competitors, “laughter of discord” that takes place at some unexpected denouement, and “laughter of devaluation” that occurs when someone understands that he/she was mistaken in one’s seeing another person (Akira, 2001, p. 54). Laughter of social obligation falls into “laughter of harmony” which occurs when people greet each other, “defensive laughter” which people demonstrate in unpleasant situations to the befuddlement of foreigners, “offensive laughter” that implies any kind of derisive or scornful laughter and “laughter of negation of value” which can be demonstrated by example of someone who arrives late for an appointment (Akira, 2001, p. 55). As for laughter as relief from tension, it occurs when a person’s mental or physical tension has been relieved. The depth of laughter of this kind is determined by the degree of tension (Akira, 2001, p. 55). Below are the functions that different kinds of laughter can carry out.
First, laughter can reduce people’s embarrassments. When people are shy or panic they can hardly laugh. On the contrary, when they are released from tension or are relaxed they easily laugh and thus feel more comfortable. When people are embarrassed someone’s friendly smile may turn of much help. For example, when a person speaks at some presentation and suddenly makes a mistake, in most cases he or she becomes shy and nervous. As a result, he or she is not able to finish his/her presentation properly. However, if audiences give a smile to the person he or she smiles back and feels less nervous so that the situation comes to normal and the person does not have stress from the public speech. In this case laughter serves a bond to bring people together (Provine, 2000, p. 2) and both the speaker and the audience benefit from it.
Further, one cannot underestimate the power of laughter to reduce stress. Unfortunately, the latter is a typical characteristic of modern life; this occurrence presents a significant problem for humans because it causes various diseases affecting people’s mental and physical health. It causes strokes, heart attacks, cancer and even suicide (Akira, 2001, p. 53). Stress can even drive people to death but laughter can relieve stress and save people’s life. Stress is reduced through laughter because “the happy, positive frame of mind that accompanies laughter induces a state in which the parasympathetic nerves are allowed to call the shots speak and reducing the stress related hormones” (Akira, 2000, p. 53).
As sympathetic nerves of mentally stressed people are overly active, people develop hypertension. However, according to clinical data, when such people are suggested to smile at a happy scene, the parasympathetic nerves take over in the autonomic nervous system that results in lowered blood pressure. Thus, laughter induces a condition that is the opposite of what is induced by stress (Akira, 2000, p. 53).
Another advantage of laughter is that it surges oxygen for people’s body and affects hyperventilation (Adams). When oxygen increases, it makes human’s heart work faster and this means that the risk to have heart attack decreases. In Adams’ s Laughter is Good Medicine we read:
laughter increases oxygenation of your body at both the cellular and organ level. By laughing, you intake vast amounts of oxygen in huge gulps, and you repeat this process in a sort of temporary hyperventilation session. This is the natural result of laughter, and if you watch someone laugh, you will notice these biophysical effects (Adams).
Cousins (1989) states that ten seconds of happy laughter can make heart movement as fast as after ten minutes of running (p. 22). Also, powerful or joyful laughter arouses over 120 beats per minute (Provine, 2000, p. 193). Short time of laughing can affect people’s heart a lot better preventing heart attack. Eberhart (2000) states that a few seconds of laughter give a person the same cardiovascular workout as a minute of aerobic exercise (15).
