The Ancient History of Humor and Health
There is a deep, historical relationship between the two words humor and health. Their interaction is essential for our well-being.
The word humor derives from the Latin word umor, which means fluid or liquid; to be moist. At least as early as 2500 B.C., ancient Greek and Ayurvedic medicines, along with traditional Chinese medicine, linked the body with the cosmos. They believed the Earth’s elements were converted during digestion into three body fluids called humors; vatta (wind-breath), pitta (bile) and kapha (phlegm). In 400 B.C., Hippocrates helped refine the Greek idea of there being four humors, and in the 2nd century A.D. the physician Galen wrote extensively on them. It was believed the four humors related to the elements and the seasons, and were qualities of temperament and disposition:
The Body’s 4 Humors
sanguine
anything goes diet
choleric
melancholic
phlegmatic blood
yellow bile
black bile
phlegm sell house fast (air, spring)
(fire, summer)
(earth, fall)
(water, winter) optimistic, cheerful
angry, irritable
sad, gloomy
sluggish, indifferent
In almost all individuals, one humor was thought to dominate both personality and health problems. It was the job of medicine to keep one’s humors in balance with the treatment of herbs and food. This was carried over during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, where patients were diagnosed on the basis of being in good humor or poor humor in relation to their state of health. Medicine started to expand its theory and distance itself from the four humors as a practice in the late 1700s, but the sentiment has carried over into present-day health thinking. If one appears happy, carefree and lighthearted, one is judged to be fine, o.k., doing well and coping well, regardless of any ailment.
Your humor then, flows with your health. It reflects your individual characteristics of joy and happiness expressed in body, mind and soul.
The Healing Effects of Humor
The time it will take for your healing, and your ability to cope, are directly affected by the feelings and emotions you associate with.
“Negative emotions have a negative effect on health.
Positive emotions a positive effect.”
Norman Cousins
Think about spending a large part of your emotional day feeling negative. What about spending large amounts of time around other people who spend most of their time being negative? Think about these words:
angry
upset
gloomy unhappy
despair
guilty sullen
depressed
ignored lonely
sad
hurt
Do you have that sinking feeling? Overexposure to negativity is very unhealthy and can make you sick. It depletes your strength and makes it more difficult to resist disease.
Now think about spending most of your emotional day feeling positive, spending time with others who are positive. Think about these words:
joy
happy
kind cheerful
laughter
delighted calm
joking
vivacious love
giggle
merriment
It gives you a lift just thinking about them! Humor and laughter are symbols for all the positive emotions. They are symptoms of health and well-being as well as the best way of getting off the downward spiral of negativity. Shokz Guide They are the safest and cheapest forms of medicine we can get over or under the counter!
Illness is a Laughing Matter
Many of us sometimes feel that when we are physically sick that the illness is in control of us. We feel we must also appear downtrodden, troubled, immobile and not in good spirits. Sadly, when it involves someone else, there can be a tendency to shy away from them. Your sense of humor allows you to choose, think, and be otherwise.
“Humor gives us freedom to act. Patients can be so paralyzed by conflicts and self-imposed restrictions that they forget that they are free to act to change their circumstances.”
Dr. Weeled A. Salameh
Humor can be used as a medication to soothe, defer and alleviate. It improves moods, boosts immune systems, lowers blood pressure and speeds recovery time. It copes with anything, even the challenge of a hospital stay or just going for medical attention. It is an essential tool that is common with doctor, nurse and patient alike.
“Let the surgeon take care to regulate the whole regime of the patient’s life for joy and happiness, allowing his relatives and special friends to cheer him, and by having we buy any house someone tell him jokes. The surgeon must rebel against anger, hatred and sadness in the patient and remind him that the body grows fat from joy and thin from sadness.”
Henri de Mondeville
Humor is a therapeutic, healthy and natural way to heal. Gentle and appropriate jokes, smiles and laughter are never more effective and appreciated than when we are under the weather.
12 THINGS HUMOR GIVES WHERE ILLNESS LIVES
HELPS the person step back from their illness.
