The Top 10 Psychological Benefits of Laughter for Cancer-Impacted Individuals

Hey, there lifter uppers. I'm Deb Krier, the co-host of Cancer and Comedy, where our mission is to heal cancer impacted people through hope and humor. Something we like to call turning the grim into a grin. Well, today on Cancer and Comedy, we're going to be talking about laughing people, specifically people who laugh a lot, and 10 psychological facts about people who laugh a lot. Now here's the host of Cancer and Comedy, Dr. Brad Miller.

Hey, Deb, great to be with you. I know you was a laughing hat Bellperson with a great attitude, and even in spite of some of the challenges you've had health wise, and part of what got me attracted you in the first place was your laugh, and so we're going to talk about that here, here today on the podcast. But we do indeed look to help people to take a different look at something as serious as cancer. We like to call that turn into grim of cancer and into the grin, kind of celebrating life. And we're looking to develop a community here of people who can see a bit of the lighter side and to face cancer with hope and humor. And we're here to help people will get connected to us at our Cancer Comedy community. You just follow us. You just go to cancerandcomedy.com/follow. So hey, Deb, how about a couple of dad jokes to get us off and running here today.

Oh, we definitely need those. This is so appropriate for a conversation.

Well, what did the nose send to the finger?

I don't know.

Will you quit picking on me?

(laughs)

Just one more here. How did the hairdresser win the marathon?

I don't know.

She took the short cut.

Of course, of course, oh my gosh. Well, folks, we're actually going to have another bad joke of the day. So stay tuned, because we're going to do that after our conversation. And of course, we will have our very important Faith It or Break It segment. Well, as Doctor Brad mentioned, we would love for you to be part of our Cancer and Comedy community, where together we crush cancer with a message of how to cope with hope and humor. Please follow Cancer and Comedy at cancerandcomedy.com/follow. Well, you know, as I mentioned at the start, we're going to be talking about people who laugh a lot, and 10 psychological facts about laughter. It's interesting, you know, we've talked about, hey, it might be beneficial. It lightens the mood, all those things. But there's actually really scientifically proven facts. So let's kind of talk about some of those. I think this is going to be a great discussion.

Yeah, I was thinking about this topic here recently, a couple things happen that would just sometimes they're just completely opposite in a way. And maybe think about laughing out loud. There was a public figure who was really criticized for laughing out loud a lot, and they took some hard hits on that. I thought, where is that coming from? What is the big deal about laughing? And then I turned on the TV and I happened to turn on one of the nostalgia channels, which I get lost in those things sometime. And there's a couple of old episodes of Batman from the 1960s.

Yeah, all that good stuff, but I remember, and that was my, when I was a little kid, that was my favorite show by far. But I remember the laughter of the villains, the Riddler and the Joker had these maniacal laughs that had these maniacal laughs that were very distinctive. And for some reason that made me think about what is distinctive about laughter, kind of when you know, how about laughter that's attractive and a good thing, and maybe when it's inappropriate, I don't know, but what makes it stand out? And I do notice when people laugh, it gets your attention. I've noticed as a public speaker, as a preacher, when I was able to make people laugh, or it's only made me laugh, it lightened, it broke the ice a little bit. I know I just mentioned earlier, when I first met you, one thing I first noticed about you was your laugh. Hey, you laugh a lot, don't you? Do you ever get people that causes people to pay attention to you?

It does. And, and I'll be honest, I actually have had people say I do it too much. And that is kind of one of those things you have to think about is it, you know, inappropriate might be, there might be times where when we're laughing, we need to be serious. I was one of those people that started giggling in the middle of my father's funeral, right? And there was something that happened that just really made me laugh. Now, from behind me, people thought I was crying because my shoulders were shaking, and my husband is elbowing me, right. But I think so many times when we laugh, when we're nervous and we don't know what else to do and you know, and scared laughter things like that. But yeah, there are times where it's like, okay, maybe I should dial it back a bit.

It does get people's attention. I think there are times maybe, if I think we've worked totally out of control on anything, for instance. And this is going to take the opposite of the spectrum, somebody's grieving, crying. If people with somebody is wailing and weeping for a long over a long time, then you know, something's not quite right, right? If somebody laughs for too long a time, I mean loud, laughing. And, you know, something, not quite right either. Let's, but I think for the most part, we are more attracted to somebody who laughs than somebody who's, you know, been a dower disposition. Oh, definitely. And for the most part, and so let's talk about some of the ways that even psychological, some facts about laughing at let's talk about those in terms of kind of the upside of this, knowing that there can be too much of a good thing, I guess, right. But there's some upsides to the psychological facts about laughter that I think can apply to people, people impacted by cancer, whether they're the actual people you know family, whether it's the actual person who has cancer or the family members or so on. So we did a little research on this. Let's just talk about a little bit. Number one on list that we came up with, or we was that laughter as a coping mechanism, right with stress and anxiety? Tell me about that in your life.

