How to contain laughter at a crucial moment? It seems that everyone has had a situation when, at a crucial or tense moment, they wanted to laugh heartily, without having a reason to do so. Excitement, stress, panic - our psyche is trying to protect us, but we have no time for this when some important issue is at stake?
Even a subtle “hee hee” can be heard by your boss and completely misunderstood. Someone may be seriously offended by your causeless laughter. Laughter is great, but only when it's appropriate. How to contain your laughter and smile? What advice can psychologists give you?
How to contain your laughter?
Although they say that laughter prolongs life and you need to laugh more often, it is worth noting that a joyful facial expression or laughter is not always appropriate and it is unlikely that they can be justified with a saying. People around you may not understand your chuckle, think that you are laughing at them, or may not realize the importance of the conversation. When you suddenly want to laugh, try to calm down, force your brain to concentrate on the moment, try to realize the importance of what is happening.
Possible reasons
Sudden bouts of laughter may indicate the presence of schizophrenia.
The appearance of sudden bouts of laughter can be caused by various factors. We will look at the most common options.
- Manifestation of a mental disorder, in particular schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. In this case, sudden bouts of laughter can be replaced by aggression, hyperactivity, and the appearance of hallucinations is possible.
- Tourette's syndrome. First noted in childhood. Characterized by the appearance of uncontrolled movements, behavioral disturbances, vocal tics, a person may shout obscenities or curses, grimace, repeat himself, or laugh.
- Angelman syndrome. It develops against the background of a genetic defect, namely the absence of part of the 15th chromosome. Such a person constantly has a smile on his face, problems with speech, poor coordination, and 80% of patients have epileptic seizures.
- The presence of epilepsy can also provoke attacks of laughter. This manifestation may also indicate the presence of a cyst or tumor in the brain, and sometimes an acute stroke.
- Laughter for no apparent reason is possible with the development of Lou Gehrig's disease or multiple sclerosis. In the early stages it can also be observed in Alzheimer's disease.
- The body's response to severe stress and grief. This is how a person can laugh when he hears about the death of a loved one or while at a funeral. This will be a shock laugh, an inability to control your emotional state.
- Unreasonable laughter may be a symptom of dementia.
- Taking certain medications or drugs can cause inappropriate laughter.
Think about something sad
Getting distracted during an important conversation is bad advice, but still, if you are wondering how to hold back your laughter, think about something bad, sad, a tragic event or a sad ending to a movie, the chorus of a sad song. Think about what would make you cry. Although this is unpleasant, it is effective, even when it is impossible to contain your laughter.
When sad thoughts don't help, think about something scary, like a scene from a horror movie. Scientists have studied and proven that adrenaline (the fear hormone) is much stronger than endorphins. He will easily calm your unreasonable desire to laugh.
Immunity will be strengthened
Smiling causes the body to produce white blood cells - leukocytes - faster. Leukocytes are one of the key soldiers of the immune system: they are responsible for protecting the body from viruses, bacteria and other infections. The more quickly the body can produce white blood cells in response to a threat, the greater the immunity. Research “Does happiness help healing?” Immune response of hospitalized children may change during visits of the Smiling Hospital Foundation's Artists, conducted with the participation of children in hospitals, demonstrate: in hospitalized children who are visited by animators and clowns, making them smile, the level of white blood cells is higher than in children who are not having fun.
Pinch yourself
An unpleasant and strong physical sensation will help your brain switch gears and forget about laughing. Pinch your arm, bite your lip or the inside of your cheek, apply pressure to a bruise, bruise - do something that will bring discomfort to your body and change your focus. The technique will help you switch for only a few seconds, but this is enough to suppress laughter.
I constantly laugh at stupid things - what to do?
First of all, it’s worth figuring out what things are considered stupid and funny. Most often they laugh at specific situations, with or without reason. For some people, the clothes and behavior of a certain person cause laughter. It is recommended to meet with this type less often until the ability to restrain yourself appears. Psychotherapists advise avoiding confusing situations and not taking part in them, taking the role of a witness.
