MEDICAL SURFARI: TOUCHING FUNNY BONE HELPS ONE BONE UP ON HEALTH

Cynics, scholars, comedians, candidates, reporters, writers, philosophers and just about everyone else from Plato and Groucho has used humor at one time or another. Every wit, wag, pundit, punster, and one-liner champion has tried his hand at humor.

Humor is being applied in business to reduce stress and prevent burnout.

More and more successful companies are discovering the value of using humor in all aspects of business to make achieving their goals fun.

It has been used for marketing, teamb-building and improving customer relations, and employers have used it to promote collegiality in the workplace.

Why is humor used in staff meetings, newsletters, sales meetings, board meetings, memos, bulletin boards, waiting rooms, break rooms, and even bathrooms?

The average adult laughs 17 times a day, and although this may seem to be a second nature type of response, it is actually a complex "learned" response that involves many of the same skills used in solving problems.

Careful measurements of the electrical activity within the brain have shown a similarity between the two processes.

Health professionals are now recognizing the positive psychological and emotional effects of humor. Humor is a powerful technique for eliminating unhealthy feelings.

Everyone has experienced the pleasurable feeling and lightness that follows deep belly laughter. When we experience the emotional effects of deep laughter, anxiety, depression, and anger are transiently reduced or eliminated.

Some have described laughter as "jogging of the internal organs." Many patients, suffering from debilitating, painful disease, have attested to getting several minutes of relief from deep belly laughter.

So, if you are a health professional, use humor liberally, as it is inexpensive, relatively risk-free, and it may even serve as a coping tool for you in some uncomfortable situations. If you are a patient or family member, and you could use a bit of relief, be receptive.

Choose to laugh.

Hardness yields to laughter, and Irritation and resentment slips away.

Relaxation ensues and focuses attention.

Improved attention Expands awareness.

Awareness promotes insight.

Insight improves understanding.

Understanding invites peace.

Peace brings happiness.

Happiness is a choice And a virtue too.

World Wide Web Resources

HumorMatters Home Page

www.humormatters.com/

This Web site is dedicated to the power and practice of positive therapeutic humor. You will learn about humor and its relationship to health and healing. Its goal is to educate, inform and help you network and locate resources.

Dr Humor

www.drhumor.com/

From the National Association of Humor Impaired, this Web site provides information through public speaking and print media of the value and benefits of humor to improve the quality of life for all of us. It will help to identify those who may be "humor impaired" and has unique products available to help prevent a humor-impairment epidemic.

American Association for Therapeutic Humor

www.aath.org

This site is committed to advancing our knowledge and understanding of humor and laughter as it relates to healing and well-being.