Well, it's like we mentioned, sometimes when you're scared and nervous, it helps to laugh, and it breaks the ice. Maybe it's a way to lighten the mood, some things like that. But sometimes even just a little chortle or a little giggle can make you feel just not quite so, oh my gosh, the world is coming to an end.

Well, you mentioned earlier, sometimes we do have a nervous laugh, and there is kind of a point of a nervous laugh does help to break the tension a little bit and move us on to what's next. Even if what's next is something serious, it can kind of, I guess, in a way, ease and ease into that. Well, what's our second factor here?

Well, it really does help you to have a positive outlook on life. You know, you mentioned, do we want to be around somebody who's smiling or someone who's grumpy? Even when we're not feeling good, I think we can, we don't have to be Mr. Grumpy up all the time.

And this has to do with kind of an overall optimistic view of life. I believe, you know, basically, people cope in many ways. It's sometimes, people take that pessimistic view, the world is, going kind of the poor little Eeyore, right? Eeyore, that's the character I was trying to think of from what cartoon, Winnie the Pooh. But basically, the Winnie the Pooh character was pretty positive. You know, that kind of thing. Oh, yes. And that's so you kind of have a little bit of joy in your life. See the joy, see the positive, no matter what. So there we go. Well, the fact number three that we came up with is it helps to build strong social bonds, connecting people together. You believe that's the case?

I do. I think it really does help us to kind of gather together, you know, and find similar people, right? When that person is happy and laughing, I want to be with them. You know, you mentioned that at the very start. So I think it really does help us to connect with others.

It's attractive in a way, and it gives kind of that inroads to people that maybe you can build some trust with that person. Maybe there's just some, this is a signal that they are approachable. You know, if you go into a room and somebody's kind of got a smile on their face and laughing, you may be more, even if you don't know they, may be more apt to join in with them, rather than somebody's in the corner and got their arms crossed, they got a frown on their face and is whining and complaining about whatever it would be, yeah, what's our next fact?

So it enhances your emotional resilience. And I think this is a really important one because there are true physical and psychological benefits to maintaining a positive attitude and laughing.

I think this has to do, the resilience you mentioned, it's kind of the bounce back factor. If you said something bad to happen to you, if you a little bit more of this, the emotional resilience, that comes with laughter. You can kind of say, Okay, this bad thing has happened, right? But something good is found to happen as well. And I think that's an emotional better place to be and to kind of take the negative side of things.

And we're not saying be Pollyanna, or Chicken Little with the sky is falling. You know, you still have to accept what is happening and acknowledge it and deal with it and all of those things, but you don't have to be, oh my gosh, the sky is falling. The sky is falling. You can go, okay it got a little bit cloudy. But now we're going to move on.

Yeah, well, the fifth factor is improved health and stronger immune system, right? And to say some more about that, because you have in your life, you've had very serious health issues. But this plays on the part in your comeback, doesn't it?

It does, you know, and, and it's funny to think of it this way, but it actually helps you to reduce those stress hormones. It releases endorphins, which are kind of a natural high type of thing. And, you know, more importantly, it can help your immune system. So then the next thing that comes along, your body can cope with it.

And even I think we're gonna be in some studies about this. You may know a lot more, more more about this than I do, but even how there's laughter helps reduce pain or helps us to tolerate pain better. And I think it's the case. But what's our next factor here?

So and maybe sometimes I need this one, it helps us increase creativity.

Well, this one here, I think this comes into play, where, if we're not able to do things that maybe we normally would have in laughter in our life, or some helps us to see what we can do instead of that or replace that. Maybe, if you've had surgery and you're used to walking a mile or two every day or something like that, and just can't do that anymore. Maybe your creativity is that you now do something completely different, like maybe you get into art or something like this, or maybe you find some other physical activity to do that you can't if you had surgery on your legs, maybe now you do something with your arms. Maybe start doing some arm exercises, or doing some curls, or something like that, and to do some things where. And this has to do with problem-solving. How do you do things?

And that's definitely a big part of this.

Well, one thing I noticed about this creativity here is how there's been, you know, where as we record this during the time of the Olympics, and a lot of people overcome a lot of things in that, but somewhere down the road, the month or so from now, will be the Paralympics, for people who have had other, they've lost, they have a leg or something, they're gone, and they found a way to creatively still be athletic, and to do things like, even though they've had some bad things happen to them, they're not stopped, is what I'm trying to get at. They're not stopped.

Yeah, yeah. You just go, Okay, well, I can't go down that path, so now I'm going down this path.

Well, factor number seven, it's a natural icebreaker, and I think this is a good one. That's how I got to know you. Basically, you can find, if you're the laughing person, you can be more approachable. If you're in a setting where someone is laughing, they can be a little bit more approachable. Break down some initial barriers, things like that. Tell me how this you're a laughing person. How's this been helpful to you?

