Title: Health%20and%20Humor
1Health and Humor
- AATH Association of Applied and Therapeutic
HumorTheir 2016 Annual Meeting will be in Mesa,
Arizona
By Alleen Nilsen and Don Nilsen
2The Nilsens at the 2014 AATH ConferenceRed
Skelton Museum in Vincennes, Indiana
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5The Bible tells us A merry heart doeth good
like a medicine but a broken spirit drieth the
bones.
- Modern writers who have explored the idea include
- Of course this picture of our laughing grandson
makes us want to believe that laughter is good
for people.
- Patch Adams
- Regina Barecca
- Rod Martin
- Mary Kay Morrison
- Paul McGhee
- Norman Cousins
- William Fry
- Vera Robinson
- Patty Wooten
6Patty Wooten as Nancy Nurse
http//www.jesthealth.com
7Rod Martin, and his colleagues in Canada have
found that
- Affiliative and self-enhancing humor is
potentially beneficial. - Aggressive and self-defeating humor is
potentially detrimental. - Anyone doing research with humor and health needs
to be aware of these differences.
8Martin also works with A State-and- Trait
Cheerfulness Inventory.
- It defines a sense of humor as an emotional
temperament (i.e., the tendency to be habitually
cheerful and playful), which is consistent with
the way humor is most often conceptualized in the
humor and health literature. - However, Martin warns against simplistic,
exaggerated, and unsubstantiated research. He
is especially critical of methodological
weaknesses in the research on humor and the
immune system.
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10A Sense of Humor Questionnaire was administered
to all 65,000 adults in one county in Norway
- Researchers were searching for correlations were
between a persons sense of humor and illness
symptoms such as nausea, diarrhea, pounding
heart, muscular-skeletal pain, blood pressure,
overall health satisfaction, and obesity. - After controlling for age, no meaningful
relationships were found between sense of humor
and other illness symptoms.
11- The researchers concluded that although
high-humor individuals do not seem to have
objectively better health, they are somewhat more
subjectively satisfied with their health. - Martin concluded that despite reports in the
popular media, the research findings on health
benefits of humor and laughter were not as
strong, consistent or unambiguous as is commonly
believed.
12Paul McGhee, in his The Laughter Remedy Health,
Healing, and the Amuse System, takes these kinds
of criticism into his book but nevertheless
advises
- Become more playful surround yourself with
humor you enjoy. Begin telling jokes and funny
stories. And laugh at yourself.
13Definition of calories
14Two Answers to the Calories Problem
Theyre too beautiful to eat.
15John Morreall writes about the power of hearty
laughter in the way that it . . .
16- increases blood circulation,
- ventilates the lungs,
- increases oxygen intake,
- reduces water vapor and carbon dioxide in the
lungs, - and decreases the risk of pulmonary infection.
- But Rod Martin cautions that hearty laughter may
also have deleterious effects because while
extroverts tend to laugh more, they also are
likely to drink alcohol, to smoke cigarettes, and
to be obese.
17John Morreall, in his writing explains that the
relief theory has two forms. Humor can be a
relief from pre-existing nervous energy as when
rambunctious kids are forced to sit quietly for a
long time. Once the pressure is off, they often
resort to horseplay, buffoonery, and laughter.
- The second kind is the set-up for a joke or
cartoon that may require concentration, attention
to detail, and emotional engagement. The punch
line is a release of either type of pent-up
energy. For an example he gives - I had written to Aunt Maud
- Who was on a trip abroad
- Then I heard shed died of cramp,
- Just too late to save the stamp.
18Conundrums
19Other Research Findings
- Humorous laughter lowers the level of stress
hormones (epinephrine, cortisol, dopac, and
growth hormone). - In the brain, catecholamines are secreted, which
may increase alertness, reduce inflammation, and
trigger the release of endorphins, the brains
natural opiates. - This may account for the reduction of pain as
reported by researchers including Norman Cousins
and Ofra Nevo, who does research in Israel.
20Ironic Truths
21If Humor Is So Good For Us, Where Can We Find It?
- One place is at Alcoholics Anonymous meetings
where humor helps transcend the moment and attain
a broader perspective. - One member told how even when she was drunk or
hung over, she tried to be what society expected
her to be. She volunteered to help with her
sons Cub Scout troop on a day they were sewing
moccasins. - Of course she got a laugh when she reported, I
remember sewing it, honest-to-God I can still
feel it, onto my finger.
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23Clowns have a long history dating from the 15th
and 16th centuries and the Italian commedia
dellarte.
24All Cultures Have Clowns
- It takes nothing more than a prop of some kind to
turn ordinary people into clowns.
- More formal clowns include circus performers and
character clowns.
- Charlie Chaplin was world-famous because he did
not rely on language. - Sports mascots are also clowns as they mime in
huge arenas, wear over-sized costumes, do
acrobatics, and use huge props.
