Monday 2
Laughter.
So after I wrote the last musing I thought I'd better share something that a friend sent me. It is an interesting link and here is part of it..
Laughier on the Brain
The physiological study of laughter has its own name -- gelotology. And we know that certain parts of the brain are responsible for certain human functions. For example, emotional responses are the function of the brain's largest region, the frontal lobe. But researchers have learned that the production of laughter is involved with various regions of the brain. While the relationship between laughter and the brain is not fully understood, researchers are making some progress.
For example, Derks traced the pattern of brainwave activity in subjects responding to humorous material. Subjects were hooked up to an electroencephalograph (EEG) and their brain activity was measured when they laughed. In each case, the brain produced a regular electrical pattern. Within four-tenths of a second of exposure to something potentially funny, an electrical wave moved through the cerebral cortex, the largest part of the brain. If the wave took a negative charge, laughter resulted. If it maintained a positive charge, no response was given, researchers said.
During the experiment, researchers observed the following specific activities:
The left side of the cortex (the layer of cells that covers the entire surface of the forebrain) analyzed the words and structure of the joke.
The brain's large frontal lobe, which is involved in social emotional responses, became very active.
The right hemisphere of the cortex carried out the intellectual analysis required to "get" the joke.
Brainwave activity then spread to the sensory processing area of the occipital lobe (the area on the back of the head that contains the cells that process visual signals).
Stimulation of the motor sections evoked physical responses to the joke.
This is different from what happens with emotional responses. Emotional responses appear to be confined to specific areas of the brain, while laughter seems to be produced via a circuit that runs through many regions of the brain. (This means that damage to any of these regions can impair one's sense of humor and response to humor, experts say.)
http://people.howstuffworks.com/laughter3.htm
So, if we deduce from this article that we do our brain a service, exercise, energize, empower, heal by laughter then we owe it to ourselves to do this laughter thing. There are laughter groups all over the country now, in fact all over the world like in India. These folk get together and laugh. It is healing. Norman Cousins in his study found that laughing increased the healing cells in his body.
Last week I was with a group of clergywomen and on more than one occasion we found ourselves laughing. Not at anyone, not about jokes, but on the funny-ness of our lives and the happenings. It was great fun and healing for us all. When I saw one of the clergywomen who was about 6 weeks from the birth of her daughter, that was great laughter and joy.
Find a way to laugh. I suggest Sesame Street or a funny movie that you know will turn out well and laugh.
Seriously---ha ha ---laugh
God abides
Bobbie Giltz McGarey
@2006 part 2
So after I wrote the last musing I thought I'd better share something that a friend sent me. It is an interesting link and here is part of it..
Laughier on the Brain
The physiological study of laughter has its own name -- gelotology. And we know that certain parts of the brain are responsible for certain human functions. For example, emotional responses are the function of the brain's largest region, the frontal lobe. But researchers have learned that the production of laughter is involved with various regions of the brain. While the relationship between laughter and the brain is not fully understood, researchers are making some progress.
For example, Derks traced the pattern of brainwave activity in subjects responding to humorous material. Subjects were hooked up to an electroencephalograph (EEG) and their brain activity was measured when they laughed. In each case, the brain produced a regular electrical pattern. Within four-tenths of a second of exposure to something potentially funny, an electrical wave moved through the cerebral cortex, the largest part of the brain. If the wave took a negative charge, laughter resulted. If it maintained a positive charge, no response was given, researchers said.
During the experiment, researchers observed the following specific activities:
The left side of the cortex (the layer of cells that covers the entire surface of the forebrain) analyzed the words and structure of the joke.
The brain's large frontal lobe, which is involved in social emotional responses, became very active.
The right hemisphere of the cortex carried out the intellectual analysis required to "get" the joke.
Brainwave activity then spread to the sensory processing area of the occipital lobe (the area on the back of the head that contains the cells that process visual signals).
Stimulation of the motor sections evoked physical responses to the joke.
This is different from what happens with emotional responses. Emotional responses appear to be confined to specific areas of the brain, while laughter seems to be produced via a circuit that runs through many regions of the brain. (This means that damage to any of these regions can impair one's sense of humor and response to humor, experts say.)
http://people.howstuffworks.com/laughter3.htm
So, if we deduce from this article that we do our brain a service, exercise, energize, empower, heal by laughter then we owe it to ourselves to do this laughter thing. There are laughter groups all over the country now, in fact all over the world like in India. These folk get together and laugh. It is healing. Norman Cousins in his study found that laughing increased the healing cells in his body.
Last week I was with a group of clergywomen and on more than one occasion we found ourselves laughing. Not at anyone, not about jokes, but on the funny-ness of our lives and the happenings. It was great fun and healing for us all. When I saw one of the clergywomen who was about 6 weeks from the birth of her daughter, that was great laughter and joy.
Find a way to laugh. I suggest Sesame Street or a funny movie that you know will turn out well and laugh.
Seriously---ha ha ---laugh
God abides
Bobbie Giltz McGarey
@2006 part 2
posted by Bobbie Giltz McGarey at
7:34 PM
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