In addition, laughter increases immune cells that can protect people’s body from virus. Doskoch in his Happily Ever Laughter (1996) says that laughter can provide immunity-boosting gamma to make new immune cells grow faster (p. 33). People cannot but benefit from this news as immune cells are really important for the strength of their bodies. Immune cells are able to cure people’s body quickly (Doskoch, 1996, p. 33), they can fight and kill infections like pneumonia and bronchitis (Eberhart, 2000, p. 15). When people laugh more often they become less amenable to various infections and feel safe. According to Adams, the chemicals created by engaging in laughter “boost immune system function; […] improve your outlook on life; […] tend to diminish any symptoms of depression; and because they help reduce stress, they will also prevent all of the various diseases and disorders that are caused by chronic stress.” (Adams)
Next, laughter is contagious. Laughter can spread whoever because laughing and smiling is hard to be concealed in front of people. Akira (2001) says, laughter is a “good humor cycle” (p. 50). For example if one person laughs, probably another person will laugh because, laughter is circulating all people. Psychological studies show that laughing and smiling are observed when people are emotionally hyper so, it makes others feel super (Akira, 2001, p. 50). The creators of TV comedies prerecord laugh before they show the comedy on TV and then it makes audiences laugh more joyfully (Akira, 2001, p. 52). Psychologists see the phenomenon of “contagious laughter” as a good explanation of the sense of harmony evoked by laughter. When a person smiles at someone he or she smiles back in reflex. This is fundamental to cordial human relations (Akira, 2001, p. 52).
Provine also talks about this tendency to respond to heard laughter and informs that this audience control technique was exploited by the Emperor Nero and by the producers of I Love Lucy. To convince the readers of the contagiousness of laughter the author states that “a 1962 epidemic in Tanganyika immobilized an entire school district for months” (Provine, 2000, p. 3).
Furthermore, laughter can develop people’s communication skills. People usually feel difficult to talk with someone they meet first time. When people meet new people, they feel a bit awkward, but if one person laughs, every one feels better and is more willing and ready to start to talk. Women are more likely to laugh around men strangers but men are more likely to laugh with their friends. Male and female’s laughing behaviors differ but in both cases laughter can help people to learn new communication skills. Females laugh more with males than when they laugh with representatives of the same sex. When women laugh with men, men will feel less shy and nervous, thus they can easier communicate with women and make new relationships with them (Small, 2000, p. 24-25).
Laughter can help people improve quality of social interaction. Akira (2001) states that “Facial expressions are a very prominent factor in human communication.” (p. 52) The author speaks of laughter as of social obligation and admits its importance in building people’s relationships. The thing is that often laughter can tell much more than words, it serves a kind of lubricant in society (Akira, 2001, p.52). Still, one should understand that laughter can be used in various purposes; it can both help to establish good relationships or can serve an offensive weapon. Provine states that laughter can serve “a weapon to humiliate and ostracize its victims”, moreover, despots feared the power of laughter and repressed it savagely. Plato’s idea was that undisciplined laughter could threaten the state (Provine, 2000, p. 2).
Everything mentioned above considered, I conclude that laughter is a hidden power that helps people infinitely. Potentially, laughter has the power to upgrade people’s emotions, improve their health, and positively impact social behaviors. Laughter fills people’s lives with positive emotions. It develops people’s body to provide immune cells to protect it from infections. In addition, laughter can hitch among people and help them make new relationships. I would like to finish with Adams’ words:
what if you can’t find anything to laugh about? Rent some funny movies. Join a comedy improv class. Imagine all your older friends wearing no clothes. Buy some silly finger puppets and invent a funny skit. Learn from children: they still know how to play and laugh. Find a way to get laughter into your life, even if it means being a little weird (Adams).
In this seeming oddity of the nature of laugh a lot of health benefits are rooted. A man’s task is not to resist the hidden power of laugh and make use of it for one’s own benefit.
References
Adams, M. (2005). Laughter is good medicine for reducing stress, enhancing brain chemistry. 2008. Web.
Akira, S. (2001). Laughter-the perfect prescription. Japan Quarterly, 48 (1), 50-57.
Cousins, N. (1989). Proving the power of laughter. Minding Your Health, 23 (10).
Doskoch, P. (1996). Happily ever laughter. Psychology Today, 29 (4), 32-35.
Eberhart, T. (2000). The laugh track to health. Parenting, 14 (9A), 15-16.
Provine, R, R. (2000). Laughter: A scientific investigation. New York: Penguin Putnam Inc.
Small, M, F. (2000). More than the best medicine. Scientific American, 283 (2).