“With the fearful strain that is on me night and day, if I did not laugh, I should die and you need this medicine as much as I do.”
Abraham Lincoln, speaking to his cabinet members, 1862
Forests burning, hurricanes multiplying, America’s racial history haunting us, the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, election worries and economic woes — people today are facing our own fearful strains.
Yet, while some of us might be hesitant to crack a joke or share a funny animal video, we need humor now more than ever.
Among its many health benefits, laughter can increase how much oxygen you breathe in, which stimulates your heart, lungs and muscles, and relieves stress.
“We’re able to take in more air when we laugh,” said family medicine physician Hans Crumpler of SharpCare Medical Group, Chula Vista. “While someone’s telling a joke, think of the tension that builds up before the punchline — the ‘ha-ha’ moment is the release of that tension.”
Handling stress with a chuckle can also help your memory and focus.
“We’re able to take in more air when we laugh,” said Dr. Hans Crumpler of SharpCare Medical Group in Chula Vista. The increased intake of oxygen stimulates the heart, lungs and muscles.
(Sharp HealthCare)
“How many times do you get to the grocery store and someone takes your parking spot, or someone cuts you off in traffic? The stress response to those kinds of aggravators can distract from why you were there,” Crumpler explained.
“The brain focuses on the aggravation. You arrive home to realize you’ve forgotten the bread or the eggs. Adding humor to the situation can distract you from that and allow you to retain your memory and primary purpose.”
Laugher can also have long-term effects, releasing stress-fighting neuropeptides that help stave off potentially more serious illnesses, according to the Mayo Clinic.
Other advantages of laughter include improving pain tolerance and easing anxiety and depression.
Laughter is contagious
Comedy is available to us on the Internet, through streaming services and on television. But many prefer their laughs live. The market size of the comedy-club industry had increased almost 2 percent every year from 2015. Then came the pandemic, and subsequent restrictions — and this steady growth came to an abrupt halt.
In San Diego, some comics were experiencing withdrawal from making people laugh — or hearing people laugh, in the case of virtual performances.
Three local stand-up comics — Alexander James, Jim Pine and Chris Espinoza — created Drive-Up Comedy, where the audience stays in their cars.
A recent Drive-Up Comedy show featured comedians Alonzo Bodden (left) and San Diegan Mal Hall.
(Courtesy of Drive-Up Comedy)
Working with the city of Escondido, Drive-Up Comedy has been presenting shows at Kit Carson Park since July. Aware that both the coronavirus and laughter are contagious, the events follow safety protocols.
“Compared to doing comedy on Zoom, there’s more response at the drive-up,” said Espinoza, a San Diego native and Lemon Grove resident. “With four people per car in 100 cars, that’s 400. You hear the honking and muffled laughter in response. It’s the closest to doing a show that you can get.”
Drive-Up Comedy started with a casual open-mike format, but it soon morphed into a drive-in comedy club, featuring comics with national profiles, as well as stand-ups from both San Diego and Los Angeles.
The next performance will be Nov. 14.
California Center for the Arts, Escondido, is also presenting socially distanced comedy through its Drive-In series, hosted by California State University San Marcos. Netflix regular Iliza Shlesinger will perform Oct. 24.
(Courtesy photo)
The California Center for the Arts, Escondido, is also presenting comedy in a drive-in format, now at California State University San Marcos. It will host the national tour of popular Netflix comedian Iliza Shlesinger on Oct. 24.
“Our Drive-Up Comedy performers are ecstatic,” Espinoza said. “As much as we need it, the audience needs it. If you’re in a good mood, you’ll live longer.”
Many medical professionals back that up, saying that a sense of humor is a contributing factor to longevity. Just look at comedians Betty White, 98, and Mel Brooks, 94.
Sharing commonality
Another big plus of humor is that it encourages human interaction. Sharing a chuckle — even virtually — can create a feeling of connection.
“When you have a similar response with someone to a stressful or absurd event, it’s a sharing of a commonality,” Crumpler said.
Audrey Hebert, who’s been doing standup for three years, agrees — in terms of both the audience and the performer. A senior at the University of California at Santa Cruz, the San Diego native splits her time between the California beach city up north and her family home in Encinitas.
San Diego native Audrey Hebert, a senior at the University of California at Santa Cruz, has done stand-up for three years and understands how shared experiences — even in a pandemic — can create a connection with the audience.
(Courtesy photo)
Hebert won the “Funniest Student in Santa Cruz” prize at a pre-pandemic competition at a club there. She finds satirical sites like The Onion and ClickHole good at finding “the absurdity in the hellhole of 2020.”
“One thing that’s cool about comedy is the relative lack of gatekeeping,” Hebert said. “You don’t need to spend a lot of money or have any training to try standup.
“Comedy attracts people of a lot of different ages and backgrounds who might not otherwise be in the same room together.”
In this year of many controversies, how should comedians tackle pertinent topics?
Drive-Up’s Espinoza said he knows that out of the several comics he performs with at each show, one will bring up politics or current crises.
“There are comedians that do it better than I do. I respect them for that,” Espinoza said. “I like being silly and giving people an opportunity to forget and enjoy the moment.”
Hebert finds that joking about national tragedies is difficult. While it’s a way to cope with tragedy, it can possibly come across as glib or unsympathetic.
“Often the humor that springs from a horrible event is less about the event itself and more about the way people react to it, or the way that people enabled it to happen,” she said. “I have jokes in my set about working in customer service during the pandemic, which is its own weird and sometimes frustrating experience that a lot of people can probably relate to.
“It helps if you can make it personal and offer your own angle on the situation.”
Sharp’s Crumpler noted that when people are going through the same experiences, such as financial problems and even the tragedy of death, laughter may feel awkward, but it is crucial.
“We need to not forget those things but not let them overwhelm us,” he said. “Humor’s a unifying factor that can points out differences of opinion in a constructive way. We need to cooperate and become communal.”
“It is fun to have fun, but you have to know how.”
Dr. Seuss, 1957
Laugh for real
Are you afraid you’re losing your sense of humor? In 2020, it’s understandable. If your usual laugh-inducing outlets aren’t helping, try learning to laugh.
“The physiology behind fake laughter is to stimulate the motion and mechanism of laughter. It’s like push-starting a car,” said Dr. Hans Crumpler of Sharp HealthCare. “Fake-laughter methods are meant to kickstart pleasure chemicals within the brain.”
You may not reach the heights of hilarity, but these suggestions may help you start chuckling again:
- Reach out to your funniest friends.
- If you have memories of absurd or comical events, try to relive it and find the humor in it.
- Print or cut out comic strips you like and hang them on the fridge or above your computer.
- Put amusing art on your screensaver.
- Practice laughing.
- Try to find the funny in your personal life — quarantine hair is a good place to start.
- Even in our socially distanced world, there are laughter yoga and laughter exercise classes. Try checking them out.
Wood is a freelance writer.
The Link LonkOctober 13, 2020 at 08:02PM
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Health benefits of a good laugh are no joke, experts say - The San Diego Union-Tribune
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