The Fun Way to Easily Improve Your Life, Backed by Research

Humor occurs when a perception of the world suddenly corrects our mistaken preconception.

Mobbs saw that subjects’ brains became highly activated for all the cartoons, but one subset of structures responded solely for the funny ones — namely, the ventral tegmental area, the nucleus accumbens, and the amygdala. What do those brain regions have in common? They’re key components of what scientists call the dopamine reward circuit, which is responsible for distributing dopamine throughout the brain. In response to unfunny jokes, we not only fail to laugh, we miss out on the joy.

The current study lends support to the prediction that effective humor production acts as an honest indicator of intelligence in humans.

In studies of hundreds of adults, happiness was found to be related to humor. The ability to laugh, whether at life itself or at a good joke, is a source of life satisfaction. Indeed, those who enjoy silly humor are one-third more likely to feel happy.

This emotional exercise view of humor also explains why watching comedies is sometimes more beneficial than meditating or listening to calming music. For example, simply viewing an episode of the sitcom Friends has been shown to reduce anxiety three times more effectively than sitting and resting.

If I can laugh once a day, every day I’m in Ranger School, I’ll make it through.

You’ve got to have fun and be able to laugh; laugh at yourself and laugh at what you’re doing. My best friend and I laughed our way through BUD/S.

Substantial evidence exists for the effectiveness of humor as a coping mechanism. Studies involving combat veterans (Hendin & Haas, 1984), cancer patients (Carver, 1993), and surgical patients (Culver et al., 2002) have found that when humor is used to reduce the threatening nature of stressful situations, it is associated with resilience and the capacity to tolerate stress (Martin, 2003).

Researchers have developed a general view that effective humor can increase the quantity and quality of group communications. One reason for that is that humor has also been demonstrated to increase trust. In a widely cited study, Professor William Hampes examined the relationship between humor and trust among eighty-nine college undergraduates ranging in age from sixteen to fifty-four and found a significant correlation. The people who scored high on a test that measured sense of humor for social purposes, coping humor, and appreciated humor and humorous people were considered more trustworthy.

In one study, people trying to bargain down the price of a landscape painting were willing to accept a higher cost if the person on the other side of the negotiating table cracked, “I’ll throw in my pet frog.”

Folks who first watched a funny blooper reel were more successful at solving the task… than those who exercised or watched a math video. And in a more recent MIT study on idea generation, improvisational comedians asked to brainstorm new products generated, on average 20 percent more ideas than professional product designers, and the improv comic’s ideas were rated 25 percent more creative than those of the pros.

These discussions usually contain a considerable amount of joking and kidding and concern nonwork-related issues.

…being funny helps hide flaws in our organization skills. Most of the time when we give speeches, we’re careful to organize our points in a logical and meaningful order. But studies have found that we can give those same speeches with points mixed at random, and as long as we also incorporate humor, viewers won’t notice.

People who spontaneously use humor to cope with stress have especially healthy immune systems, are 40 percent less likely to suffer a heart attack or stroke, experience less pain during dental surgery and live four and a half years longer than average.

…subjects who viewed funny movies experienced less self-reported pain than those who watched dramas. Specifically, they felt better about their postsurgical condition and requested 25 percent less medication than their peers.

…when we assessed the personalities of these 243 centenarians, we found qualities that clearly reflect a positive attitude towards life. Most were outgoing, optimistic and easygoing. They considered laughter an important part of life and had a large social network…

On the basis of the results, the researchers recommended that people laugh for at least fifteen minutes each day.

A 2007 study…found that sense of humor was the second most desired trait, behind only intelligence. Women ranked it first. For men it was number three, after intelligence and good looks.

…people who rate highly on tests of intimacy also have a good sense of humor. The same goes for trust, dependability, and kindness.

…studies of happy marriages, especially those lasting more than a half century, find spouses often ascribe their marital bliss in part to laughing together.

When both partners in a relationship thought the other had a good sense of humor, 67 percent less conflict was reported than in couples where neither thought the other had a good sense of humor.

If you turn toward bids at a high rate, you get a sense of humor during conflict. Humor is very powerful because it reduces physiological arousal during arguments and that’s been replicated in several studies.

Results show preliminary support for the notion that reminiscing about laughter may have a more potent influence on relationship well being than reminiscing about other positive events.

As Ruch’s study demonstrated, humor ratings can be influenced simply by exposing subjects to laughter. Other studies have found that subjects laugh more and rate jokes as funnier when a nearby actor shares their laughter…

Studies of five-year-olds have shown they laugh, on average, 7.7 times per hour, while the average American adult laughs just eighteen times a day.