Laughter Is Good for Your Brains!
Shirley K. Trout, M.Ed

     The past few years has seen an explosion of new understanding into brain development, including the ever-important "use it or lose it" reality that exists. Brain researchers are helping us understand how synapses are created that, when reinforced with repetition, are then protected from nature's periodic "brain housekeeping" cycles with a protective, chemical sheath, known as the myelin sheath. This, or course, has profound impact on persons influencing the growth and development of infants, children and youth.
    The technology involved helps us all to better understand this critical process from the micro level.
    This article suggests that laughter — when examined at a macro level of human functioning — serves much the same purpose as the myelin sheath. That is, at this "larger perspective" level, laughter actually serves as a protective cushion for emotions around a painful event, allowing it to remain in the conscious mind, yet within an emotional memory of joy rather than fear, pain or trauma.
     Parents and others who help create a developing person's worldview should learn to honor the present by wrapping events in laughter. By doing so, that adult acknowledges the pain, but wraps it in a place that the child is willing to revisit throughout his or her life. With continued access to that child's life event — even the not-so-pleasant ones — that event can eventually help the child learn about himself or herself. That life event can be a teaching tool, rather than a stumbling block.
   Suppressed fears, unresolved trauma and other unaddressed life events have the potential to socially, emotionally and/or mentally cripple even the most successful adult. Laughter that relates in some way to a fear, trauma or unpleasant life event, however, maintains that memory in a place of consciousness.
  The ability to learn from life's events is a critical sign of higher intelligence, including emotional intelligence. Parents can help their children prepare for a healthy adulthood by planting laughter in and around moments of fear, embarrassment, chaos and pain.
   One beauty of this experience is the social experience at the time. People engaged in laughter are expressing joy in their faces, their body language, and from deep within their hearts. Parents laughing quickly at a situation establish an air of confidence that helps the child see this moment as temporary and safe.
    The sounds of laughter reinforce memories of happiness. And the memories, themselves, will be revisited by members of the initial group experiencing the spontaneous moment of laughter for years to come.
   Finally, every family member learns that everyone gets their turn at creating the laughable moment because the laughter is directed at the situation, not at the person. And in life, every person is going to have moments when things are out of control. Laughter helps us all maintain balance during those out-of-balance moments — regardless of how long those "moments" last.
   And finally, the laughter binds families together. What is laughed at today has great potential for becoming a family story in the future. By locking the moment into the family memory with laughter, that moment will live forever in the lives of those who experienced it. And the shared laughter will become a family treasure as members make their exit from this earthly life.
   Help focus your family on laughter through family stories during National Families Laughing Through Stories Week, April 16 – 22, 2001. You'll be protecting your families with a protective sheath that will serve your family well for generations to come. Find out more here.