Comedy and Humor Are Great Protections

We’ve all heard that “Laughter is the Best Medicine” for so long the modern origin of the phrase is lost to history, but its roots are not so obscure, with a version appearing as far back as Proverbs 17:22 (“A joyful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit dries up the bones” – NIV).  While the saying may seem a bit trite and naïve, especially when considered literally and against the vast pharmaceutical advances of the last three thousand years, whether there’s some truth to it has actually been a source of considerable research.  It turns out there may be quite a lot.  In terms of stress reduction, physical and emotional wellbeing, and social engagement, being able to laugh and, if you’re able, to make others laugh has powerful health benefits.

Policing is a serious business; having a front row seat to the worst of humanity, often being among the first to arrive at the scene of others’ last moments, and dealing with – not to mention being subject to – the political folly and foibles of the misinformed and self-serving takes a toll. The dark humor of first responders is well-known, and actually a generally effective coping mechanism, but the repetitious nature of what you see and experience can even wear that down until laughter makes only rare appearances.  Even officer’s signature dark humor, in excess, often turns to mere cynicism or, perhaps worse, comes to reinforce stereotypes and unfairly tears down the people you are charged with protecting, widening the distance between you and the community.

A lot of cops then seek out reinforcement of their dark worldview in their social and entertainment choices, eschewing other points of view or frameworks for understanding the world around them.  That the world is a dangerous and forbidding place, full of easily defined and categorized people (sheep, wolves, and sheepdogs being a common metaphor, with cops being the noble sheepdogs), and ultimately soul crushing becomes a core belief.  Such core beliefs lead to physical and emotional harm and, again, laughter becomes rare unless it is connected to the knowing cynicism of cop-centric humor, which can be repetitious and simplistic.  Cognitive range narrows and harm follows. 

For many who find themselves stagnating emotionally and intellectually, the cure is simple and relatively inexpensive, but the benefits vast.  Simply seeking out laughter, and in variety, leads to improved physical and emotional health, as well as greater cognitive function.  The best part is you don’t have to be particularly funny yourself; watching and laughing at other people (comedians, sitcoms, movies, etc) being funny has direct benefits in each of these areas.

Research has shown direct benefits to the body, such as increased vascular flexibility and prompting the release of endorphins, important to alleviate or prevent depression, and human growth hormone, benefitting immunity.  The release of endorphins also helps alleviate pain and discomfort, and vascular flexibility aids in more efficient blood flow.  (Manning-Schaffel, Vivian, “This is What Comedy Dos to Your Brain,” August 14, 2017)

Manning-Schaffel continues:

Aside from helping to de-stress you, comedy can chill you out and give you perspective. “Simply being exposed to humor before an unpleasant event helps us deal with that event in a healthy way,” he says. But there’s a caveat: Light, “socially facilitative” humor, such as what you might see on an episode of “Friends,” appears to be far healthier for you than self-deprecating or dark humor, which isn’t so great for your psyche because it can facilitate negative feelings.

In addition to the endorphins, which happen to be the same “pleasure chemicals” released after exercising, enjoying a favorite meal, or having sex, laughter triggers the emotional reward center in our brains, causing a release of dopamine and serotonin to lift mood and ward off depression.  Being able to find humor in the everyday events of our lives – even the bad ones – and laugh is one of the key components to building resilience.

But laughter also reduces the level of the stress hormones cortisol, epinephrine, and dopac, each of which contributes to negative physical and emotional outcomes.  Even the anticipation of laughing can reduce these hormones significantly to our benefit. 

The release of beneficial hormones and reduction of other harmful to physical and emotional wellbeing is one aspect, but what about the direct effect within the brain?  Exercising the brain, keeping it active and limber, is essential to maintaining its health and function, widening its experiences and how it responds to challenges, and continued neural development.  Watching and interpreting comedy is a highly effective way to do all these critical functions, with the added benefit of exposing oneself to unique and creative takes on existing issues.  

In her article “Is There a Scientific Formula for Funny” Cristin Conger wrote:

A team of scientists at Dartmouth hooked study participants up to an fMRI machine and watched what lit up during episodes of "Seinfeld" and "The Simpsons". Although the people might not have laughed out loud at Kramer's antics or Bart's sassy responses, the fMRI provide a sneak peek into how we process comedic material. In that experiment, the researchers detected a two-part detection and appreciation process. Joke detection occurred in the left inferior frontal and posterior temporal cortices on the left side of the brain. The left side of the brain helps us sort through novel or unexpected information and cross-reference it to information already stored in our memories…. this brain function helps us make sense of situational contrasts and their unexpected resolutions -- i.e., the jokes. Once our brains process the content of the joke, the appreciation happens in the insular cortex and amygdala, which help regulate our emotions.

Similar MRI and fMRI experimentation indicates that verbal jokes and pratfalls require preliminary language processing, although different types involve different brain areas in the left hemisphere. For example, semantic jokes characterized by incongruity and resolution ("How do you keep an elephant from charging? Take away his credit card.") activate the temporal lobe that helps our brains sort through ambiguous or contrasting information and outcomes. Meanwhile, puns energize Broca's area, the brain's language control center. Well-known jokes of the "Guy walks in a bar…" variety jolt the brain's frontal lobe, which is associated with higher cognitive functioning.

-         From “Is There a Scientific Formula for Funny?” Cristin Conger

Studying and performing improvisational comedy as a skill is something many professionals have done to improve their own creativity, cognitive flexibility, and ability to adapt to challenges.  Improvisation is a powerful brain exercise with documented benefits for professional performers and dabblers alike, but it turns out comedy has intellectual benefits for even seemingly passive observers.  Studies of people exposed to humor and then given standardized tests to measure problem solving abilities fare significantly better than a control group asked to simply sit quietly or otherwise occupy themselves before taking the same tests.  The exact mechanism for this isn’t completely known, but that exposure to other people being funny – whether deliberately so (professional comics creating) or accidently (watching humorous outtakes or “bloopers”) – somehow increases the brain’s reasoning and problem-solving abilities seems clear. 

The world cops inhabit can be forbidding, cruel, and dangerous, and the effects of navigating it may have serious consequences over time.  Finding the funny in life whether within themselves or by watching creative professionals, can be a powerful antidote, and it might even make you smarter.