Hospital
Administrator tout's humor's
benefits
By Bob Christman
Consider humor as a kind of aphrodisiac for the workplace, a mask for pain, a ``social lubricant'' to improve your personal relations with others.
Humor offers so many benefits, says David M. Jacobson,MSW that it's worth pursuing and expanding in our lives.
Jacobson, An administrator at University Medical Center and President of Humor Horizons, expert on the topic of humor and health, makes it a point to clip funny headlines, collect humorous books like George Carlin's ``Brain Droppings,'' record Marx Brothers' movies - even keep a humor journal of good jokes and family situations.
Yesterday at a meeting of the Health and Wellness Marketing Group, he asked attendees to list the things that happen when they are threatened: increased heart rate, sweating, adrenalin increase, shallow breathing, decreased ability to tolerate pain, decreased ability to digest food.
``The humor response is the antidote to all that,'' he said, giving off a hearty guffaw to prove the point. ``You're taking real deep breaths, you're oxygenating your blood, you're ability to tolerate pain increases. Research shows that people who laugh heartily on a regular basis have lower blood pressure than the average population.''
Jacobson explained that at age 22, while working at a kibbutz in Israel, he came down with rheumatic fever, systemic arthritis and heart problems.
``One of the ways I got back on my feet was by using humor to cope with the illness and pain. It was my No. 1 coping mechanism,'' he said. ``Humor can be a very powerful thing. Ten minutes of hearty laughing can give you two hours of pain-free sleep.''
Even small things can be made humorous, he told the meeting at the Pima County Medical Society, 5199 E. Farness Drive.
``When I find an empty elevator at UMC, after I get in and the doors close, I celebrate,'' he said.
``When I started as a social worker at UMC around Christmas 1988, my boss asked how the week went. Words couldn't describe it, so I just collapsed on the floor. I was complimented by others afterward for making the meeting a little lighter.''
Even flipping through a church bulletin can bring on the smiles.
His favorites: ``Don't let worry kill you. Let the church help,'' or ``A bean supper will be held on Tuesday evening in the church hall. Music will follow,'' or ``This afternoon there will be a meeting in the south and north ends of the church. Children will be baptized at both ends.''
Take a stressful situation and turn it into a funny one, he suggested.
If you're involved in a heated argument, pause a moment and think to yourself, ``What would Elmer Fudd do in this situation?''
In traffic, rather than stew about how stressed you are waiting for the traffic light to change, ``look for something funny around you. Enjoy the moment.
``We can't control the event, but we can control our response to the event. Stress isn't the event itself, it's our reaction to it.''
Information on the Health and Wellness Marketing Group is available by calling T.J. McGreevy at 323-3288.
Additional Comments
The above article briefly mentions some of the benefits of humor for your health. Besides the benefits mentioned above, there are additional psychological, social, physical, economic and spiritual benefits to humor.
If you would like me to speak to your group regarding these amazing benefits, contact me through my Main page below.
Thank you for taking the time to read this.
David M. Jacobson, MSW
President: Humor Horizons
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Humor Horizon's (C) 1989