As evidenced by nervous laughter. Laughter and health

Events

Humans have one amazing emotion that keeps them young, improves their mood, and has recently been discovered to help cope with pain. This emotion is laughter. Other primates can laugh too, but only humans can do it from the heart. Some experts believe that in the process of evolution, laughter was the basis of speech.

The definition of this concept suggests that laughter is a reaction to funny words, gestures or physical actions (for example, tickling). This reaction includes involuntary movements of the muscles of the face and body, certain sounds, and changes in breathing rhythm. Laughter is our response to unconventional, deviant, funny situations.

The neurophysiological centers responsible for laughter are located in the “ancient” part of the cerebral cortex, which is found in many animals. This suggests that the ability to laugh is not unique to humans; animals have similar ways of expressing joy. About 10 years ago, Professor Jake Panksepp published an article in the journal Science in which he argued that many small animals also know how to laugh. According to the professor, they laugh a little differently, not the way people do. Monkeys and dogs do this by making puffing sounds, while rats make very loud squeaks. high notes, frequency up to 50 kilohertz. The presence of a “sense of humor” in rats was previously confirmed by researchers from the University of Washington.

There are many theories about the origin and functions of laughter. It doesn't need to be learned, it's an innate reaction, like sneezing. It is important to note that the ability to laugh is present in those animals that live in groups. There is a theory that Laughter is an emotional component of the herd instinct: seeing someone in an absurdly hilarious situation makes us laugh. For those who have made a mistake in any matter, laughter is a good chance not to lose status in the group.

Another theory suggests that laughter, in both humans and animals, is a way of communicating with in large groups relatives. In fact, it is better for a person to laugh in a group than alone. Loud laughter can immediately attract large number fellow tribesmen and helps unite the group. Laughter can be a protective reaction of the body that helps relieve stress. In situations of prolonged stress (for example, during exams or during problems at work), we try to joke and laugh more often. However, laughter in such situations is often tense, which is why it is called "nervous" laughter. Yet, according to experts, such Laughter has a much more beneficial effect on a person than if he kept everything to himself, not releasing tension.

Recently, scientists discovered something else interesting: laughter and a sense of humor help to endure pain. Professor Robin Dunbar from the University of Oxford and his colleagues asked a group of volunteers to watch the film, after which they experimentally measured their pain sensitivity. One group watched a comic video for 15 minutes, the other group was shown a short film about a golf competition. After this, ice was applied to the hand of each volunteer. Very cold objects in prolonged contact with the skin do not cause any danger, but cause some pain. Volunteers who watched funny video, were able to endure contact with a cold object longer.

Thus, the experimenters came to the conclusion that A sense of humor and laughter help a person endure pain and cold. Nevertheless, intellectual jokes, despite the satisfaction they can bring, had no effect on a person’s pain threshold. However, clowning, situational comedy and eccentric humor have been shown to have an analgesic effect. Such humor, according to scientists, causes a sharp increase in the amount of endorphins in the blood (proteins that are produced by brain cells and that cause feelings of pleasure). These same substances are also produced during other bright and pleasant emotions, for example, when falling in love.

Professor Dunbar put forward the theory that laughter helped our prehistoric ancestors not only cope with the difficulties of cave life, but also express warm feelings towards their relatives. The scientist intends to continue researching humor and laughter.

Text by Pavel DOCTOR

Do you know what laughter is? No, I am, of course, sure that you have a lot of experience laughing uncontrollably. You may even be good at making others laugh, but that's not the question. Laughter is an emotional reaction characteristic only of humans; no animal has yet been observed engaging in this activity. So what exactly happens in our minds when we respond to the jokes of the world around us with laughter? Why does something that seems funny to one person bring tears to another? And most importantly: what is the meaning of laughter, why do we need it? To be honest, these questions still remain one of the most interesting mysteries.

Smile, the boss loves idiots...

Obviously, laughter always coexists with positive emotions (we will not take hysterical laughter into account), and it has a kind of predecessor - a smile. With a smile, everything is more or less clear: this is a way of facial communication that allows you to show others that a person is happy, his soul is good and even cheerful (of course, if the smile is sincere, and not the usual American grin).

