How to Use Humor to Cope With Stress

Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsHow Humor HelpsDevelop Your Sense of HumorMore Quick-Response Stress StrategiesFrequently Asked Questions

Table of ContentsView All

View All

Table of Contents

How Humor Helps

Develop Your Sense of Humor

More Quick-Response Stress Strategies

Frequently Asked Questions

Close

Although there’s no way to eliminate life’s challenges completely, using humor to cope with stress can be a healthy, effective habit. It’s not difficult, given the absurdities that pepper the average day. It just requires a bit of practice in shifting your perspective.

A sense of humor can build resilience to stress and improve your overall physical and emotional health.It can also help you:

Laughter therapy actually has been shown to reduce the physiological markers of stress and can be an effective adjunct to pharmacological treatment. In general, recent research suggests that laughter can enhance overall quality of life.

The Benefits of Making Fun of Yourself

You can cultivate your sense of humor in a few easy ways—and the more often you practice them, the more automatic they’ll become.

Start With a Smile

Even justfaking a smilecan increase happiness—and not just theappearanceof it. This is because the act of smiling, whether real or fake, causes your body to release feel-good chemicals known asendorphins. Plus, a fake smile tends to lead to a genuine one, helpinglaughtercome more easily and, in turn, quelling stress more readily.

10 Big Benefits of Smiling

Take a Step Back

When you’re in the middle of a difficult situation, it can seem overwhelming. Taking a step back, however, and viewing your situation as an objective observer can help you find the absurdity in it. This is calledreframing—and it works.

Try having a “most annoying boss” contest with your friends, or counting how many times the same frustrating event happens in a day. (“I was cut off in traffic seven times today—I’m almost up to 10.") This works well for predictable or repetitive annoying situations that you can’t control. In this way, you can come to view them in all their ridiculousness instead of letting them unnerve you.

Value the Extremes

If your situation seems ridiculously frustrating, recognize the potential humor in justhowridiculously frustrating and annoying it is. In your imagination, take the situation to an extreme that becomes even more ridiculous until you find yourself amused.

For example, while waiting in a long line, imagine that hours pass, then days, then years. Visualize loved ones visiting an elderly you or attending your child’s birthday party right there as you’re standing in line years later. Imagining this absurdity can help you find the humor in your circumstances.

Recruit Funny Friends

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Find Funny Entertainment

Humorous sitcoms, memes, and online videos are popular in part because they often push universally frustrating situations a little further to show their silly sides. Such interpretations of life can help you maintain a lighthearted attitude and find your own style of seeing the world. Look for content that skillfully susses out the humor in annoying, upsetting, or otherwise unpleasant events.

How to Face Uncomfortable Emotions With Comedian Paul Gilmartin

Laughter yoga, which combines laughter and intentional yogic breathing (pranayama), is a great way torelease stressand put more giggles into your day.If this type of class is not available to you, look for other types of yoga and relaxation strategies (meditation, tai chi,deep breathing) to minimize stress so you can build your resilience and your sense of humor.

Coping Strategies for Stress

A Word From Verywell

Humor is often helpful in managing stress, but not always. If you experiencechronic stressor frequentacute stress, your overall health depends on finding coping strategies that work for you.

Frequently Asked QuestionsFinding the absurdity is the key. For example, when you’re faced with a seemingly impossible deadline, imagine all the people involved moving as if they’re in a movie that’s been fast-forwardedMany people use humor to deal with stress simply because it works. And with practice, you can find the humor in almost any situation, defusing its ability to stress you out.

Finding the absurdity is the key. For example, when you’re faced with a seemingly impossible deadline, imagine all the people involved moving as if they’re in a movie that’s been fast-forwarded

Many people use humor to deal with stress simply because it works. And with practice, you can find the humor in almost any situation, defusing its ability to stress you out.

7 Sources

Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.

Cann A, Collette C.Sense of humor, stable affect, and psychological well-being.Europe’s Journal of Psychology. 2014;10(3):464-479. doi:10.3389/fpubh.2021.667821

Bartzik M, Bentrup A, Hill S, et al.Care for joy: evaluation of a humor intervention and its effects on stress, flow experience, work enjoyment, and meaningfulness of work.Front Public Health. 2021;9:667821. doi:10.3389/fpubh.2021.667821

Laughter therapy: A humor-induced hormonal intervention to reduce stress and anxiety.Current Research in Physiology. 2021;4:135-138. doi:10.1016/j.crphys.2021.04.002

Kraft TL, Pressman SD.Grin and Bear It: The Influence of Manipulated Facial Expression on the Stress Response.Psychol Sci. 2012;23(11):1372-1378. doi:10.1177/0956797612445312

Baqutayan S.Stress and Social Support.Indian J Psychol Med. 2011;33(1):29-34. doi:10.4103/0253-7176.85392

Tanaka A, Tokuda N, Ichihara K.Psychological and physiological effects of laughter yoga sessions in Japan: A pilot study.Nurs Health Sci. 2018;20(3):304-312. doi:10.1111/nhs.12562

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