The Art of Taking It Easy: How to Cope with Bears, Traffic, and the Rest of Life's Stressors

by Brian King

Having a sense of humor means being able to understand things in multiple ways, and this is incredibly helpful in overcoming stress. As I have mentioned, inner areas of our brain may misinterpret a stimulus as a potential threat, thereby engaging our stress response, but our prefrontal cortex has the ability to override this system by thinking differently. I know a guy who wrote an entire book on the mental and physical benefits of humor, but from my perspective this is the exact purpose of humor.67 It helps keep the brain from becoming unnecessarily stressed. Most theories of humor are consistent with this view as well, whether it is believed to reduce tension or to serve as a defense mechanism. Humor is even used by some other species as a means to help reduce aggression in social settings.68 There are a lot of benefits of humor, but I believe stress management is the most important.