"Learn to laugh at your troubles and you will never run out of things to laugh about."
If this saying is true, uncertainties, job stress, or life anxieties we should have much to laugh about. Perhaps it is time to celebrate our freedom to laugh this Independence Day.
Studies show that having a sense of humor can have positive effects on health. In fact, cardiologists, from the University of Maryland report that “Laughter, along with an active sense of humor, may help protect you against a heart attack.” This is a pretty significant finding given that heart disease is a number one killer in the U.S. Research also indicates that laughter provides an aerobic benefit, reduces depression, which is linked to overeating.
Award-winning humorous author, speaker, and humor and health columnist, Leigh Ann Jasheway-Bryant, MPH, writes in one of her columns “The Joke’s On You: Laugh Yourself Healthier” that laughter is important for those who have diabetes. Researchers from the University of Tsukuba, Japan found a link between laughter and blood sugar.
Adding laughter to the daily regime of good exercise and a healthy diet is something to be considered if you want to stay healthy, despite the stress.
Other benefits of humor in the workplace include
- It breaks down trust walls
- Connects people with others
- Humor fosters rapport and encourages collaboration
- It boosts brainpower and increases productivity
- It enables the ability to cope with difficulty
- Good clean humor improves the employee experience
So go ahead, chuckle or snicker. Or just let it all out with a loud, belly-busting, snorting, GUFFAW! Your heart and sanity will thank you.
Declarations of Independence – by Leigh Ann Jasheway-Bryant
This July, I declare my independence from:
- Whining
- Jumping to the wrong conclusions
- Creating worse case scenarios
- Putting words in people’s mouths
- Assuming any change is bad if I’m not in control of it
- Spending too much time with life-o-sucters
- Focusing on what’s bad in my life and what’s gone wrong with my day
- Scowling and rolling my eyes
- Using my cell phone in my car
- Living only a virtual life when there’s a real one right outside my door
- Raining on other people’s parades
- Not sharing my toys
- Thinking that “teamwork” is just a lot of people doing things my way
- Offering sarcasm as a service
- Blowing up like a firecracker over the smallest frustrations
Laughter is an effective remedy to stay less stressed in the workplace. The HR policy of the organization should have a clause that reserves some space for laughter. Since the tight deadlines and excessive work load adversely impacts in terms of workplace engagement and productivity, there needs to be some humor take place among the team members so keep them mentally fit. After all mental fitness is crucial to produce better output at work.