Is laughter the best medicine? Well, at least it feels pretty swell, according to a new study.
The results, published in the journal Neuron, show that, in addition to activating areas associated with the perception and production of language, humour activates a network of brain structures associated with known reward systems.
Amusing cartoons activated a region of the brain, called the nucleus accumbens, that has previously been linked with happiness and with cocaine- and amphetamine-induced euphoria.
Whoa. Good comedy, man.
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That made me laugh out loud.
Suddenly Maui Wowie becomes a Hawaiian comic.
“Humour is addictive”? I don’t recall ever seeing somebody in humor withdrawal, desperate to get their next fix. It may activate reward centers in the brain, but I think it’s really stretching to say that makes it addictive.
Unless that was supposed to be funny, and I just have no sense of humor.
Bah.
I don’t know. How else do you explain the popularity of certain sitcoms?
Or, from another perspective, consider the importance of laughter and jokes in human relationships. “You taught me how to laugh again” as a cliche.
“Among those whom I like or admire, I can find no common denominator, but among those whom I love, I can: all of them make me laugh.”
— W. H. Auden (1907-1973), The Dyer’s Hand (1962)
“He deserves Paradise who makes his companions laugh.”
— The Qur’an