Certified Humor Professional and Recreation and Humor Therapist Roberta Gold’s Laughter for the Health of it programs for schools, colleges and universities was developed as the result of studies such as those conducted by the American Psychological Association. Specifically, research has begun to clearly illustrate that:
“…researchers have known that behavioral and psychological events can influence the immune system. But now new research shows that the immune system sends signals to the brain “that potently alter neural activity and thereby alter everything that flows from neural activity, mainly behavior, thought and mood,” said Maier, professor of psychology at the University of Colorado.
In a real, true sense, stress makes you physically sick,” explained Maier. “In addition, many of the changes over time in mood and cognition from day to day are driven by events in the immune system of which we are unaware.”
In addition, the emerging science from studies in the field of psychoneuroimmunology reinforce these findings. Psychoneuroimmunology (PNI), is defined as:
Consequently, Laughter for the Health of it focuses on laughter and humor since these are the most universal and visible forms of positive emotions that human beings can express. The importance of being able to laugh in the face of stressful and challenging situations is gaining worldwide recognition.
Laughter for the Health of it provides the following services for schools.
- In-house services for teachers and staff members with hands-on involvement so they can then utilize the techniques learned for themselves as well as with their students.
- Conducting stress reduction programs for students whereby we teach them how to build resiliency using Laughter for the Health of it techniques, rather than falling into aggressive or violent behavioral patterns.
- Teaching schools and educators how to show students how to use humor as resiliency in dealing with bullies.
Laughter for the Health of it provides schools with the tools necessary to deal with life’s difficulties and stress, and to prevent school campus conflicts from escalating into more serious manifestations.