25 Clowns Loved by Our Grandparents
- Emmett Kelly was so skilled at pantomiming the
role of Weary Willie that Ringling Brothers
allowed him to remain in the circus arena for the
whole performance. He would sweep a circle of
light into smaller and smaller circles and then
chase it under a rug or into a trash can. - Harpo Marx was mute and communicated by honks,
whistles, and pantomime. He wore a fright wig
and an overcoat with enormous inside pockets from
which he pulled out ice cream cones, cups of
coffee, and once in a while, a blowtorch.
26Canadian Association of Therapeutic Clowns
- http//www.therapeuticclowns.ca/index.html
27Patch Adams is the most famous American supporter
of humor and health.
28Clowns Have a Code of Conduct
- While in character, clowns should not be seen
doing normal things like shopping or eating. - They should not appear in public wearing only
part of their costume. - When at sports events or community celebrations,
they should be willing to fill in dead time,
provide photo opportunities, give young children
someone to relate to, and remember that their job
is bringing happiness.
29Clowns Protested When . . .
- Bob Dole referred to President Clinton as Bozo.
Larry Harmon, the creator of Bozo protested
having his characters name used as an insult. - One Halloween, a Paulsboro, New Jersey police
officer dressed as a clown managed to arrest 12
individuals wanted for routine traffic offenses.
- He bragged that the costume got him inside homes
where if he had come in his uniform and asked for
someone by name, he would have most likely been
told, He isnt here.
30There is no end to the types of clowns now being
developed.
- These live clowns at Disney World are plants.
- The newest clowns are connected to hospitals.
- In more than 100 U. S. hospitals, clowns either
roam the halls pushing humor carts, giving out
smiley faces, joke books, and clown dolls, or
managing full scale humor rooms.
31The Humor in Hospitals is usually provided by
nurses rather than doctors.
- This might be because nurses work more closely
with patients than do doctors so they get to know
them better. - Also nurses are often caught in the middle of a
hierarchy and gain power by joking and clowning
around with patients, often at the expense of the
doctors.
322012-2013 Teddy Bear Toss for 12,947 Kids at
Penn State Hersheys Childrens Hospital
- http//www.youtube.com/watch?vP4ENgOxVZm0
33Norman Cousins
34- In 1979, Norman Cousins, editor of the Saturday
Review of Literature, published his best-selling
Anatomy of an Illness. -
- He had a serious collagen disease that affected
the connective tissue of his spine and joints.
The disease was life-threatening, his pain was
intense, and the doctors gave him little hope for
a full recovery. - He was frustrated by the hospital routines and
his slow progress, so he checked himself out of
the hospital and into a nearby hotel.
35- Because of his celebrity status, the doctors
visited him and delivered his medication, while
he used humor-intervention therapy. He read
humorous books, and watched funny movies, and
tapes of TVs Candid Camera. - He found that the more he laughed, the longer his
body was without pain. - He persuasively made the case that if it is
possible to have a psychosomatic illness, then it
is also possible to have a psychosomatic
wellness.
36- In 1971, Dr. WILLIAM FRY at Stanford Universitys
Medical School began empirical studies on the
effects of humor and laughter. He went beyond
anecdotal stories by objectively testing and
measuring physical responses to humor. - He found that the chemical compositions of tears
are different when a person is laughing as
compared to crying. - Dr. Fry showed that peoples bodies are tense
when listening to a joke, but relaxed at the end.
- He compared the bodys production of dopamine
when laughing to a runners high, which is why he
calls laughter Internal Jogging.
37- William Fry says that hearty laughter is a kind
of internal jogging - Here is an exercise that you might want to
consider ?
38VERA ROBINSON, a Nurse Educator, published an
influential book Humor and the Health Professions
in 1977.
39American Association of Therapeutic HumorDoug
Fletcher Lifetime Achievement Award Winners
- http//www.aath.org/lifetime-awards
40We know that humor is good for people, but we
also want to offer some warnings
- People have individualized senses of humor. What
makes one person laugh might annoy or insult
someone else. - Even if its true that people with a good sense
of humor live longer it might be that people who
are healthy and successful have more reason to be
cheerful. - Also pleasant patients may receive better health
care than do grumpy and hostile patients.
41- While hearty laughter pumps adrenalin and other
powerful chemicals into peoples blood streams,
other things have the same effect on health and
healing e.g. visits from pets, family members,
close friends, and clergy, etc. - If laughter enhances the immune system, then what
- what about implant patients. A stronger
immune - system might cause them to reject their
implants. - At the least, we will go along with the scholar
who - compared using humor to changing a babys
diaper. It doesnt permanently solve any
problems, but it makes things more acceptable for
a while.
42In conclusion, here is a picture that made us
laugh, not because Bruce Jenner wanted to be a
woman but because he thinks this is how
65-year-old women look.
43In Conclusion, Here is SomeHospital Humor at
Christmas
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46- Thanksgiving Dinner Diets
- http//www.youtube.com/embed/TX9EAavxrus