Many social animals use facial or other signs that perform the same function as a smile. Even a person sometimes, looking at the face of his beloved dog, can immediately understand that he is happy. However, there is no direct mimic equivalent in animals. For a long time It was believed that monkeys can smile; they sometimes make grimaces very similar to a smile. But it was later proven that the monkey's "smile" is actually an expression of fear and tension.

By the way, when they studied videos of people riding the steepest roller coasters, they discovered that the same strained monkey “smile” that escaped from the subconscious often appears on frightened human faces. A normal smile, associated with pulling up the corners of the mouth, is firmly connected with positive centers in the brain, it has even been proven feedback with these centers. If you force yourself to smile, and, despite the worst mood, you can force yourself to keep a smile on your face for 5-6 minutes (it won’t be easy), you will definitely feel that your mood has improved.

Why are we laughing?

Laughter, unlike a smile, is a much more incomprehensible phenomenon. Just think what a violent and illogical reaction this is! By its mechanism, these are just sharp deep breaths and numerous rhythmic exhalations. In this case, the process is accompanied by a powerful emotional outburst, and sometimes it can even go beyond the control of consciousness (remember whether you can always resist laughing).

To try to understand the essence of laughter, let's analyze what makes us laugh. As a rule, this is not just some good event. Only small children are capable of laughing when they are given candy or taken to the zoo. For some reason, an adult does not laugh on payday (although he smiles often). We laugh at phenomena that are somewhat strange, paradoxical, or surprising. When they tell you jokes about Stirlitz and Vovochka, these are not happy messages at all, but they are always descriptions of some unexpected, original situations.

There is a theory that laughter is a kind of defense mechanism for the brain, which turns on when faced with something illogical and incomprehensible. Evolutionarily, it arose like this: people who, at the moment of encountering a paradoxical situation, did not lose heart, but, on the contrary, expressed positive attitude, turned out to be more successful in solving the problems that arose. Therefore, this reaction became entrenched in human behavior; we can say that a sense of humor (all according to Darwin) became an evolutionary advantage. So, when you are faced with the next stupid thing that fate brings to you, laughing means saving your brain from stress.

Assigned: laugh three times a day after meals

Until now, no one can explain how exactly laughter originates and what specific changes it causes in the human body. However, the fact that these changes have a beneficial effect on health has long been a proven fact. Even the stern philosopher Immanuel Kant wrote that laughter gives a feeling of health and activates everything vitally. important processes, helps to achieve harmony of soul and body. Now all these statements are confirmed by scientific data.

On the one hand, laughter can be considered as a kind of gymnastics for the body. During laughter, 80 muscle groups actively work, including the muscles of the face, abdominals, and diaphragm. Laughing, we breathe especially deeply, renewing the supply of oxygen in the tissues, straightening the lungs, freeing the airways. It has been proven that uncontrollable laughter for five minutes not only relieves depression (which, in general, was clear even without research), but also has a beneficial effect on the functioning of the heart and lungs. Swiss physiologists somehow calculated that one minute of laughter is equivalent to a forty-minute run!

On the other hand, laughter has a very strong effect on our consciousness and has many non-obvious effects. One of the first researchers medicinal properties American neurologist William Fry was laughing. His subjects were students to whom Fry told jokes and then compared their blood tests. It was found that laughter sharply increases the number of antibodies in the blood - that is, some activation of the immune system was observed. More recent studies also confirm that the immune system of cheerful people is better able to resist, for example, the flu virus. But Austrian psychologists believe that laughter is perhaps the best therapy for patients who have suffered a stroke.

Yoga of laughter

Today "laughter therapy" has become so popular in Western countries, that one can even talk about several different clinical schools. For example, adherents of “gelotology” not only make their patients laugh, but also let them listen to recordings of other people’s laughter. There are also special laughter therapists (perhaps it would be better to call them “therapeutic clowns”) who will amuse you individually, adapting to your sense of humor. There is even a whole teaching called laughter yoga, which approaches the topic of giggling so seriously that there is no time for jokes at all.

