Laugh Your Stress Away

By S. Lally

I Vocabulary work

1. Study the words.

Recoil, trigger, play up, defuse, foible, maneuver, disinterested, inanimate, the butt of a joke, stress buster, belly laugh, temporary stress release.

II Discussing the text

1. Read the text. What is the topic and the implied main idea of paragraphs 6, 7 and 9?

If fast relief is what you’re after, then laughter really is the best medicine.

1. Humor is one of the best on-the-spot stress busters around. It’s virtually impossible to belly laugh and feel bad at the same time. If you’re caught in a situation you can’t escape or change (a traffic jam, for example), then humor may be the healthiest form of temporary stress release possible.

2. Even when you can change the situation, humor helps. Research by Alice M. Isen, Ph.D., a psychologist at Cornell University, in Ithaca, New York, shows that people who had just watched a short comedy film were better able to find creative solutions to puzzling problems than people who had either just watched a film about math or had just exercised. In other studies, Dr. Isen found that shortly after watching or experiencing comedy, people were able to think more clearly and were better able to “see” the consequences of a given decision.

3. The physiological effects of a good laugh work against stress. After a slight rise in heart rate and blood pressure during the laugh itself, there’s an immediate recoil: Muscles relax and blood pressure sinks below prelaugh levels, and the brain may release endorphins, the same stress reducers that are triggered by exercise. A hearty ha-ha-ha also provides a muscle massage for facial muscles, the diaphragm and the abdomen. Studies show it even temporarily boosts levels of immunoglobulin A, a virus-fighter found in saliva.

4. While our cave-dwelling ancestors were stressed by actual life-threatening situations like bumping into a wooly mammoth, times have changed. “Nowadays, stress is usually not caused by the situation itself, but by how we perceive that situation,” says Allen Elkin, Ph.D., program director of Manhattan’s Stress Management and Counseling Centers. Getting a new perspective is what comedy is all about. Several philosophers and writers have pointed out that comedy and tragedy are different ways of looking at the same stressful event.

5. Comedy works by stepping back from a situation and playing up its absurdities. The same kind of disinterested observation makes the tale of your disastrous vacation seem funny – after you get safely home. For stress busting, the trick is to find ways to laugh at the situation while it’s happening. even if you don’t consider yourself much of a comedian, here are a few simple techniques you can use:

The Bart Simpson maneuver

6. How would your favourite cartoon character or comedian react to the situation? “Imagining what would happen can give you a chuckle, making the situation less annoying. You can even pretend you’re the star of a TV comedy, and this frustrating episode is tonight’s plot,” says Steve Allen Jr., M.D., an assistant professor of a family medicine at SUNY Health Science Center, Syracuse (yes, he’s the son of well-known comedian Steve Allen).

Ballooning

7. In your mind, consciously exaggerate the situation: Blow it completely out of proportion and into absurdity – into a comedy routine. In that long, long checkout line, don’t say “This waiting is killing me; I hate this.” Say: “I’ll never get to the front of this [line]. The woman ahead of me is covered in cobwebs. The guy in front of her grew a beard standing in line. The cashier must be part snail. The continental drift moves faster.” This maneuver helps take the edge off the situation, redirects your tension, and helps you see things as not so impossible after all. Your running commentary, however, is probably best kept to yourself. If people stare at you because you seem to be laughing for no reason, pretend you’re reading the scandal sheets. You don’t have to be a master of one-liners to be funny. There are gentle forms of humor that can defuse anxiety in a group without making anyone feel like the butt of a joke.

Pick a safe subject

8. Making fun of your own foibles can save face in an embarrassing situation – you’ll have people laughing with you, rather than at you. Inanimate sources of frustration, like computers and copying machines, are also safe objects of humor.

Lay it on the line

9. Sometimes just telling the truth or pointing out the obviuos can get a laugh. People are accustomed to exaggeration and truth bending (too many TV commercials, perhaps), so plain speaking can come as a refreshing shock. For example, after delivering a series of lengthy explanations duting a question-and-answer period, some people have been known to put everyone in stitches by simply replying to the next question with “Gee, I don’t know.” This kind of humour is a way of fighting stress by accepting our short-comings, says Joel Goodman, Ed.D., director of the HUMOR Project in Saratoga Springs, New York.

