Ever Been to a Laughter Class to Relieve Stress?

Laughter class teaches stress relief techniques

By Christin Kloski

News Writer

Published: Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Updated: Wednesday, February 22, 2012 00:02

If you heard a lot of chuckles emanating from Stapleton Lounge on Tuesday night, don't be alarmed. Certified laughter leader Mary Labuzienski provided an optimistic guide to college life as part of Saint Mary's "Love Your Body Week."

Labuzienski presented simple ways to be humorous in times of stress in the talk "Love my body? What's not to love!" A clinical exercise physiologist, Labuzienski trains people of all ages to release stress in their daily lives.

To live healthy lives, Labuzienski said students need to laugh, smile, celebrate and play.
"Laugh and make others laugh," she said. "You have to make it happen."

Labuzienski said laughter is a critical component in performing everyday tasks well.

"Laughter is a positive emotion that helps us to move forward," she said. "It allows us to act. We become paralyzed when we are too stressed."

Labuzienski said stress weakens the physical and emotional aspects of the mind and body. She said positive emotions allow people to take stress away from the body.

"Laughter is the shortcut to stress resistance," she said.

For college students, a stress-free lifestyle seems near impossible, Labuzienski said. However, she said social environments full of laughter and positivity can release the negative energy anxiety causes.

"On average, a person should laugh a total of 15 minutes, with each being three seconds long throughout a day," she said.

By isolating themselves from others, college students are unable to obtain the daily positive levels needed to keep concentration or creativity. Labuzienski said students need to take the time everyday to engage in humorous interactions, devoting at least five minutes at a time to initiate a comedic conversation or a funny joke.

Positive psychology leads people to thrive, and as such, happiness should be a part of every person's life, Labuzienski said.

"Laughter is a shortcut to happiness," Labuzienski said. "It makes us more attractive people when we are happy and others like happy people."

As such, the role laughter plays in everyday life can contribute to overall levels of happiness.

"Fifty percent of happiness is genetic, 10 percent is what happens in a person's life and 40 percent is what daily events occur in a person's life," she said.

My Thoughts

Imagine that!  A laughter class.  This is a great idea.  Imagine a class where there are no lessons.  Only jokes and laughter.  That class should be required.  And I would volunteer to be the teacher.

I know for a fact, that laughter relieves stress.  I've seen it's power in my training sessions.  I've experienced for myself how laughter can turn around a potentially explosive situation.  So, why not a laughter class?

Laugh your Stress Away

When Life Is No Joke, Laugh Anyway
God made laughter to show us that things are seldom as bad as they seem.
from www.beliefnet.com

Read more: http://www.beliefnet.com/Faiths/Christianity/2007/01/When-Life-Is-No-Joke-Laugh-Anyway.aspx#ixzz1UnYWehJZ

Laughter liberates and laughter uplifts. When laughter comes into a life, nothing is too difficult, nothing can defeat us. We can survive the noonday sun and the darkness of death and the grinding boredom of dailiness and still find life exhilarating. Other things in life change color like chameleons on plaid, but laughter is always ornament, always grace.

There are some things that must always be laughed at in life:

1. Laugh when people tell a joke. Otherwise you might make them feel bad.

2. Laugh when you look into a mirror. Otherwise you might feel bad.

3. Laugh when you make a mistake. If you don't, you're liable to forget how ultimately unimportant the whole thing really is, whatever it is.

4. Laugh with small children. It will restore your delight in the fundamental things of life. It will also improve your sense of humor. Have you ever noticed what children laugh at? They laugh at mashed bananas on their faces; mud in their hair; a dog nuzzling their ears; the sight of their bottoms as bare as silk. It renews your perspective. Clearly, nothing is as bad as it could be.

5. Laugh at situations that are out of your control. When the best man comes to the altar without the wedding ring, laugh. When the dog jumps through the window screen at the dinner guests on your doorstep, sit down and laugh awhile. When you find yourself in public wearing mismatched shoes, laugh--as loudly as you can. Why collapse in mortal agony? There’s nothing you can do to change things now. Besides, it is funny. Ask me; I’ve done it.

6. Laugh at anything pompous, at anything that needs to puff its way through life in robes and titles. Because laughter is a social virtue, it will help the rest of us see the difference between what is authentic in life and what is not. Will Rogers laughed at all the public institutions of modern life. For instance, “You can’t say civilization isn’t advancing,” he wrote. “In every war they kill you in a new way.” And thanks to his laughter we began to see what was going on around us in fresh and shocking perspective.

7. Finally, laugh when all your carefully laid plans get changed: when the plane is late and the restaurant is closed and the last day’s screening of the movie of the year was yesterday. You’re free now to do something else, to be spontaneous for a change, to take a piece of life and treat it with outrageous abandon.

There are some things, of course, that do not qualify for laughter, that do not refresh the human heart, that set out to hurt whole classes of people, in fact, and that should never, under any conditions, be tolerated under the pretense of humor. Ethnic jokes and sexist sneers and racial slurs and jeering at physical limitations do not empty the human soul of debris. They simply fill it with a venom disguised as humor.

