Laughter is the Best Medicine - The Learning Collaborative

Laughter and tears are both responses to frustration and exhaustion. I myself prefer to laugh, since there is less cleaning to do afterward.”
~ Kurt Vonnegut

The only real laughter comes from despair.”
~ Groucho Marx

In many regions of the world, other than Valentine’s Day, February can be a dark, cold, and dreary month. And, depending on your current status, Valentine’s Day may not be terribly great either. The extra five holiday pounds still cling, and it still feels like a very long way until Spring break. Maybe that’s why the ‘Calendar Gods’ blessedly thought to make February the shortest month of the year. In spite of Omicron running rampant and best practices riddled with conflicting opinions on mitigation and management; when there aren’t enough teachers to cover classes; when at-home COVID tests and N95 masks are in short supply… we must find ways to laugh.

We have to laugh.
We have to laugh more.
We have to laugh harder than ever before.

This is our new reality. Send in the clowns. This newsletter is dedicated to February and the real need for a good belly laugh.

A host of studies indicates that humor strengthens your immune system, helps you live longer, creates stronger teams and groups, and strengthens a positive culture. Many studies focus on how humor can increase cohesiveness and act as a lubricant to facilitate more efficient communication.

Researchers have found that effective humor can increase the quantity and quality of group communications, because humor increases trust. The people who scored high on a test that measured sense of humor for social purposes, coping humor, and appreciation of humor and humorous people were considered more trustworthy. So how funny are you?

To explain the pervasive role of humor in human social interaction, Miller (2000a) proposed that intentional humor evolved as an indicator of intelligence. How about that? Forget I.Q. Do stand-up comedy instead. Indeed, there is a correlation between intelligence and the ability to see irony, create satire, and make connections between unlike things…all of which can lead to a laugh.

Lastly, there is a growing body of research indicating that a good guffaw may improve immune function, help lower blood pressure, boost mood, and reduce stress and depression. A noted cardiologist states, “We don’t have any clinical outcome evidence to show that laughter will reduce heart attacks or improve overall survival. However, we do have a number of studies that have shown that there is a potential upside, in terms of vascular benefits and also overall health,” he explains.

These findings certainly support laughter as a reasonable prescription for heart health and health in general, especially since there’s really no downside.”

It is time to intentionally, proactively, and designedly laugh. Below are some jokes, links, and movies which might help get you started.

LOL,
Fran

You have a beautiful laugh. Like the promise of tomorrow.”
~ Renee Ahdieh

5 of My Favorite (Short, Clean) Funny Jokes:

Three co-workers are at lunch when they confess to their shortcomings.
“I drink too much,” says the first. “In fact, I keep a bottle in my desk drawer at all times.”
“I lust after all the women in our office,” admits the second guy.
The first two turn to the third. “What about you?”
“Me? I can’t stop gossiping.”
I wondered why the baseball was getting bigger and bigger. Then it hit me.
A priest, a rabbit, and a minister walk in to a bar. The bartender asks the rabbit “What will you have?” The rabbit says “I dunno – I am only here because of autocorrect”.
What sound does a sheep make when it explodes? Sis-boom-BAA.
What do you call a military coup led by General Kitchy Kitchy? A Kitchy-kitchy-Coup

5 of My Favorite Funny YouTube Videos:

5 of My Favorite Mel Brooks Movies:

High Anxiety (1977)
Blazing Saddles (1974)
Spaceballs (1987)
Young Frankenstein (1974)
The History of the World Part One (1981)