These days, a sense of humour is more important than ever. As comedian Bill Cosby once said, “You can turn painful situations around through laughter. If you can find humour in anything, even poverty, you can survive it.”

Humour and Well-Being

According to humour motivational speaker Gerry Hopman, “humour and laughter are the most undervalued and underrated tools in society.” Hopman’s site is chock-full of information, anecdotes and advice regarding the use of humour, as well as some startling statistics. For example, Hopman claims that while children tend to laugh an average of 400 times a day, 64% of people smile less than 20 times a day at home, and 72% smile less than 20 times a day at work. In the 1950s, people laughed an average of 18 minutes per day, whereas today’s average is in the realm of 4-6 minutes per day – on a good day. When you then look at the health benefits of laughter, the importance of keeping a sense of humour and having a regular laugh – even in difficult times – becomes paramount.

Another proponent of humour as a means of well-being, Ron Culberson of Funsulting, etc., suggests using humour as a way to shut out the internal noise that can distract us during the day and keep us from focusing on what really matters.

Humour in the Workplace

The Levity Effect: Why it Pays to Lighten Up is the culmination of ten years of research by Adrian Gostick and Scott Christopher. Here the authors show how important a sense of humour can be in communicating messages, building camaraderie and encouraging creativity in the workplace.

This article at Between Us further confirms the importance of a work setting that allows room for humour, which then helps to build communication and trust between employees. The author cites a reference from the Harvard Business Review showing that the most successful and highest paid executives are the ones with a sense of humour. In addition, according to the Great Place to Work Institute, Fortune’s Top 100 places to work are renowned for having a very high percentage of employees who say they have fun at work.

Getting Through the Hard Times

Finally, in the midst of today’s global crisis, it’s good to be reminded now and then of how important humour is for gaining perspective. Blogger Dave Trott relates how Edward Murrow discovered the remarkable British humour which strengthened the nation’s citizens during the second world war. And in this New Atlanticist article, Neil Richard Leslie shares some of the “gallows humour” that has appeared over the past six months. Read it and you’ll get a good laugh– regardless of the state of your 401K.

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