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Health Benefits of Humor, Physical
The effect of humor on health can basically be divided into two main categories, effects on physical health and effects on mental health. Although there is some crossover, with things that improve mental health having the possibility of improving physical health and vice versa, this entry addresses evidence for the effects of humor on various physiological systems. The relationship between sense of humor (a psychological trait) and various outcomes is beyond the scope of this entry. This entry discusses research on the health effects of humor and laughter on physiological systems, including the cardiovascular, respiratory, musculoskeletal, neurological, endocrine, and immune systems.
Definitions
For this entry, the term humor refers to a stimulus (such as a humorous video) intended to produce a humor response. Laughter is a response ...
- Anthropology, Folklore, and Ethnicity
- Blason Populaire
- Philogelos
- Animal-Related Humor
- Anthropology
- Anti-Proverb
- Carnival and Festival
- College Humor
- Dialect Humor
- Ethnic Jokes
- Ethnicity and Humor
- Feast of Fools
- Folklore
- Fools
- Foolstowns
- Hoax and Prank
- Insult and Invective
- Jewish Humor
- Joke Cycles
- Joking Relationship
- National and Ethnic Differences
- Practical Jokes
- Race, Representations of
- Rituals of Laughter
- Social Network
- Stereotypes
- Targets of Humor
- Trickster
- Urban Legends
- Verbal Dueling
- Xeroxlore
- Antiquity
- Components of Humor
- Culture
- Xiangsheng, History of
- Xiangsheng
- Anthropology
- Carnival and Festival
- Cross-Cultural Humor
- Culture
- Education, Humor in
- Fools
- Foolstowns
- Gallows Humor
- High-Context Humor
- Humorous Names
- Intercultural Humor
- Jewish Humor
- Obscenity
- Puppets
- Race, Representations of
- Ritual Clowns
- Rituals of Inversion
- Scatology
- Sick Humor
- Sports
- Stereotypes
- Verbal Dueling
- Entertainment Industry
- History
- Forest of Laughter and Traditional Chinese Jestbooks
- Huaji-ists, The
- Philogelos
- Xiangsheng, History of
- Ancient Egypt, Humor in
- Arabic Culture, Humor in
- Assyrian and Babylonian Humor
- Biblical Humor
- Buddhism
- Christianity
- Confucianism
- Fabliau
- Feast of Fools
- Greek Visual Humor
- History of Humor: 19th-Century Europe
- History of Humor: Classical and Traditional China
- History of Humor: Early Modern Europe
- History of Humor: Medieval Europe
- History of Humor: Modern and Contemporary China
- History of Humor: Modern and Contemporary Europe
- History of Humor: Modern Japan
- History of Humor: Premodern Japan
- History of Humor: Renaissance Europe
- History of Humor: U.S. Frontier
- History of Humor: U.S. Modern and Contemporary
- Islam
- Jest, Jestbooks, and Jesters
- Magazines and Newspapers Outside the United States
- Magazines and Newspapers, U.S.
