Worry Too Much? Now You Can Laugh It Off

But don’t be a cynic

Researchers have studied the impact of humour on pathological worry and psychological well-being. It’s good news. Having a positive sense of humour can impact your ability to regulate your emotions!

It is well-known that emergency workers often have a dark, ‘morbid’ type of humour. This is how they cope with facing the worst of humanity every day. The pandemic brought out the worrier in most of us. Anxiety and mood disorders appear to have increased in line with infection rates.

Since the pandemic refuses to let go, we need better coping strategies to get through this winter.

I say it’s time to laugh more. New research suggests that “people who habitually worry when facing a stressful situation may utilize positive forms of humor to enhance their wellbeing and be able to find an alternative way to deal with worry.”

Don’t Forget To Share Those Memes!

At the start of the pandemic, when everyone was hoarding toilet rolls and flour, the Internet filled up with memes as people tried to cope with this impending doom forced down our throats through every news outlet.

The good news is that researchers have also found that viewing memes can have psychologically beneficial effects!

Viewing memes generated higher levels of positive emotions such as feeling calm, relaxed, content, amused, delighted, cheerful. Participants who experienced these positive emotions, in turn, were more likely to feel confident in their ability to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants who viewed memes with COVID-related captions were also less likely to feel nervous, stressed, and anxious about COVID-19.

It didn’t take long for memes to appear on Twitter after WHO declared Omricon a new strain of concern:

What Type of Humour Is Most Beneficial?

You might think that being able to keep laughing at anything these days is good news, but think again:

“In this research, we were able to identify which type of humor is associated with reduced worry and which type is positively correlated with wellbeing. So using humor to spread good mood and good companionship (fun) and to discover humorous discrepancies in everyday experiences (benevolent humor) are associated with lower worry and higher wellbeing. In contrast, cynicism (aimed at devaluing commonly recognized values) can lead to poor wellbeing and to increased worry.”

To boost your well-being and mood, steer clear of cynicism. The researchers also found that wit, irony, sarcasm and nonsense had little impact on worry and wellbeing. This is good news for me!

There you go. Back to Twitter we go to spread more funny memes. After all, it’s good for your mental health!

If you’re not a Twitter person, why not check out Art Bram’s guide to how you can leave self-criticism behind and embrace love and compassion!