Good morning ladies and gentleman, today I am going to share about positive impacts of laughter. If you have a question please ask me at the end of presentation. My contents is make up by history of laughter, short term impacts of laughter And long term impacts of laughter.
Let’s move on to history part. Firstly, I want to share about origin word of laughter
Laughter came from greek ‘‘hele’’ and hele indicates health. It is very interesting, maybe ancestors recognised that laughter deeply related with health. Last four century we have been using laughter as a medicine. In Haven’t you laughed at all? Yes even I don’t laugh many times. According to one research, the average child laughs 300 to 500 times a day On the other hand adults usually laugh fifteen times for a day. It is huge gap between adults and babies so since we are adults most of us laugh fifteen times a day
Overview of humor throughout history
14th Century French surgeon Henri de Mondeville used humor therapy to aid recovery from surgery. He wrote “Let the surgeon take care to regulate the whole regimen of the patient’s life for joy and happiness allowing his relatives and special friends to cheer him and by having someone tell him jokes.”
16th Century Robert Burton, an English parson and scholar used humor as a cure for melancholy.
16th Century Martin Luther used a form of humor therapy as part of pastoral counselling of depressed people. He advised them not to isolate themselves but to surround themselves with friends who could joke and make them laugh.
The Essay on Sociology of Humor
Humor is an important part of everyday interaction. It serves mainly as a social lubricant that creates a lighter atmosphere between a speaker and an audience. Provided that it is not provoke offensive behavior, humor can be used as a first step towards building individual relationships. A more relaxed ambiance between people, in turn, is conducive to friendliness. In the sociological context, ...
17th Century Herbert Spence, sociologist used humor as a way to release excess tension.
18th Century Immanuel Kant, German philosopher used humor to restore equilibrium.
18th Century English physician William Beattie used humor in treatment of the sick.
20th Century Modern humor therapy dates from the 1930’s, when clowns were brought into the U.S. hospitals to cheer up children hospitalized with polio.
20th Century – 1972 The Gesundheit Institute is founded by U.S. Doctor Hunter ‘Patch Adams. This is a home-based free hospital to bring fun, friendship, and the joy of service back into health care.
20th Century – 1979 Norman Cousins publishes his book’Anatomy of an Illness’ based on his own experiences he had been suffering from anklyosing spondylitis and decided to use his own brand of ‘Humor Therapy’ by watching episodes of the television show ‘Candid Camera’ and Marx Brothers movies. He caimed that 10 minutes of laughter could give him 2 hours of pain relief.
20th Century – 1998 Renewed interest in the uses of humor as therapy thanks to the release of the movie ‘Patch Adams’ starring Robin Williams and based on the real Doctor Hunter ‘Patch Adams.’