GAINS perspective and a breath of fresh air.
SHOWS them that there is more to life than just physical disabilities.
OPENS minds to realities that are fun, joyous and light.
MAKES them smile.
ACHIEVES states that are tranquil, flowing and worry-free.
VALIDATES the fact that although someone may be seriously ill or in the process of dying, at the moment, they are alive!
INVOLVES everyone in conversation.
INSULATES against loneliness and fear.
IS A SIGN of approval, caring, compassion and connection.
LOVES them with lightness and joy.
LIFTS THE SPIRIT AND SPEEDS RECOVERY!
10 Appropriate Humor Tips
All you have to do to become more confident in being appropriate with your humor is to be open, aware, practice and follow these tips:
10 Things That Can Make Humor Appropriate
Always consider your audience first.
Intend to invoke smiles, joy and laughs.
Introduce it gradually.
Trust your instincts.
Be diplomatic.
See the good clean fun in the situation.
Enjoy it yourself.
Be able to take it yourself.
Use set-ups that prepare your audience.
Share the spotlight.
Always remember to be tactful and honest with your sense of humor. If you give it freely and often, it will make you a healing humor force.
5 Facts of Humor’s Balancing Act
Your sense of humor allows you to constantly create new realities to enrich and bring balance to your life. Along with laughter, it provides you with greater physical health, helps you cope with perspective and gives you more happiness. Here are the facts to humor’s balancing act:
RELIEVES YOU OF TENSION AND STRESS. Humor and laughter combat and create opposite effects. When you laugh, you are cheerful, upbeat, playful, light-hearted, you let go, vent, relax and unwind.
GIVES YOU AN AEROBIC AND INTERNAL WORKOUT. The diaphragm is the large muscle which separates the chest cavity from the abdominal cavity and gets a great workout when we laugh heartily. Our respiration is enhanced, blood pressure is lowered and the amount of oxygen in the blood stream increases. Ever laughed so much it hurt? The movement of the diaphragm also stimulates surrounding organs, such as the stomach, kidneys and liver, acting as an internal massage.
STIMULATES YOUR IMMUNE SYSTEM. University studies show laughter lowers serum cortisol levels, increases T-cell production, lowers blood pressure and increases the number and activity of disease-fighting killer cells. These are all natural Ahealth substances,@ endorphins and encephalons that free us of pain and illness.
GIVES YOU PERSPECTIVE THAT HELPS YOU COPE. Your sense of humor has the power to manage, endure and lighten any load. By not allowing yourself to take things too seriously, you gain a greater ability to see change as challenging, not threatening. It gives you the capacity to cope with stress and difficulties in ways that are positive, uplifting and successful. Humor and laughing helps detach us from the Afunk@ we may be in. We then get a sense of self-protection and control over our environment.
EMPOWERS AND ENHANCES YOUR QUALITY OF LIFE. A lighthearted spirit always has the power to see you through. When you are troubled, feeling low, depressed or down, the experience of laughter, if even just for the moment, banishes feelings of loneliness, anger and fear. Humor and laughter can transcend any predicament with feelings that are lighthearted, carefree and hopeful. Humor has the power to turn any situation around by drawing our attention away from upsets. When you experience more laughter, smiles and feel carefree, your happiness increases with the spirit’s energy and powers the will to live. You make your life sweeter.
6 Amazing Powers of Laughter
Laughter is the medicine of the soul and the sound of its healing. Laughter is a gift with no cultural, social or spiritual exemptions. No matter how people laugh, it is an illustration of joy, happiness, personality, character, mood and situation. It is pure human expression.
THE SIX AMAZING POWERS OF LAUGHTER
Can transcend any situation.
Provides us with self-protection, control and peace of mind.
Makes everyone more fluid and flexible.
Stimulates immune systems; combats illness and stress.
Gives aerobic workouts; boosts energy levels; lowers blood pressure, and gives internal massages.
IS PURE PLEASURE AND LIFTS OUR SPIRITS TO PLAY!