Laugh more often...

From my Laugh More Often board on Pinterest

I've been reading the "Psychology of Wellbeing" blog lately, which gathers quite a lot of useful research all in one handy spot.  Of particular interest was a recent post on the affect of laughter and humor on our well-being.  Of particular interest was Fabian Gander, Rene Proyer and Tobias Wyss creation of a "three funny things" test design.  They wanted to create something similar to Seligman's "three good things" research, which has show the positive correlation between finding 3 good things in your daily life and the overall positive effect that has on mood.  Gander, Pryer, and Wyss wanted to know what the overall effect would be of looking for 3 funny things on a daily bases.  Their research showed that participants who wrote down three funny things daily showed significantly higher happiness three months after the exercise and significantly lower depressive symptoms at 1 month, 3 months and 6 months afterward.  Seems like looking for funny things might be a good idea!

So in the interest of science or my own good humor, I decided I needed a new board on Pinterest, one devoted to laughter or to things that make me laugh.  Then I can review it at any point during the day and see what the overall effect is on my sense of well being.

Want more humor and well being research?  Here you go:  

Laughter in a Time of Turmoil: Humor as Spiritual Practice by Richard P. Olson

Laughter: A Scientific Investigation by Robert Provine

Cognitive neuroscientist Sophie Scott examines laughter and social bonding.

Robin Dunbar, psychologist from Oxford, says that the physical contractions of laughter trigger the release of endorphins in the brain (and of course that's never a bad thing).

The Association for Applied and Therapeutic Humor is an organization dedicated to providing evidence based information on practical applications of humor.

Try this: find three funny things a day and see what happens, or just look at my pinterest board once a day and let me know how you feel!