If we talk about stupidity, it is associated with weakness of mental abilities or ignorance of what is associated with professions other than his own. By laughing at this, a person exhibits an attitude of satire by ridiculing and humiliating others. Cute ways of humiliation include practical jokes or hoaxes, then laughing at the stupidity shown.
Actually, stupidity is considered a relative concept, because no one recognizes himself as a fool by transferring this concept to another.
In order not to laugh at stupidity, you should refrain from blaming your interlocutor and pointing out the mistake he made. At the same time, do not forget that every person is capable of making mistakes. The main thing is not to block the escape route. When meeting an ignorant person, there is no need to waste your own energy bringing new arguments. Trying to find the rightness, you will have to study the area of the dispute.
People often hide self-doubt behind laughter.
Exhale
Exhaling is another way to control your laughter. The lung-emptying, maximal exhalation works in a variety of situations, and is what you need to calm down and get your thoughts in order. In addition, physiology also plays a role in this method of suppressing laughter: in order to laugh, a person needs a large amount of air. How correctly, having emptied your lungs, you will have - so to speak - nothing to laugh about. After exhaling, clear your throat. A cough may distract the attention of those sitting next to you from the conversation, but it certainly will not offend the speaker.
Precautionary measures
Of course, you cannot completely protect yourself from the likelihood of developing bouts of causeless laughter. However, you can minimize the likelihood of this phenomenon occurring. To do this, the following recommendations should be followed.
- It is extremely important to have active pastime and relaxation. Of particular importance is healthy, full sleep (at least seven hours).
- It is necessary to pay attention to good nutrition, to the presence of all vitamins and microelements, biologically active substances in the diet.
- It is worth doing at least minimal physical activity every day.
- It is important to learn how to prevent stress from entering your life.
- Get rid of bad habits, if any. You should not smoke or abuse alcohol or take drugs.
- If any diseases appear, including infectious or autoimmune diseases, treat them promptly.
It is important to understand that bouts of laughter can occur in avid optimists, people who find something positive in everything, they are no strangers to smiles on their faces, and you can often hear laughter from them. However, it is important to pay attention to whether there was really a reason, or did the laughter arise out of nowhere? And then you should pay attention to the person’s health status and, if necessary, show him to a doctor.
1, 2, 3, 4…
Counting from 1 to 10 will help you calm down. Count to yourself, slowly, pausing. Better yet, count backwards or skip even numbers (numbers that contain the letter “t”). Keep your mind busy with something else. In this situation, counting is the best helper. The same multiplication tables are a great way to switch things up. Give yourself a complex example and solve the problem in several steps, calculate the percentage of something in your head.
It would seem, what's wrong with a laugh? But someone nearby may think that you are laughing at them, and not everyone is able to cope with the fact that they have become an object of ridicule. That's why it's important to know how to control your laughter in inappropriate situations.
It is important to note that the inability to stop laughing or crying, or sudden mood swings can be symptoms of a neurological disorder. So, if you notice frequent attacks, it is better to consult a specialist.
Why do you feel the urge to laugh at the wrong moment?
One of the first to draw nervous laughter was S. Milgram. Behavioral Study of Obedience / The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology attention psychologist Stanley Milgram. This was in the sixties. At Yale University, Milgram studied how far people can go if they blindly trust authorities. He suggested that some participants in the experiment give a shock to others (in fact, the scientist’s assistants). There was no discharge itself, but the dummy participants diligently portrayed how unpleasant it was for them. But the “tormentors” laughed at the same time. It sounds ominous, of course, but Milgram concluded that it was not out of malice, and people can laugh when they find themselves in extremely uncomfortable situations.
Later, neurologist and psychologist Vileyanur Ramachandran put forward V. S. Ramachandran. A brief tour of human consciousness: From impostor poodles to purple numbers the hypothesis that laughter was originally a kind of indicator that showed a person that everything is fine, there is nothing to be afraid of, you can relax. And, accordingly, nervous smiles and giggles in inappropriate conditions are something like a psychological defense: I laugh, therefore nothing bad happens. Also, according to Ramachandran, laughter helps to switch and distract from strong negative experiences.
