Welcome to our place here in cyberspace! Humor “R” Us Clubs is an independent organization promoting people gathering together to experience the countless benefits of humor.

The goal is to build a community of people that share the same interest in “Humor”.

The cost : Its free to become a member of this site. Register on our forum. We also suggest that you sign up for our newsletter as it contains alot of useful tools.

Forrest Muggins” Wheeler owns the domain. He has written a book called “Using The Power of Humor to Improve your life”.

Little Tid Bits!!

You might ask yourself Is Happiness Contagious?!?!  The answer is YES !!

“Six degrees of separation” isn’t just a good plot line. Science shows the theory has dramatic implications for spreading cheer from one person to the next.”

“The theory that everyone on the planet is only a half dozen people away from knowing everyone else was popularized by John Guare’s 1993 movie Six Degrees of Separation. Now research by a pair of social scientists might have Hollywood thinking of a sequel: Three Degrees of Connection.”

The British Medical Journal has shown that happiness actually spreads from person to person, up to three connections away. “So if your friend’s friend’s friend becomes happier, it ripples through the network and affects you, even if you don’t know that person,” says author Nicholas Christakis, MD, a medical sociology professor at Harvard Medical School. Proximity plays a part: A happy sibling who is a mile away can increase your probability of happiness by up to 14 percent; a nearby friend, by 25 percent; and a next-door neighbor, by 34 percent. Interestingly, the effect also applies to smoking and obesity, Christakis has shown. “If people around you gain weight, it changes your expectations about what an acceptable body size is,” he explains. “Our work strongly suggests that when one person quits smoking, loses weight, or becomes happy, others around her follow suit. I am reluctant to suggest you pick your friends solely on this basis, but one could say that helping a friend do better is a roundabout way of helping yourself.  (Infomation taken from an article by Tim Jarvis)

Laughter as Medicine (by Dorrine B. Moore, RN, MS, ARNP)

For thousands of years, people have said that laughter is the best medicine. Until the 20th century, this belief was not scientifically supported. In his groundbreaking book Anatomy of an Illness as Perceived by the Patient, Norman Cousins first suggested that if negative thoughts can have negative physiologic repercussions, positive thoughts can produce positive effects throughout the body.² Hence, a new medical discipline, psychoneuroimmunology, or the study of the mind-body relationship, became a reality. Humor and laughter are now being employed as tools to promote and maintain health. Humor can be used as an interventional and rehabilitation tool for a host of maladies and illnesses related to stress and lifestyle. This article focuses on therapeutic humor as an intervention for patients who are experiencing grief-related stress or anxiety and subsequent psychosomatic illness.

Health Benefits of Humor (by Dorrine B. Moore, RN, MS, ARNP)
Cousins, a magazine editor with no medical training, first called attention to the potential therapeutic effects of humor and laughter when he described his use of laughter during treatment for ankylosing spondylitis.² Cousins watched funny movies and cartoons to make himself laugh every day. He believed laughter could open him up to feelings of joy, confidence and love, and thus promote his recovery. Table 2 lists physiologic and psychologic health benefits associated with humor.

Cousins spent the last 12 years of his life exploring the scientific evidence to support his belief. He established a task force to coordinate worldwide research on humor.

Therapeutic Humor (by Dorrine B. Moore, RN, MS, ARNP)
Laughter provides a physical release for accumulated tension. Humor and laughter can be effective self-care tools to cope with stress. The release of this tension and subsequent self-care coping is the basis of the stimulus release-relief theory of humor. This theory suggests a physiologic link between the stimulus of something humorous and the release of negative tension and stress through laughter.

Laughter provides an opportunity for the release of uncomfortable emotions that, if held inside, might create biochemical changes that are harmful to the body. Humor turns an event that might cause suffering into a less significant occurrence.

The key is diversion. To be in the humor state is so enjoyable that it diverts attention from negative thoughts or feelings. Physiologically, humor incapacitates; psychologically, it diverts attention to itself so that all else is forgotten or ignored.

Although we have all heard the adage that laughter is the best medicine, how often have you considered prescribing laughter as part of your therapeutic plan? Throughout your busy workday, you encounter a variety of patients with various complaints. For each, you structure a personalized plan of care with the aim of abating or controlling the contributing pathology. However, unless the patient’s stressors are additionally addressed, their deleterious effects will continue. Plans of care that incorporate therapeutic humor should be individualized, although certain core elements are common.

We must recognize that, for many people, humor is a significant part of life and a means of coping in general. To ignore humor even during periods of grief and illness is to ignore an integral part of the individual being. Although humor may not increase health perception in all patients, it can be effective for some, and we should assess each patient for his use of and appreciation for humor. Integration of appropriate humor in the clinical setting may potentiate other aspects of care, making the patient more open to treatment in general. PAs who embrace therapeutic humor will enhance the path to a positive recovery.

Thats All for now!!  Thank You for stopping by and I hope that you will continue to visit, as I will try to post articles and other useful info that I think is helpful. Until next time may your life be full of humor and happiness and infect the people that surround you with the joys and happiness that humor has to offer us all!