Laughter is the best medicine - humor helps to reduce stress

More laughter: Humor in the workplace helps to deal better with stress

Laughter is healthy and affects body and soul. According to experts, it can, among other things, help to strengthen the immune system, release happy hormones, prevent diseases and help against pain. To reduce stress, laughing is also excellent. This is especially true in work stress.

Better deal with aggression and stressful situations

"Humor is when you laugh anyway": this old saying is also true in the workplace in situations where many may not feel like laughing. As the Australian-New Zealand University Network / Institute Ranke-Heinemann now reported in a statement, scientists from the Australian National University (ANU) have found that even a little humor in the workplace can help to better deal with aggression and stressful situations. The research results were published in the journal Business and Psychology.

Laughter helps: A study has shown that even a little sense of humor in the workplace can help to better deal with aggression and stressful situations. (Image: Karin & Uwe Annas / fotolia.com)

Widespread problems

Stress in the workplace can make you sick.

Constant pressure, excessive demands and conflicts with supervisors or colleagues can, according to experts, lead to mental illnesses such as depression, anxiety or insomnia.

Aggressive behavior and workplace bullying are also widespread problems that affect the mental health of the victims, as Dr. David Cheng from the ANU College of Business and Economics said.

Laughter can help in stressful situations

The research results of Dr. med. Cheng and his colleagues now show that humor can reduce the negative impact of aggressive behavior on other employees.

"While avoiding inappropriate workplace behavior, such as aggressiveness, is of course the best solution, our study shows that laughter can help in stressful situations," says the study author.

For the study, the subjects were first exposed to a simulation in which they were yelled at by a colleague aggressive. Afterwards the participants either played a funny or not funny video.

"The experiment shows that witty stimuli can be helpful for people who are exposed to aggressive behavior," Dr. Cheng.

"Humor improves the victim's psychological well-being by giving him a new sense of strength. The participants felt more empowered and felt that people would rather listen to them, "the expert said.

"This is important, because aggression in the workplace, for example, by screaming, feels the attacked degraded. Humor can obviously counteract this feeling and give it new strength. "

Humor raises productivity

The study is part of a larger research project investigating the impact of laughter in the workplace. An older study by Dr. med. Cheng shows that humor can also increase productivity.

In this 2015 study, subjects had to do boring, repetitive tasks (answer simple math questions).

After a certain time, the participants took a ten-minute break. One group watched funny videos during this time.

"After the break, we told people that they could stop working anytime. Then we measured how long they continued and how well they did it, "Dr. Cheng.

"The group that saw the funny videos went on for twice as long and at the same quality level." (Ad)