Humour and Laughter
You have
probably heard that “Laughter is the best medicine” and that “He who laughs,
lasts.” Well, those sayings are true! Humor
and the subsequent laughter have many therapeutic effects on the body. Laughing
not only improves your mood and emotional state, it also has many social
and physical health benefits. Most of us don’t take humor
seriously enough. We need to learn to use it effectively and make it part of our
life.
@ Physical Benefits of Laughter
• Improves
cardiovascular health
• Improves
respiration
• Loweres blood pressure
• Reduces pain
• Enhances
immune system
• Decreases
“stress” hormones
• Muscle
relaxation
Mental Benefits of Laughter
• Improves
brain functions
• Improves
disposition
• Releases
pent-up feelings of anger and frustration
• Reduces
tension
• Lowers
anxiety
• Increases
energy
• Enhances
creativity
Social Benefits of Laughter
• Makes us
feel good
• Helps
avoid loneliness
• Changes
behaviour
• Enhances
ability to affiliate or connect with others
Adding Humor
to Your Life
It’s important to seek out and take advantage of opportunities to laugh
every day. Below are some suggestions for adding humor
to your life:
v
Remind
yourself to have fun: Life shouldn’t be boring, it should be fun! For
example, tell funny stories about yourself and let your children and
grandchildren laugh with you.
v
Hang
around with people who make you laugh: Spend time with those who help you
see the bright side of life, and when possible, avoid those people who are
negative.
v
Look
for humor everyday: Start looking for funny
things. Look for the absurd, silly, incongruous activities that go on around
you each day and laugh at them.
v
Put humor into your surroundings: Do you have a funny
saying you like? Write it down and put in on the refrigerator. Try buying a
daily calendar with a new joke each morning. Is there an object, like a stuffed
animal, that always makes you smile? Put it in your living room where you will
see it often.
v
Take a
“fun break” every day to laugh: Schedule it in if necessary. Read jokes.
Start a humor notebook. Listen to a funny tape. Watch
a comedy like I Love Lucy.
v
Figure
out what makes you laugh, then do it.
Adapted from:
LaVona Traywick. ‘Humor, Laughter, and
Aging’.
COMPREHENSION
1. These are some of the
benefits of humour that are taken from the text. Read the text again and put
them in the right column.
Reduces tension, Muscle relaxation, Enhanced
immune system, Increases energy, Makes us feel good, Helps avoid loneliness, Changes behaviour, Reduced pain, Enhances
creativity, Lowered blood pressure.
Social Benefits of Laughter |
Mental
Benefits of Laughter |
Physical Benefits of Laughter |
...…………………………….. ……………………………….. ……………………………….. ……………………………….. ……………………………….. |
...…………………………….. ……………………………….. ……………………………….. ……………………………….. ……………………………….. |
...…………………………….. ……………………………….. ……………………………….. ……………………………….. ……………………………….. |
2. Answer the following questions in your
own words as far as possible.
a. What does laughing do to our mood and
emotional state?
……………………………………………………………………………
b. In your opinion, what are the two most important suggestions for adding humour to
your life?
……………………………………………………………………………
3.
Match the words with their definitions
Word |
|
Definition/ Meaning |
1)
Therapeutic |
a)
To make something better. |
|
2)
Improve |
b)
Helping to treat or cure illness. |
|
3)
Respiration |
c)
Pent up emotions are strong
feelings, for example anger, that you do not express so that they gradually
become more difficult to control. |
|
4)
Pent-up |
d)
An annoyed or impatient feeling
that you get when you are prevented from doing what you want. |
|
5)
Frustration |
e)
The process of breathing air in
and out. |
|
6)
Affiliate |
f)
To have a connection with or
support a larger organization or group. |
|
7)
Relaxation |
g)
Strange because of being very
different to other things which happen or exist in the same situation= ODD. |
|
8)
Incongruous |
h)
An activity or situation that
makes it possible for you to rest and enjoy yourself. |
|
9)
Comedy |
i)
A type of entertainment intended
to make people laugh. |
4. Find in the text the
antonyms of the following words
a.
Higher #…………………….……………
b.
Disadvantage #…………………….……………
c.
Positive #…………………….……………
5.
What do the underlined words in the text refer to?
a.
Those sayings ( paragraph 1) :…………………….……………
b.
It ( paragraph 1) :…………………….……………