Written By michelle obrien

What’s healthy, free, and all over the Internet? Yes, cat videos. But today I want to talk about about humor.

When I’ve got something stuck on my mind and I can’t switch my brain off to sleep, I watch bloopers of my favorite sitcoms right before bed. (Blooper reels of New Girl got me through a particularly rough patch. Try it and I dare you to tell me you don’t feel at least a little better.)

Humor is what happens when we anticipate one thing but something else happens. We find things funny when they don’t flow with our expectations but aren’t so far off that they feel dangerous.

Humor helps facilitate social interactions.

Go on any dating profile and “sense of humor” is mentioned more than any other personality trait. If you’ve ever been on a first date with someone who did not have a sense of humor, you know why that is! It also helps defuse anger and can make us feel more open to forgiveness.

Laughter is an excellent form of stress relief.

When we laugh, our body experiences physical changes immediately. There’s an increase in blood pressure and muscles contraction, followed by a decrease in blood pressure and muscle relaxation. Laughter raises oxygen levels and even burns calories! The brain releases endorphins that boost your mood and quickly changes perspective. Long term, laughter improves our immune system and can help us deal with pain. Laughter researchers report that a strong sense of humor accelerates healing and reduces the risk of suicide, depression, and heart disease. Yes, please, to all of those.

When did we start taking ourselves so freakin seriously?

Children tend to laugh more than adults. As we age, we may start to take ourselves too seriously and begin to see humor as silly or immature. But in reality, most top executives say a sense of humor is important to career advancement.

“Easy” is valuable.

So much of getting healthy is hard. Working on my emotional health is difficult and is frequently painful. Humor can play an important role in anxiety management and it is super easy. Sometimes we think if something is actually easy, it must be unimportant. In the case of humor, not so.

Be funnier. Or at least more fun.

Not all of us all naturally hilarious but you can improve your sense of humor by consistently seeking out things that make you laugh or smile. Make a conscious effort to find jokes or cartoons that hit your funny bone. Be mindful of what you listen to or watch on television. Strengthening your humor muscle improves both your physical and mental health.

Michelle is a Counselor, Coach, Clinical Supervisor and Lifelong Student.