Humor and Laughter as Stress Busters
January 4, 2016 | Posted in Leading Hartfully, Living Hartfully | By Gaia Hart
As a Certified Laughter Leader for over a decade; I feel the need to share some resources and statistics with you on the benefits of laughter at home and in the workplace to help reduce stress. Just 20-30 minutes per session of the laugh exercises help reduce stress, diminish social isolation, and improve general well-being. It’s a hoot and it’s a hit!
The Association for Applied and Therapeutic Humor: www.aath.org is a big proponent of laughter, humor in your life and the benefits of Laughter Clubs and just plain laughter. Many members are in the healthcare field and who bring humor and healing together in different environments. Others of us were speakers and facilitators who help bring humor to life and to businesses to help people deal with stress or change, or tragedy.
The organization is a leader in the scientific side of the benefits of laughter and humor. AATH is the expert resource center for research on what we all know to be true – that laughter is the best medicine and that humor helps us cope with life. In these times of change, trauma, and trepidation about the economy, it is imperative that we keep our sense of humor about what’s important and also be aware of how others may deal with these uncertainties. The morale may be on shaky ground at your organization and you may be just the catalyst that is needed to help get things back on track and one way may be to start a Laughter Club.
* Nearly 2/3 of workers experiences some level of stress at work. 50% are somewhat stressed, while an additional 13% feel extremely stressed at work and only 9% feel that they are under no stress at all at work.
* Too much work (38%) and too little time (59%) are the two most common causes of stress in the workplace.
* Fatigue is the most frequently mentioned result of work-related stress that spills over into the lives of those surveyed 67%. Nearly 50% report that impatience and moodiness caused by work also has a negative impact on their lives at home.
These statistics were reported by a survey of American workers at Careerbuilder. What are you doing at work to prevent yourself and your colleagues from becoming statistics?
Fun & Laughter at Work
June 15, 2006 | Posted in Leading Hartfully, Living Hartfully | By Gaia Hart
Mixing fun and effectiveness at work is good business. Since helping people create that type of atmosphere is my business, I have been off the blogosphere for a while to facilitate just that for some clients recently. Facilitating an executive retreat at Lake of the Ozarks and combining work in the morning with play in the afternoon was a perfect combination to rivitalize the team as well as me. There’s something about being around the water and boats that makes people happy. Have you ever noticed how everybody waves at everybody else in a boat as they pass? The blend of laughter, sun, fun and shared experiences can pull a team together and have residual effects throughout the coming months and years. Creating memories and corporate lore helps cement the bond between employees.
Here’s a sneak preview of an article on my website – the link is above….showing the benefits of laughter and fun at work.
Cheers!
Gail
What’s so funny? This is a serious situation that Americans are in up to their eyebrows in stress and it’s killing them. If we’d just lighten up a little, step back, and take time to work out our funny bone instead of our growl scowl, we’d be much more healthy both physically and emotionally.
Choose to laugh at a situation now instead of years down the road. In many instances it is only the passage of time that makes something turn from unpleasant or embarrassing to hilarious. Why not decide to look at the funny side of it earlier on? Having a sense of humor will energize you and those around you while combating stress and disease. ….. more at http://www.funcilitators.com/articles/funnybone.htm