What's So Funny?

By H. Bernard Wechsler

Why Stupid Jokes are Healthy and Add to Your Longevity

1. Donald Duck walks into the CVS drug store on 86th street and Amsterdam Avenue.

He quacks at the clerk - "I need an allergy spray to stop my sneezing."

The druggist puts the medicine in a bag and says, "$4.50 with city sales tax."

Donald quacks, "Oh, I forgot my Debit Card, please put in on my BILL!"

Repeat after me - "Ha-Ha-Ha! Ho-Ho-Ho! Hee-Hee-Hee!"

2. The young lawyer dialed 911, the Emergency Police number.

"My wife is unconscious and I think she is dead."

"First, be calm and follow my orders. Go back to her body and be sure she is dead."

The 911 officer hears a gun shot.

"Okay, said the lawyer, what do I do next?"

Repeat after me - "Ha-Ha-Ha! Ho-Ho-Ho! Hee-Hee-Hee!"

3. Desk signs: "Old accountants never die - they just lose their balance!"

"Old lawyers never die - they just lose their appeal!"

"Old drummers never die - they just beat-their-brains-out!"

Repeat after me - "Ha-Ha-Ha! Ho-Ho-Ho! Hee, Hee, Hee!"

What's So Funny

Laughing, even at jokes that six-year olds find stupid, acts like an antidepressant and anxiety-reducer. How? A chemical Insulin-like growth factor in our Right-Brain "gets" the joke. Google: professor Jeffrery Burgdorf, Northwestern University.

Dr. Margret Stuber, UCLA Medical School finds laughing, giggling and smiling is a distraction from life's seriousness and improves our mood. It causes us to go to a Positive Emotional Response, and cancels automatic negative thoughts.

Inquiring Minds want to know what structures in the brain are involved in "Ha-Ha-Ha, Ho-Ho-Ho, and Hee-Hee-Hee?"

Look at the Limbic System of the brain, specifically our Prefrontal Cortex, Amygdala, Hippocampus, and Hypothalamus. Laughing is an instinctual behavior programmed by our genes. But, we can veto the laughing neuronal circuit when we decide it is wrong, dangerous or inappropriate.

Solitude

We smile and laugh twenty-times more when we are around other clowns than in isolation. See, the laughing button is pressed when we are socializing. The cause is other folks, not the bad joke.

We want to let the joke-teller know we are in a friendly mood. Laughing indicates to the joker we are playing along and not going to be aggressive. Playing the audience means we are Bonding (connecting, uniting) with others.

The opposite - not laughing or smiling is called Distancing. It is like throwing grandma under the wheels of the bus because she is too old.

Cardiovascular

A Stanford University researcher, Dr. William Fry says laughing makes our brain's PFC (PreFrontal Cortex) release Endorphins (En-dogenous + Morphine. These Peptides block the pain sensation and resemble opioids (opium-like).

So What

Inquiring Minds: Endorphins make us feel happy and order the body to release Nitric Oxide, which relaxes and dilates (widens) blood vessels. Wait. Both heart attacks and strokes occur because of Blood Clots.

A few minutes of daily laughter helps prevent the formation of these clots. It lays down a safety net for our cardiovascular system for health and long-life.

Who Cares

Listen to this and see if you care. Research on laughing at minor puns or witticisms by the interviewer at job interviews increases hiring success. "He laughed at my jokes, I like him already."

The result: "You're hired!" Google: Dr. Philip Glenn, Emerson College

Fight or-Flight

Our powerful Fight-or-Flight System is triggered by hearty laughter. It raises our heart rate and blood pressure. Result, our immune system is improved and stress and anxiety is reduced.

Quick Story: surgery patients who watched comedy videos and not dramas, required less aspirins and tranquilizers. Google: James Rotton, researcher at Florida International University. It lulls our nonconscious mind to give up stress.

Laff Tracks

Why do TV shows use phony laff tracks that a six-year old knows is not real. Answer: our nonconscious mind does not know the difference between a real audience laughing and virtual (make-believe) giggles. Our brain goes along with the pretend and relaxes deeper with each dopey joke.

Endwords

Babies start smiling and submitting a few laughs to parents from their third-week of life. By age two-months babies can laugh effortlessly and often.

The syllables - "Ha-Ha-Ha! - Ho-Ho-Ho! Hee-Hee-Hee!" are associated in our brain through conditioning. When we hear them - as silly as it sounds -we want to laugh or at least smile and giggle.

Bad joke? If we hear or think those three magic syllables, we're hooked to laugh. So what? If you decide to improve your health and longevity, take two-minutes daily to artificially (pretend) smile and laugh. Do the "Ho! -Ha! -Hee!" make-believe, and you trigger real, actual laughter within 30 seconds.

Your nonconscious mind cannot tell the difference between make-believe laughing and real guffaws. It turns on our limbic system laugh track circuit. Want to stay healthy by avoiding psychosomatic illness? Prime-Your-Pump with "Ha-Ha-Ha! Ho-Ho-Ho! Hee-Hee-Hee!" for just two-minutes daily.

See ya, ---Would you own a competitive advantage by reading and remembering three (3) books, articles and reports, while your peers can hardly finish one?

About this Author

Author of Speed Learning for Professionals, published by Barron's; partner of Evelyn Wood, creator of speed reading, graduating two million, including the White House staffs of four U.S. Presidents: Kennedy-Johnson-Nixon-Carter

Interviewed by the Wall Street Journal and fortune Magazine for major articles.

http://www.speedlearning.org
hbw@speedlearning.org

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