Clip a cartoon

10. Keep a file of jokes and cartoons that make you laugh. Paste a few up where you’re likely to need them – at work, on the refrigerator, wherever.

3. True or false.

1. The author believes that humor may be the healthiest way to relieve stress.

2. During a good laugh, there is a slight rise in heart rate and blood pressure.

3. After a good laugh, blood pressure returns to its prelaugh level.

4. Our cave-dwelling ancestors were stressed by life-threatening situations.

5. The trick to stress busting is find ways to laugh at the situation after it has happened.

6. Getting a new perspective is what comedy is all about.

4. Select the best answer.

1. Alice Isen, Ph.D., concluded that after watching or experiencing comedy, people

(a) felt better temporarily but then became depressed again; (b) were able to think more clearly and see the consequences of a given decision; (c) reported no difference; (d) gradually became more relaxed and cheerful.

2. The physiological effects of a good laugh include

(a) relaxation of the muscles; (b) lowering of blood pressure; (c) release of endorphins; (d) all of the above.

3. The Bart Simpson maneuver for reducing stress is to imagine

(a) yourself removed from the stressful situation; (b) yourself as Bart Simpson; (c) how your favourite cartoon character or comedian would react; (d) none of the above.

4. Ballooning, a technique to reduce stress, consists of

(a) seeing yourself attached to a balloon which is floating away from the stressful situation; (b) consciously exaggerating the situation by blowing it out of proportion into absurdity; (c) releasing your tension by inhaling and exhaling deeply; (d) visualizing your stress as a balloon that explodes and disappears.

5. Choose the right definition.

1. The physiological effects of a good laugh work against stress. Exercise has psychological benefits as well as physiological ones.

2. After a slight rise in heart rate and blood pressure during the laugh itself, there’s an immediate recoil. After he fired the powerful shotgun, the recoil knocked him backwards.

3. Muscles relax and blood pressure sinks below prelaugh levels, and the brain may release endorphins, the same stress reducers that are triggered by exercise. Exercising, eating chocolate, and being in love release endorphins in the body.

4. Muscles relax and blood pressure sinks below prelaugh levels, and the brain may release endorphins, the same stress reducers that are triggered by exercise. The rioting in the city was triggered by the judge’s unfair ruling.

5. While our cave-dwelling ancestors were stressed by actual life-threatening situations like bumping into a woolly mammoth, times have changed. Scientists do not know for sure why the mammoth disappeared.

6. The same kind of disinterested observation makes the tale of your disastrous vacaton seem funny – sfter you get safely home. Referees and umpires must be disinterested in who wins the games they officiate at.

7. The continental drift moves faster. During World War II, continental warfare enveloped nearly all of Europe.

8. This maneuver helps take the edge off the situation, redirects your tension, and helps you see things as not so impossible after all. I tried to talk the police officer out of giving me a speeding ticket by being friendly and polite, but the maneuver failed.

9. Making fun of your own foibles can save face in an embarrassing situation – you’ll have people laughing with you, rather than at you. He was a practical joker and a nonstop talker, but he was so talented that we overlooked these foibles.

10. Inanimate sources of frustration, like computers and copying machines, are also safe objects of humor. The actor’s performance was so stiff that he seemed almost inanimate.

III Follow-up activities

The author of the text says, “Stress is not usually caused by the situation itself, but by how we perceive the situation.” Suppose that you are to give a presentation in one of your classes. A few minutes before class, someone spills coffee on you in the cafeteria. You have a large coffee stain on your shirt, but there is no time to change before class.

1. Explain at least two ways you could perceive the situation.

2. Now explain how you could apply one or more of the five stress-busting techniques to help you deal with the situation.

3. Develop an original technique for stress-busting. (It must be safe and legal!)

4. What is the most important overall message the writer wants the reader to understand about stress?

Date: 2015-01-02; view: 1327