According to Robert Roy Britt in his article "Study: Humor Makes Us Hopeful" a paper recently published for the "International Journal of Humor Research" reaffirms previous research about the contributions of humor in daily living. Those who watched a 15 minute comedy video tested more hopeful for the future than those who did not. Previous studies have shown that laughter can act as a small exercise by opening up blood vessels and even protecting against heart attacks. Other studies have shown that humor relieves stress and contributes to a person's overall well-being. But above all humor stops a negative cycle of thought, something antidepressants were designed to do. Humor can cause a person to see an adverse situation in a new positive and creative light.

The bottom line is, humor helps boost team morale and reflects group solidarity. Anything that lightens the mood could work to relieve an oppressive situation and some groups work harder at it than others. The old saying goes "if it happens to me it's a tragedy, if it happens to you it's comedy" is one form of humor. Another form of humor involves obscenities or swearing. As any standup comedian knows a well-placed obscenity can be very funny. Caution, obscenities can also backfire if said to the wrong person at the wrong time. You should never swear out of anger, in front of the big boss, a new person, customers/clients,an overly stressed out worker, a sensitive soul or someone not part of your workgroup. Humor also comes from unexpected occurrences and these are probably the rarest but funniest of workplace humor. Often, humor comes from the work environment itself, essential equipment not working correctly, running out of supplies, inadequate space, bad or strange food, or from a dirty workspace.

I have worked in nursing /social services for 32 years and so much of what we do is life or death, worrying constantly is a constant danger. I have worked in places before where humor was not tolerated. You could cut the tension with a knife, everybody was either angry or scared to death and at each other's throats all the time. You can't live that way. I have found that no matter how bad things get, when its all over, you can always find something humorous in the situation. In fact, you need to find something humorous or you will burn out. The sharing of a joke or story releases tension, allows a group to reaffirm their commitment to each other and raises them above the tension and fear. If you can say something humorous you own that situation it can't touch you, it can't own you, and you can forget about it. The goal of course is to get up again tomorrow and do it all over again.

Learn more about this author, Gary Gagne.
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