Did you know that laughter is good for you? According to medical sources, laughter increases oxygen intake, which helps your heart, lungs, and muscles. It also releases natural painkillers and endorphins, which help relieve stress. It helps battle the symptoms of depression and anxiety. Laughter can put you in a good mood and make you feel more relaxed and happier. Laughter is a miracle drug!
I love to laugh. I like to find humor in all kinds of situations. My family has a constant string of jokes which we echo, repeat, and revive. Sometimes we never deliver the punchline, because everyone already knows where it’s going. We enjoy laughing together.
That's Something To Laugh About!
It’s interesting that some people’s sense of humor is different than others. Something that makes you laugh might not tickle my funny bone at all. There are several times that I found myself laughing hysterically, with no one else joining in. I have become quite accustomed to seeing the look that people give me when they have no idea what is so funny. The What is Wrong With You? look.
When I was in graduate school, I was in one class which was packed with students. I knew most of the students in class, but not very well. The professor was a goofy fellow with several idiosyncrasies. He was the kind of professor that made us roll our eyes when he got going on one of his tangents. One time, I don’t remember exactly what he did, or what he said, but it was bona fide wacky, at least, according to me. I started laughing right away. Seeing that I was laughing, he started trying to undo whatever he had just done, to make the evidence vanish, which made me laugh even harder and louder. Seconds ticked away, then minutes, and still, I laughed. He stood in front of the class uncertain what to do—my laughter was too loud for him to continue lecturing. I could see every person in the class, turned around in their desks, staring at me, trying to figure out what was so funny. Still, the professor stood uncomfortably, watching me. I could not get myself under control. I finally grabbed all my books together and dashed out of the room, laughing in the hallway as I went. Later on, when asked what I was laughing at, I just shook my head and said, “I don’t know, I think he’s just a funny guy.”
A few years ago, my kids were teenagers and a little younger. I had been noticing that it was getting harder for me to read, so I realized that I should look into getting bifocals. But, on this particular day, I had not gotten them yet. We sat in church, me, Rob, and the kids. When it was time for everyone to sing, we stood and Rob held the hymnbook. I leaned over to read along with the lyrics of the hymn, squinting to bring them into focus, singing with everyone else. I don’t know what happened in my brain, but, instead of reading the line “I’d rather have Jesus than men’s applause”, I read “I’d rather have Jesus than Mom’s Applesauce.” Wait, what? Mom’s Applesauce? I stopped myself just before singing it. And then I started to laugh.
The song ended, everyone sat down, and I continued to laugh. All of my companions sitting on the church pew cut sideways eyes at me to see what I was doing. I stifled the laugh as much as I could, which made my shoulders shake up and down. For the rest of the church service, I struggled to contain my laughter. I stared hard at the carpet. As soon as I felt that I was under control, I looked back up, and then sputtered out another laugh, which I quickly disguised as a cough. I had to continue staring down at my lap, biting the inside of my cheeks, concentrating on being calm. For some reason, I felt like it would be more disruptive for me to get up and leave, crawling over people to get out of the pew, trying to contain my laughter as I walked out of the church. So, instead, I sat there willing myself to get things under control, but doing a very poor job of it. I fought the laughter as hard as I could. When the service finally ended, my family peppered me with questions, wondering what in the world had gotten into me. They all concluded that I had completely over-reacted to something that wasn’t very funny.
Another time, I stumbled across a story that set me off again. I read about a British government agency that was about to launch a state-of-the-art $300 million research vessel for polar exploration. In a show of good faith, they conducted an online poll to give Brits and others the opportunity to name the impressive ship. There were a number of dignified suggestions which received a modest number of votes from the public. The name which was leading the pack, by over a hundred thousands votes, was Boaty McBoatface, a name that someone had submitted as a joke. I could not contain myself. I thought that was the funniest thing I had ever read, and I immediately went online to cast my vote, as well. I tried to tell my family about the story, but I was laughing so hard, I could not form words. Tears were streaming down my face, and I was doubled over with laughter. I couldn’t even stand up. I don’t know why that struck me so—I guess I was thinking about the serious, important work that the research ship, with all of its advance science, would do. Giving it a silly name--that’s funny. Well, the stuffy British establishment amended their poll, saying that they never agreed to use the winning name, they were just asking for suggestions. They christened the ship RRS Sir David Attenborough, which is a worthy name, in celebration of an esteemed figure in the scientific community. But, to their credit, the powers that be eventually did use the name Boaty McBoatface by assigning it to the autonomous submarine vessel which rides along on the ship to be deployed for data collection. See, they had a sense of humor, after all.
When I was a kid, my absolute favorite joke was a Knock-Knock joke. I’d say “This is a Knock-Knock joke. You start it.” So, the person would say “Knock-Knock”, and I would say “Who’s There?”, and the person would look at me, confused, wondering where the joke was supposed to go next—what should he or she say? I was like, “Ha, Ha, Gotcha, the joke’s on you!”
Sometimes, we just need a good laugh. If laughter were predictable, I guess, it wouldn’t be as funny. If we popped a laughter pill every day, it just wouldn’t be the same. Sometimes, tried and true jokes tickle our funny bones. But, I think it’s the spontaneous nature of being caught off guard that cracks us up the most. Humor is subjective. What makes you laugh might not be funny to me. But we can all find something that makes us laugh. And we should.
Because laughter really is the best medicine.