In total, in Europe and America there are more than 800 clubs who like to improve their health through laughter. You are unlikely to find laughter therapists in our hospitals, but if you also want to be treated in this pleasant way, feel free to start making yourself and those around you happy. Here side effects there is nothing to be afraid of.

Laughter. Defense reaction of the brain

Text by Pavel LECAR

Do you know what laughter is? No, I am, of course, sure that you have a lot of experience laughing uncontrollably. You may even be good at making others laugh, but that's not the question. Laughter is an emotional reaction characteristic only of humans; no animal has yet been observed engaging in this activity. So what exactly happens in our minds when we respond to the jokes of the world around us with laughter? Why does something that seems funny to one person bring tears to another? And most importantly: what is the meaning of laughter, why do we need it? To be honest, these questions still remain one of the most interesting mysteries.

Smile, the boss loves idiots.

Obviously, laughter always coexists with positive emotions (we will not take hysterical laughter into account), and it has a kind of predecessor - a smile. With a smile, everything is more or less clear: this is a way of facial communication that allows you to show others that a person is happy, his soul is good and even cheerful (of course, if the smile is sincere, and not the usual American grin).

Many social animals use facial or other signs that perform the same function as a smile. Even a person sometimes, looking at the face of his beloved dog, can immediately understand that he is happy. However, there is no direct mimic equivalent in animals. For a long time it was believed that monkeys can smile; they sometimes make grimaces very similar to a smile. But it was later proven that the monkey “smile” is actually an expression of fear and tension.

By the way, when they studied videos of people riding the steepest roller coasters, they discovered that the same strained monkey “smile” that escaped from the subconscious often appears on frightened human faces. A normal smile, associated with pulling up the corners of the mouth, is firmly connected with positive centers in the brain; even an inverse connection with these centers has been proven. If you force yourself to smile, and, despite the worst mood, you can force yourself to keep a smile on your face for 5-6 minutes (it won’t be easy), you will definitely feel that your mood has improved.

Why are we laughing?

Laughter, unlike a smile, is a much more incomprehensible phenomenon. Just think what a violent and illogical reaction this is! By its mechanism, these are just sharp deep breaths and numerous rhythmic exhalations. In this case, the process is accompanied by a powerful emotional outburst, and sometimes it can even go beyond the control of consciousness (remember whether you can always resist laughing).

To try to understand the essence of laughter, let's analyze what makes us laugh. As a rule, this is not just some good event. Only small children are capable of laughing when they are given candy or taken to the zoo. For some reason, an adult does not laugh on payday (although he smiles often). We laugh at phenomena that are somewhat strange, paradoxical, or surprising. When they tell you jokes about Stirlitz and Vovochka, these are not happy messages at all, but they are always descriptions of some unexpected, original situations.

There is a theory that laughter is a kind of defense mechanism for the brain, activated when faced with something illogical and incomprehensible. Evolutionarily, it arose like this: people who, when confronted with a paradoxical situation, did not lose heart, but, on the contrary, expressed a positive attitude, turned out to be more successful in solving the problems that arose. Therefore, this reaction became entrenched in human behavior; we can say that a sense of humor (all according to Darwin) became an evolutionary advantage. So, when you are faced with the next stupid thing that fate throws at you, laughing means saving your brain from stress.

Assigned: laugh three times a day after meals

Until now, no one can explain how exactly laughter originates and what specific changes it causes in the human body. However, the fact that these changes have a beneficial effect on health has long been a proven fact. Even the stern philosopher Immanuel Kant wrote that laughter gives a feeling of health and activates all vital processes, contributes to the achievement of harmony of soul and body. Now all these statements are confirmed by scientific data.

On the one hand, laughter can be considered as a kind of gymnastics for the body. During laughter, 80 muscle groups actively work, including the muscles of the face, abdominals, and diaphragm. Laughing, we breathe especially deeply, renewing the supply of oxygen in the tissues, straightening the lungs, freeing the airways. It has been proven that uncontrollable laughter for five minutes not only relieves depression (which, in general, was clear even without research), but also has a beneficial effect on the functioning of the heart and lungs. Swiss physiologists somehow calculated that one minute of laughter is equivalent to a forty-minute run!

