Did you grow up with HUMOR?

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ninerbuff
ninerbuff Posts: 48,683 Member
in Chit-Chat
Here's a study currently going on at Stanford University. I heard this on the radio and had to look it up.
“Humor is a very important component of emotional health, maintaining relationships, developing cognitive function and perhaps even medical health,” said Allan Reiss, MD, who directs the Center for Interdisciplinary Brain Sciences Research at Stanford. Reiss is the senior author of a study describing the new findings, published Feb. 1 in the Journal of Neuroscience.

As an important component of positive emotion, a strong sense of humor may help children to be more resilient, added Reiss, who is also a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, of radiology and of pediatrics at Stanford and at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital. “In particular, we think a balanced and consistent sense of humor may help children negotiate the difficult period of pre-adolescence and adolescence,” he said.

http://med.stanford.edu/ism/2012/january/reiss.html
I was a class clown myself (but a 3.5 GPA..........it's an Asian requirement) and have ALWAYS been resilient in school even when labeled as a "major geek" by the more "athletic" boys.
But is it coincidence that people who may not have as much humor in there lives end up having less friends, may be more susceptible to depression and of course weight gain?
I just thought it was interesting to read.

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Replies

  • tigersword
    tigersword Posts: 8,059 Member
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    Sounds logical to me, my sense of humor is what got me through my teens. Life is laughter, otherwise, why bother?
  • batalina
    batalina Posts: 209 Member
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    i definitely grew up with a sense of humor -- i can trace most aspects of my particular sense of it to my dad, my mom (who we sometimes accuse of not having one, but she totally does), my brother, and british books/television, lol. i'm very thankful to have my sense of humor because it prevents me from taking myself too seriously. i think a huge problem with most people in the world is that they take themselves too freakin' seriously! every little thing gets to them. they are not -- as the article said -- resilient. i've been through a lot of things most of my peers have not had to deal with, and i wouldn't be doing nearly as well as i am, or feeling as blessed as i feel, if not for my ability to laugh at myself and the world around me, that was fostered in me from an early age :)
  • Bahet
    Bahet Posts: 1,254 Member
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    Definitely. Still do. I grew up in a Polish family that told Polock jokes. Ditto Catholic/Catholic jokes. I have a strong dry wit/sarcasm streak from my dad too. I don't understand people who have no sense of humor or who get "offended" over every little thing. I want to tell them to take the broom stick out of their butt.

    We grew up making fun of each other. It wasn't mean though. None of us took it seriously. I can't imagine how awful it would have been if we had one of those uptight, shrewish, stick in the mud types in our family. Gah. Some of my best memories are laughing with my mom about my dad or my sisters until we couldn't breathe anymore. My mom's complete inability to take a decent photograph is a long running joke. Having a family of 5 who all had a great sense of humor made our house a happy place to be. I've always imparted that on hubby and our kids. None of us are uptight either. There is always laughter in our home. I thank my parents for that. In fact, I think I'll call them later and actually thank them. :smile: Then mom and I will laugh at something silly my dad did like we usually do. :laugh:
  • sabified
    sabified Posts: 1,051 Member
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    Intuitively that makes a lot of sense to me... but that may be the psyc minor I did talking :) I knew those positive psychology classes would come in handy :D
  • JDviant
    JDviant Posts: 92 Member
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    I assumed this was about the dividing line for the younger members on who did/didn't get to see Looney Toons on tv growing up. I did, so i have plenty of humour.
  • johnlatv
    johnlatv Posts: 655 Member
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    i am not sure where i got my sense of humor, but i remember trying to write jokes while i was walking to school. My dream was always to do stand-up.
  • Amysgetnfit
    Amysgetnfit Posts: 231
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    Wit & Humor yes.... but lots of sarcasm too.its like a second language.
    but I agree those things are a great coping mechanism for when times get hard...not just in adolescence.
  • AmberJslimsAWAY
    AmberJslimsAWAY Posts: 2,468 Member
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    :laugh: My sense of humor gets me in trouble, and now my son, the class clown (he get's it honestly) is finding out how quickly his humor gets him in trouble.
  • DWilbanks
    DWilbanks Posts: 420 Member
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    Yep, both parents had an awesome sense of humor. My dad's was really out there. When I was young we lived out in the country in the middle of no where up and way back on a hill. Well one night my father decided to play a practical joke on my mother. He shut off the car at the end of the drive way and walked up the drive so we wouldn't hear him arrive. Once at the house he proceeded to scratch at the window. My mother would yell out who's there and he'd just moan. After about 4 times of this my mother was getting a little worried seeing as how she thought she was home alone with 5 kids. Mother then went out the back door really quiet and walked around to the front of the house, I might add with shotgun in tow. Once she saw who it was, she quietly went back in the house. She waited for the next scratching sound, she barged through the front door onto the porch, aimed the gun for the sky and fired off a round. My dad couldn't yell loud enough to annouce his presence after that. They were always pulling pranks on one another and making jokes. I do miss them.
  • PegasusDeb
    PegasusDeb Posts: 665 Member
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    Yep, my dad is a hoot! Mom is a bit dryer, but still there. My gr'pa (dad's side) was a riot too. Miss his stories. It's funny because I don't think I'm any funnier now then I was in school, but I have alot of people tell me on FB that they "didn't know I was so funny". Maybe it's cuz back then you wouldn't give me the time of day because I wasn't "popular"! lol

    I grew up on humor & music! Can't beat that combo! :heart:
  • Bahet
    Bahet Posts: 1,254 Member
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    Yep, both parents had an awesome sense of humor. My dad's was really out there. When I was young we lived out in the country in the middle of no where up and way back on a hill. Well one night my father decided to play a practical joke on my mother. He shut off the car at the end of the drive way and walked up the drive so we wouldn't hear him arrive. Once at the house he proceeded to scratch at the window. My mother would yell out who's there and he'd just moan. After about 4 times of this my mother was getting a little worried seeing as how she thought she was home alone with 5 kids. Mother then went out the back door really quiet and walked around to the front of the house, I might add with shotgun in tow. Once she saw who it was, she quietly went back in the house. She waited for the next scratching sound, she barged through the front door onto the porch, aimed the gun for the sky and fired off a round. My dad couldn't yell loud enough to annouce his presence after that. They were always pulling pranks on one another and making jokes. I do miss them.
    LOVE IT!! :laugh:
  • paulamarsden
    paulamarsden Posts: 483 Member
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    mine and my brothers are exactly the same, good old british sarcasm and timing.

    my mum and dad arent overly funny people, but they laugh alot.
  • chinamonkey
    chinamonkey Posts: 90 Member
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    Completley agree!

    I have a liverpudlian father and with one of them you cant NOT have a sense of humour...

    Most days if i didnt laugh I would cry!

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