You know, I think you do see that, especially in, say a social setting, the people are naturally drawn to those who are laughing. And even if somebody's not grumpy, if they're just standing there, they seem more unapproachable. And I think that maybe is it is you see them laughing, and you're thinking, Okay, this is somebody approachable. And so if you see, maybe it's your doctor, your medical team, whoever kind of laughing and joking. Now, they clearly have to be very appropriate with their humor,right? But there are certainly ways, I mean, like Patch Adams used to go in with the big red nose, and things like that. So there are certainly ways that you can kind of initially put people at ease, especially when they are afraid and thinking, oh my gosh, this is going to be horrible and awful. You know, what can you do to kind of do that? And maybe it's something more subtle, like the colors of your office, flowers, things like that, that just kind of uplift your mood.

I think if you ever been to a Ronald McDonald House, you know that kind of the whole vibe there. Those places is to try to serve children, particularly with their families as well, with just a little bit more of that warmth that comes with laughter and that kind of thing. What's our next factor here?

So a laughter enhance our emotional intelligence. I think it's a way for us to understand more about what the heck we're feeling and what's going on.

Yeah, my wife is very much into emotional intelligence, studying about it, and to be aware of it. And this has a lot to do, I believe, with kind of a little higher level of sensitivity that people have. And you so, people who have kind of a sense of humor are kind of looking a little bit for those things that break the tension, those type of things we've talked about. But if we have laughter in life, maybe it helps us to be a little bit more of an emotional person. You know, sometimes I find people who laugh also, in some cases, maybe ones who may have a tear of their eye, also for more emotional things of that way, right? And it has to do with empathy and connection to people, right?

Tell me about how you may have experienced this, you know.

I think there's also people, and you probably came across this, especially in your ministry, where people feel like they have to be strong, they have to be tough, and it's okay to be scared, scared and afraid and emotional, you know, and I think that's one thing that is sometimes a challenge with this.

Well, I agree with that emote, you know, it's hard to laugh and not have some emotion that triggers it, or some factor to that. Well, the factor number nine we're going to discuss today is related to the several other ones here, but it's stress relief and relaxation and stress. It happens to us, especially if we're dealing with cancer or something like that. It's a stressful situation. How does laughter help relieve that?

You know, I think this is one of the ones that seems counterintuitive, right? Especially because one of the things that laughter does is it helps lower our blood pressure, which you think, Okay, I'm laughing, I'm having a good time. Seems kind of like your blood pressure would go up, which it probably does right then, but then I think it comes down to a lower level. So it's a great way to kind of help reduce that tension. Reduce that anxiety. It is kind of hard to also be all clenched and you know, muscles tight when you're giggling and laughing.

I think it just helps with your overall health and vitality, which kind of leads us to our factor number 10, which is increase longevity, right? And I think there's been some studies about this as well. You think that's true? Do you think it helps people live longer?

I do, you know. I think when you look at people who live into their 90s, and you know, maybe even beyond, they usually have, like quite often, a pretty wicked sense of humor, right? You know, and how did you live so long? Well, I drank a shot every morning.

There you go.

Maybe they did, maybe they didn't, right, but, it does seem to kind of lead to that. And I think it's because the opposite is true when you are so stressed and negative thinking. You're thinking the world is going to end, my life is going to end. Why do I even bother? So then your brain says, Okay, why are we going to bother?

No. And then that'll sometimes translate literally to your state of health. Your state of health translates to your to your longevity. Well, let's just touch on I want to touch break just kind of list these off, and we'll put these on our show notes as well. The factor one was laughter helps us cope. Factor two was if laughter helps give us a positive outlook on life. Factor three is that laughter helps us to build strong social bonds. Factor four was enhanced emotional resilience. Factor five was increasing our health, overall health and immune system. Factor Number Six was increased creativity. Factor seven, natural icebreaker. Factor eight enhances our emotional intelligence. Factor nine, stress relief and relaxation and factor 10 increases longevity. Any thoughts you might have about all those kind of wrapped together because you are a laughing person, Deb, and you, I know when you go for treatments and things like that, that's a part of the vibe that you bring with you.

So it is, you know, and I mean, like one of my doctors, she tells me, I am always so glad when I see you on my schedule, because you lift up my day. And to me, that's one of the important things too. Is not just me laughing, but how can we spread that joy?

Yeah, and hey, it's just a heck of a lot more fun to go through life laughing than crying. Or being depressed and that kind of thing, right? It's just this is about really about embracing laughter and spreading positivity as an overall good thing in life. A phrase that I think we can kind of bring it around to is this, if you have laughter in your life, overall, it can life to your years, not just years to your life, right?

I love it. I love it. Well, of course, folks, we want to make sure that you keep laughing. So as I said, we have another Dr. Brad's Bad joke of the day.