The sign of laughter gone sour lies clearly in the charge, ‘What’s the matter with her? Can’t she take a joke?” Then the laughter goes hollow or guttural, weak or low. Though nothing at all may be said, everyone knows on the spot that kindness and clear vision have flown the place forever.

In the final analysis, we should laugh at anything that is not a matter of life and death. The trick is to remember that only life and death are life and death. Then the canvas is broad and the palette is deep. The whole world becomes a jester’s paradise in which we laugh at what we did not foresee.

Laughter is an antidote to dualism, a necessary foundation of mental health. To the one who laughs, life is good, the world is good, goodness is the ground on which we walk. No dualism here, no fear of body or soul, no rejection of the tattered truth of our existence. Just gentle, gentle wholeness tenderly handled, lovingly held.

Finally, laughter enables us to live in a highly structured world without falling prey to the manacles of the mind that blind our eyes and cement our hearts. Laughter gives us the freedom of the Jesus who taught babies and poked fun at Pharisees and told winsome little stories, spiritual jokes, about women who would not let pretentious judges alone. Day after day he smiled his way from one theological absolute to another and left the world with enough to smile about until the end of time.

Once we learn to laugh and play, we will have come closer to understanding our laughing, playing God. The God of ridiculous promises is a God who laughs, a God to be laughed at and laughed with, until that moment when all pain washes away and only the laughter of God is left to be heard in the heavens.

Read more: http://www.beliefnet.com/Faiths/Christianity/2007/01/When-Life-Is-No-Joke-Laugh-Anyway.aspx#ixzz1UnYoVQoE

MY THOUGHTS

Laughter is biblical. The name Isaac means laughter because his mother laughed when God told her she will conceive. Laughter is, indeed, a gift from God. How often have you expereinced being stressed out to the max and feeling relaxed because you laughed? How often have you seen laughter change a bad situation into a good one? How often have you felt better because you laughed.

Laughter is biblical. It is God's gift for us. A way out of boredom and hardhips. A way to heal and bridge. Thank God for laughter.

Laughter and Stress Management

The Stress Management and Health Benefits of Laughter
The Laughing Cure

By Elizabeth Scott, M.S., About.com Guide

Updated October 07, 2009

About.com Health's Disease and Condition content is reviewed by the Medical Review Board


Research has shown health benefits of laughter ranging from strengthening the immune system to reducing food cravings to increasing one's threshold for pain. There's even an emerging therapeutic field known as humor therapy to help people heal more quickly, among other things. Humor also has several important stress relieving benefits.

Stress Management Benefits of Laughter:

* Hormones: Laughter reduces the level of stress hormones like cortisol, epinephrine (adrenaline), dopamine and growth hormone. It also increases the level of health-enhancing hormones like endorphins, and neurotransmitters. Laughter increases the number of antibody-producing cells and enhances the effectiveness of T cells. All this means a stronger immune system, as well as fewer physical effects of stress.

* Physical Release: Have you ever felt like you "have to laugh or I'll cry"? Have you experienced the cleansed feeling after a good laugh? Laughter provides a physical and emotional release.

* Internal Workout: A good belly laugh exercises the diaphragm, contracts the abs and even works out the shoulders, leaving muscles more relaxed afterward. It even provides a good workout for the heart.

* Distraction: Laughter brings the focus away from anger, guilt, stress and negative emotions in a more beneficial way than other mere distractions.

* Perspective: Studies show that our response to stressful events can be altered by whether we view something as a 'threat' or a 'challenge'. Humor can give us a more lighthearted perspective and help us view events as 'challenges', thereby making them less threatening and more positive.

* Social Benefits of Laughter: Laughter connects us with others. Also, laughter is contagious, so if you bring more laughter into your life, you can most likely help others around you to laugh more, and realize these benefits as well. By elevating the mood of those around you, you can reduce their stress levels, and perhaps improve the quality of social interaction you experience with them, reducing your stress level even more!

How To Use Laughter:

Laughter is one of my all-time favorite stress management strategies because it's free, convenient, and beneficial in so many ways. You can get more laughter in your life with the following strategies:

* T.V. and Movies: There's no shortage of laughter opportunities from the entertainment, both at the theater and in the aisles of the video stores, as well as at home with T.V. comedies. While wasting your time watching something marginally funny may actually frustrate you, watching truly hilarious movies and shows is an easy way to get laughter into your life whenever you need it.

* Laugh With Friends: Going to a movie or comedy club with friends is a great way to get more laughter in your life. The contagious effects of laughter may mean you'll laugh more than you otherwise would have during the show, plus you'll have jokes to reference at later times. Having friends over for a party or game night is also a great setup for laughter and other good feelings.

