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by Donald B. Ardell, Ph. D.
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Wellness in the Headlines
(Don's Report to the World)

Humor As A Tool for Health Professionals

Tuesday October 10, 2000

Ever heard of humor implants? Reform school for the humor impaired? Prescriptions for a dose of belly laughter?

These have not come about, just yet, but more than a few nurses, hospitals administrators, health educators, doctors and other health professionals ARE promoting humor. Why? Because they have found it is good for patients, good for their institutions and good for them! In fact, humor supplements are suspected of speeding recovery from all kinds of nasty conditions AND having a lot of benefits even when there is nothing whatsoever wrong with you!

We live in the Information Age, but the "Humor Era" might be just around the corner and health professionals may be the ones who lead the way! You may be interested in a few facts about the phenomenon of humor, what it is, how it works, what is known about it and why it might be much better for you and your patients than you ever suspected. If I had known about the benefits of humor when I was a kid, I might have been able to talk my teachers out of making me stay after school all those afternoons for joking around during classes!

For many people, humor and play are perceived as luxuries, as optional diversions after the job is done, the bills are paid, the cat is outside and the kids are in bed. Bad plan -- a fun outlook is too significant to be attended to only in your spare time, for in today's health care system, there is no spare time.

You must make time for the things that really count -- and humor is one of them! Thinking otherwise, it seems, could be detrimental to you. The Surgeon General needs to send out a warning that being a sourpuss can be hazardous to your health! Humor and play are as essential as clean air, exercise, stress management, a sense of purpose and pure thoughts.

Well, maybe not pure thoughts -- those are hard to come by and not always so easy to define or agree upon. However, a cheerful outlook and a ready sense of humor certainly are not optional if you want to enjoy your health, your work, your patients and the people around you, not to mention your job! As much as any new drug, treatment protocol or other medical intervention, the healing and staying-well, immunological benefits of humor are hot issues in health research.

What's more, a number of major companies are exploring the link between "lightening up" the atmosphere of the workplace and increased creativity and work efficiency. Did you know the Wall Street Journal recently published ("Corporate Drones Go Off to Improv Class," 6/15/99, p. B1,20) an account of how and why leading companies are benefiting from sending their executives to humor training comedy workshops? Check it out!

Basically, one lesson in all this is that if you could assemble the elements of humor and make it available in pill form, you could make a killing selling a few bottles of the stuff on Wall Street or to major medical centers! Another nice thing about this humor remedy is that it seems to have no adverse side-affects! You won't overdose swallowing too many belly laughs.

Sometimes subsumed under the heading of mind/body investigations, sometimes associated with psychoneuroimmunology (PSI), the evidence for the positive power of humor/play/and a general "lightening up" approach to health and human performance is growing by the day. At hospitals, nursing homes, doctors offices and work sites across America, humor and play initiatives are linked with faster recovery, raised morale and better self-managed teams, as well as improved creativity and a more promising climate for productivity and profit. In other words, this funny business IS serious! Tomorrow I'll tell you more about this. Until then, have some fun.

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