Humor at workplace

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Humor at workplace
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WORLDS 1 HEALTH PROBLEM

• Time magazine's June 6, 1983 cover story called
  stress "The Epidemic of the Eighties" and
  referred to it as our leading health problem
  there can be little doubt that the situation has
  progressively worsened since then. Numerous
  surveys confirm that adult Americans perceive
  they are under much more stress than a decade or
  two ago. A 1996 Prevention magazine survey found
  that almost 75 feel they have "great stress" one
  day a week with one out of three indicating they
  feel this way more than twice a week. In the
  same 1983 survey only 55 said they felt under
  great stress on a weekly basis. It has been
  estimated that 75 - 90 percent of all visits to
  primary care physicians are for stress related
  problems.
• www.stress.org/problem.htm

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FINDING HUMOR IN UNPLEASANT SITUATIONS

• Have you ever had one of those days?
• What could cause it?

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SO WHY IS HUMOR LAUGHTER GOOD FOR US!

• It allows us to be creative, work harder and be
  more comfortable.
• It decreases isolation. Laugher allows us to bond
  with other people and ease our loneliness.
• Its contagious. Laughter creates laughter.
• Its universal. Everybody can laugh. Human
  beings are born with the gift of laughter.
• It reduces aggression and conflict.
• It relieves anxiety. One cannot laugh and be
  afraid simultaneously. Its physically
  impossible. Laughter also shrinks the source and
  size of your fears.
• Above all else, its fun. It gives us back our
  playfulness, a characteristic of all mankind.
• Laughter is a natural, physical process which
  releases pain, physically and emotionally.
• www.laughtertherapy.com

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BENEFITS OF HUMOR/LAUGHTER

• What are the health benefits of humor and
  laughter?
• Reduce stress
• Lower blood pressure
• Elevate mood
• Boost immune system
• Improve brain functioning
• Protect the heart
• Connect you to others
• Foster instant relaxation
• Make you feel good
• http//helpguide.or
  g/life/humor_laughter_health.htm

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Laughter - Still the Best Medicine

• Health benefits of humor laughter
• Adults laugh approximately 15 times per
  day, while children laugh about 400 times a day.
• Dr. Stanley Tan, Endocrinologist at Californias
  Loma Linda University Medical Center states All
  these neuro-hormones act like an orchestra, each
  instrument makes a particular note. Laughter
  makes the entire orchestra more melodious or
  balanced. In other words, laughter brings to all
  the components of the immune system.

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HUMOR IN THE WORKPLACE

• Humor, the joy of jocularity, has benefits that
  are actually measurable. The University of
  Southern California has tested subjects both
  before and after a through laugh session and
  found that laughing lowers the blood pressure,
  releases natural pain killers (endorphins), and
  boosts the immune system. Not bad for having
  fun!
• Some of the correlations on the relaxing power of
  laughter
• 100 laughs 10 minutes of aerobic benefits
  from a rowing machine
• 15 minutes of laughter relaxing effect of
  meditation for 8 hours
• 10 minutes of laughter relaxing effect of
  2 hours sleep
• We can see the future of medicine now.Take two
  television comedy programs and call me in the
  morning.
• Humor In The Workplace, Brian and Kelly
  Craft, Innovative Leader, Vol. 6, No. 5

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A TWELVE-STEP METHOD TO FUN

• 1. Start with yourself.
• 2. Inspire fun in others.
• 3. Create an environment that encourages fun.
• 4. Celebrate the benefits of fun.
• 5. Eliminate boundaries and obstacles that
  inhibit fun.
• 6. Look for the humor in your situations.
• 7. Follow your intuition-Be spontaneous.
• 8. Dont postpone your fun.
• 9. Make fun inclusive.
• 10. Smile and laugh a lot.
• 11. Become known as Fun Loving.
• 12. Put fun into action.
• Dave Hemsath Leslie Yerkes, 301 Ways to Have
  Fun at Work

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THINGS YOU CAN DO TO PUT MORE FUN/HUMOR IN YOUR
LIFE? -CPRS 2005

• 2 different shoes or sox
• Air guitar
• Any eating contest
• Be a kid at heart
• Belly flop contest
• Bubble blowing
• Charades
• Comedy night
• Comics
• Cook funny receipts
• Dance funky
• Dog park
• Doodle
• Draw cartoons
• Face finger painting
• Food fight
• Funny costumes
• Funny faces
• Funny movies

• Juggling
• Karaoke
• Lip synch
• Magic tricks
• Mascot
• Most embarrassing moment
• Nicknames
• Paste pictures on different bodies
• People watching
• Pig Latin
• Pillow fight
• Pranks
• Put on puppet show
• Roast
• Silly hats
• Silly tales stories
• Skits
• Slip-n-slide
• Smile

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HUMOR / LAUGHTER ACTION PLAN

• What can I do immediately to increase my
  humor/laughter? Personally? Work?
• (be specific)
• ACTION
• What can I do long range to increase my
  humor/laughter? Personally? Work?
• (be specific)
• ACTION

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HUMOR / LAUGHTER IDEAS

• HUMOR KIT
• Funny pictures (family, friends, goofy ones,
  etc.)
• Collect cartoons (newspaper, magazines, cards,
  etc.)
• Noses (clown, Pinocchio, etc.)
• Funny items (Groucho glasses, hates, shirts,
  etc.)
• Noise makers
• Posters (3 Stooges, Laurel Hardey, etc.)
• Audio video tapes (comedy, storytellers, etc.)
• Collect and send funny cards letters
• Dress funny days at work or running races
• Read funny books Erma Bombeck, Peanuts,
  Calvin Hobbes, etc.
• Collect humorous quotes
• Find humorous people to talk to and be with
• Try telling funny incidence
• Observe life and people for funny situations and
  examples (i.e shopping mall)
• Lighten Up

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THOUGHTS TO PONDER!

• Live is uncertaineat dessert first!
• Dont Postpone Joy!
• One of the best things people can have up their
  sleeves is a funny bone.
• Humorists always sit at the childrens table.
• The most wasted day of all is that on which we
  have not laughed.
• You grow up the day you have your first real
  laugh-at yourself.
• A playful attitude is best.
• Without laughter, the spiritual path would be
  boring.
• Laughter is free, legal, has no calories, no
  cholesterol, no preservatives, no artificial
  ingredients, absolutely safe.
• Laughter is the shortest distance between two
  people.
• Good humor is goodness and wisdom combined.
• An optimist laughs to forget a pessimist forgets
  to laugh.
• Laughter is the natural sound of childhood.
• Humor is a fine teaching tool. People learn when
  they are enjoying themselves.
• Laughter is the jest medicine.
• Managing to have a sense of humor makes it a lot
  easier to manage people.
• It is more important to have fun than it is to be
  funny.
• S/He who laughs, lasts.
• In prehistoric times, mankind often had only two
  choices in crisis situations fight or flee. In
  modern times, humor offers us a third
  alternative fight, flee--or laugh.