On the other hand, laughter has a very strong effect on our consciousness and has many non-obvious effects. One of the first researchers to explore the healing properties of laughter was the American neurologist William Fry. His subjects were students to whom Fry told jokes and then compared their blood tests. It was found that laughter sharply increases the number of antibodies in the blood - that is, some activation of the immune system was observed. More recent studies also confirm that the immune system of cheerful people is better able to resist, for example, the flu virus. But Austrian psychologists believe that laughter is perhaps the best therapy for patients who have suffered a stroke.

Yoga of laughter

Today, “laughter therapy” has become so popular in Western countries that one can even talk about several different clinical schools. For example, adherents of “gelotology” not only make their patients laugh, but also let them listen to recordings of other people’s laughter. There are also special laughter therapists (perhaps it would be better to call them “therapeutic clowns”) who will amuse you individually, adapting to your sense of humor. There is even a whole teaching called laughter yoga, which approaches the topic of giggling so seriously that there is no time for jokes at all.

In total, in Europe and America there are more than 800 clubs who like to improve their health through laughter. You are unlikely to find laughter therapists in our hospitals, but if you also want to be treated in this pleasant way, feel free to start making yourself and those around you happy. There are no side effects to be afraid of here.

It is well known that laughter makes people kinder; sincere laughter is a sign kind soul, and cheerful people are always nice people. During the loud infectious laughter a person works more 80 muscle groups. Laughter improves digestion and circulation, and 3 minutes of laughter replaces 15 minutes of gymnastics. This is a powerful means of activating the nervous and endocrine systems. Doctors say that in order to be healthy, you must laugh at least 3 times during the day: before breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Such a case has been described in medicine. A very rich man got sick incurable disease. The doctors tried everything on him latest achievements science, but were forced to admit the powerlessness of medicine. And before sending the patient to live out his life last days surrounded by his family, they advised him not to lose heart and laugh more. Laugh as much as his condition allows. The millionaire understood perfectly well that his days were numbered, but he ordered videotapes with all the famous comedies to be bought for him and spent whole days watching TV. He watched films that he had not had time to watch in his entire life. past life. And... he laughed! The result exceeded all expectations. A man doomed to certain death has recovered!

If the above example seems incredible to you, think about the data that scientists write about.

.When we laugh, our brain receives more oxygen due to increased blood circulation at this time.

Laughter helps saturate the body with oxygen.

.During laughter, the production of stress hormones in the human body slows down and the release of endorphins into the blood - “hormones of happiness” - increases.

Laughter makes a person happy.

.A laughing patient not only improves his mood, but also relieves pain.

Laughter can replace analgin.

.Often people suffering from inexplicable fears, finding themselves in a threatening environment, begin to breathe quickly and shallowly, aggravating their condition.

Laughter helps get rid of obsessive fears and serves as a relaxant.

.Stomach ulcer, gastritis and other unpleasant diseases, which are based on nervous tension and suppression negative emotions, need laughter therapy.

Even from a simple smile, the muscles on our face begin to contract, which in a calm state make our appearance gloomy and unfriendly.

Laughter replaces facial gymnastics, smoothing out wrinkles. He doesn't let us grow old.

Do you know that by the way you laugh you can determine not only your character, but also the characters of your friends?

Take a closer look, perhaps their laughter will tell more about them than all other observations.

If a laughing woman touches her little finger to her lips, it means that she likes to be the center of attention.

.Does your friend cover her mouth with her hand when laughing? This means she is timid and not very confident.

A girl who touches her face or head with her hand while laughing can be called a dreamer and visionary.

Do you throw your head back when laughing? Obviously, you are trusting, gullible, and have a broad nature.

If a girl wrinkles her nose when she laughs, it means that her feelings and thoughts often change. She is emotional and capricious.