* Find Humor In Your Life: Instead of complaining about life's frustrations, try to laugh about them. If something is so frustrating or depressing it's ridiculous, realize that you could 'look back on it and laugh.' Think of how it will sound as a story you could tell to your friends, and then see if you can laugh about it now. With this attitude, you may also find yourself being more lighthearted and silly, giving yourself and those around you more to laugh about. Approach life in a more mirthful way and you'll find you're less stressed about negative events, and you'll achieve the health benefits of laughter. (See this article on maintaining a sense of humor.

* 'Fake It Until You Make It': Just as studies show the positive effects of smiling occur whether the smile is fake or real, faked laughter also provides the benefits mentioned above. So smile more, and fake laughter; you'll still achieve positive effects, and the fake merriment may lead to real smiles and laughter.

* More on Having Fun: See these additional suggestions on laughing more and having fun in your life.

Sources:
Bennett MP, Lengacher C. Humor and Laughter May Influence Health: III. Laughter and Health Outcomes. Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, March 2008.
Bennett MP, Zeller JM, Rosenberg L, McCann J. The Effect of Mirthful Laughter on Stress and Natural Killer Cell Activity.. Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine, March-April 2003.
Berk LS, Felten DL, Tan SA, Bittman BB, Westengard J. Modulation of Neuroimmune Parameters During the Eustress of Humor-Associated Mirthful Laughter.. Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine, March 2001.
Skinner N, Brewer N. The Dynamics of Threat and Challenge Appraisals Prior to Stressful Achievement Events. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, September 2002.

MY THOUGHTS

i guess this is why i hardly ever get stressed. or even when i do, i never stay stressed for long. i love laughter. i love laughing. i love making people laugh. i love stories that make me laugh (and cry, of course). so,laugh it away. a couple of years ago while preparing an integration for a workshop, i found out that laughter is biblical. Isaac (if i'm not mistaken) means laughter. check it out.

fun ways to relieve stress

Top 8 Fun Stress Relievers
From Your Guide, Elizabeth Scott, for About.com
Created: June 21, 2007
About.com Health's Disease and Condition content is reviewed by the Medical Review Board

There are many great stress relievers out there, but it's not always easy to stick with them. However, the fun stress relievers do seem to be easier to practice on a regular basis--you look forward to them! So for those of us who like a little fun with our stress relief, I've compiled a list of fun stress relievers, along with explanations of their other benefits as well. Enjoy!

1. Stress Relieving Games
Sometimes playing a fun game on your computer is just what you need to keep your mind off of stress in the office or at home. You don't have to go anywhere, you can play for just a few minutes, and you can return to the tasks at hand with a fresh frame of mind. These stress relieving games can help you relieve stress in just a few minutes, without being addictive.

2. Stress Relieving Books
Nothing takes your mind off of stress like a good book. And these stress relieving books can provide just the right distraction and escape from stress, as well as teaching you something new you can use to relieve stress. With a book, you can also take as much or as little time as you have available for stress relief.

3. Laughter
A good laugh can be a great stress reliever: it releases endorphins and other healthy hormones, takes your mind off of stress, and can even provide a decent physical workout if you really get going. It also leaves you in a more positive frame of mind, and can bond you to those with whom you share a good laugh. Learn more about laughter as a stress reliever, and see how you can incorporate more humor into your life.

4. Gardening
Planting a garden (or even tending to a houseplant) can be a great way to reconnect with nature, beautify your space, and enjoy other stress relieving benefits. Learn more about the stress relief benefits of gardening, and see if this is the stress reliever for you!

5. Drawing
Rediscovering your artistic side with anything from doodling to serious sketching can be a good stress reliever for several reasons: it's a good distraction, it helps you express and process emotions, and it leaves you with something beautiful to enjoy when you're finished. Learn more about the stress relief benefits of drawing and how to incorporate them into your life.

6. Music
Music is a great stress reliever for many reasons, and it can also improve health to the point that it's being used in hospitals to promote health! As a stress reliever, it provides distraction, inspiration, can speed you up or calm you down, and more. And you can use it durning your commute, while exercising, or at any time as you go about your daily activities. Learn more about the benefits of music, and find out how to incorporate it into your life to relieve stress.

7. Sports
Enjoying sports, from karate to mountain biking to tennis and more, can be a fun way to get exercise and relieve stress, providing endorphins, a social outlet, a way to release frustration, and more, and leave you healthier and happier in the end. Find ideas on what types of stres relieving activities to try in this section.

8. Mini-Vacations
Vacations are a wonderfully fun and sadly under-used stress relief resource. If you find yourself longing for a vacation but don't have the time or the funds to go on the trip you deserve, you can still treat yourself to a stress relieving mini vacation and get similar stress relieving benefits without expending as much!

MY THOUGHTS

The title itself takes out the stress - fun stress relievers. And these are quite easy - and cheap!!! Laughter, for example is free. I should know. When I was born and the midwife (yes! midwife pa - haha) slapped my butt, I didn't holler and cry. I hooted with laughter. I guess that's why although I get into the brink of stress I never got to the point of killing my self or killing someone else. I do manage to kill stress.