Approximately the same conclusions were made by O. R. Aragon, MS Clark, R. L. Dyer, J. A. Bargh. Dimorphous Expressions of Positive Emotion: Displays of Both Care and Aggression in Response to Cute Stimuli / Psychological Science authors of a small study conducted in 2015 at the same Yale University. They studied illogical emotional reactions, such as the desire to forcefully pinch a baby or laugh in a stressful situation, and concluded that any strong emotion “overloads” us and we want to restore balance, to relieve tension.
Before the storm
If you feel that laughter is already rolling in and your abdominal muscles are starting to contract (and how can you resist if the dead man fell out of the coffin again and fell face first into the cake!), try doing auto-training.
Close your eyes and repeat to yourself: “I control my laughter,” “I control my emotions,” etc. The main thing is to avoid phrases with the particle “not” (like “I’m not funny”). Convince yourself only with affirmative sentences.
“Since the process of inhibition during a surge of emotion is much weaker than the process of excitation, the brain will not perceive a negative particle,” Alexander assures.
If you can already hear joyful adult laughter nearby, beware of looking at the faces of those around you. Laughter is contagious, just like a yawn. It will be easier for you to stay away from him without seeing anyone laughing. If possible, walk a little, take a few deep breaths, and drink a glass of water in large sips.
Rule 6
Make the lesson interesting! Find some of your “tricks” that will invariably attract attention.
An example is the experience of one honored literature teacher. For example, there was supposed to be a lecture on the biography of Mayakovsky - the teacher came to the class in a bright yellow jacket and from the threshold began to recite: “Could you play a nocturne on a drainpipe flute?” An unexpected start to the lesson, you must agree. But the attention of the class was ensured, and by the end of the lesson, even careless students remembered that for Mayakovsky the yellow jacket was like a challenge to society.
The same applies to the remaining stages of the lesson - actively use gaming techniques, introduce new technologies, use multimedia. Keep a few games and information in reserve. As soon as you see that the class’s attention is beginning to wander, distract the children - tell an on-topic joke, give an interesting fact on the topic, suggest a game. The more dynamic the lesson is, the less time students will have to “create chaos.”
Norman Cousins - the man who made death laugh
The founder of laughter therapy, Norman Cousins, is a world-famous American journalist who conquered death with the help of laughter. At 49, Norman was diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis, an autoimmune disease that destroys the musculoskeletal system.
Every day, Cousins became more and more immobile: he could not walk, sit, and had difficulty turning from side to side. He withdrew into himself, stopped talking to his loved ones and spent whole days turned to the wall of the hospital room.
Cousins's physician, Dr. Hitzig, once said that out of 500 people with ankylosing spondylitis, only one survives. The night after this conversation, Norman did not sleep. The thought came to his mind: “If medicine is powerless, you need to act yourself!”
He remembered Dr. Hitzig saying that when emotions are negative, the adrenal glands release stress hormones that prevent the body from fighting the disease. Laughter and joy, on the contrary, have a positive effect on recovery. Cousins began studying the work of scientists on the benefits of laughter and realized in which direction he needed to move.
Days and nights he spent watching comedies and reading funny books. His eyes were swollen from crying, but they were tears of recovery. First, the pain in his muscles and joints went away, then his sleep and appetite returned to normal, and later the disease completely receded and the journalist returned to normal life and work.
Has he fully recovered? No - rather, he achieved stable compensation of the disease and long-term remission. Another thing is much more important: with the help of laughter, Cousins won 26 years of life from death and made it full.
After recovery, he wrote the books “Anatomy of an Illness from the Patient’s Point of View” and “The Healing Heart,” which became world bestsellers and the first textbooks on laughter therapy.
The founder of laughter therapy is Norman Cousins. Source