- Masks
- Medieval Visual Humor
- Menander
- Mock Epic
- Molière
- Plautus
- Rabelais, François
- Sanskrit Humor
- Satire
- Shakespearean Comedy
- Sitcoms
- Sketch Comedy Shows
- Slapstick
- Stand-Up Comedy
- Tall Tale
- Tragicomedy
- Travesty
- Humor Theory
- 3 WD Humor Test
- Aristotelian Theory of Humor
- Arousal Theory (Berlyne)
- Benign Violation Theory
- Bergson's Theory of the Comic
- Bisociation
- Evolutionary Explanations of Humor
- Framing Theory
- Freudian/Psychoanalytic Theory
- Hobbesian Theory
- Humor Theories
- Humor, Forms of
- Inversion, Topsy-Turvy
- Pattern Recognition
- Platonic Theory of Humor
- Release Theories of Humor
- Reversal Theory
- Simple Form
- Uses and Gratifications Theory
- Linguistics
- Pointe
- Witz
- Xiehouyu
- Ambiguity
- Anti-Proverb
- Aphorism
- Audiovisual Translation
- Computational Humor
- Conversation
- Cross-Cultural Humor
- Culture
- Dialect Humor
- Epigram
- Exaggeration
- Failed Humor
- Gender Roles in Humor
- Humor Markers
- Humor, Computer-Generated
- Humor, Etymology of
- Humor, Forms of
- Humorist
- Incongruity and Resolution
- Irony
- Jokes
- Joking Relationship
- Laugh, Laughter, Laughing
- Linguistic Theories of Humor
- Linguistics
- Maxim
- Mechanisms of Humor
- Metaphor
- Misdirection
- Phonological Jokes
- Politeness
- Punch Line
- Puns
- Reactions to Humor, Non-Laughter
- Rhetoric and Rhetorical Devices
- Riddle
- Second Language Acquisition
- Semantics
- Speech Play
- Teasing
- Tom Swifty
- Translation
- Verbal Humor
- Wellerism
- Literature and Major Literary Figures
- Commedia dell’Arte
- Forest of Laughter and Traditional Chinese Jestbooks
- Kyōgen
- Rakugo
- Senryū
- Share
- Witz
- Absurdist Humor
- Ancient Greek Comedy
- Ancient Roman Comedy
- Anecdote, Comic
- Aphorism
- Aristophanes
- Boccaccio, Giovanni
- Carnivalesque
- Cervantes, Miguel de
- Comedy
- Comic Relief
- Doggerel
- Epigram
- Exaggeration
- Fabliau
- Farce
- Genres and Styles of Comedy
- Goldoni, Carlo
- High Comedy
- Humorous Names
- Inversion, Topsy-Turvy
- Jest, Jestbooks, and Jesters
- Lampoon
- Limericks
- Literature
- Low Comedy
- Menander
- Mime
- Mock Epic
- Molière
- Nonsense
- Parody
- Pastiche
- Pirandello, Luigi
- Plautus
- Poetry
- Postmodern Irony
- Puns
- Rabelais, François
- Rhetoric and Rhetorical Devices
- Satire
- Satyr Play
- Schwank
- Science, Science Fiction, and Humor
- Shakespearean Comedy
- Simple Form
- South American Literature, Humor in
- Tall Tale
- Tragicomedy
- Travesty
- Trickster
- Mathematics, Computer Science, and the Internet
- Africa
- Americas
- Asia
- E’gao: Culture of Internet Spoofing in China
- Forest of Laughter and Traditional Chinese Jestbooks
- Huaji-ists, The
- Kyōgen
- Rakugo
- Senryū
- Share
- Xiangsheng, History of
- Xiangsheng
- Xiehouyu
- Buddhism
- Confucianism
- History of Humor: Classical and Traditional China
- History of Humor: Modern and Contemporary China
- History of Humor: Modern Japan
- History of Humor: Premodern Japan
- Islam
- Southeast Asia, Cartooning in
- Taoism
- Europe
- Commedia dell’Arte
- Lazzi
- Pointe
- Witz
- Ancient Greek Comedy
- Ancient Roman Comedy
- Byzantine Humor
- Fabliau
- Greek Visual Humor
- History of Humor: 19th-Century Europe
- History of Humor: Early Modern Europe
- History of Humor: Medieval Europe
- History of Humor: Modern and Contemporary Europe
- Medieval Visual Humor
- Satyr Play
- Schwank
- Middle East
- Performing Arts
- Commedia dell’Arte
- Lazzi
- Ancient Greek Comedy
- Ancient Roman Comedy
- Burlesque
- Carnivalesque
- Clowns
- Comedy
- Comedy Ensembles
- Comic Opera
- Farce
- Gag
- High Comedy
- Improv Comedy
- Low Comedy
- Masks
- Mime
- Music
- Music Hall
- Musical Comedy
- Parody
- Pastiche
- Puppets
- Satyr Play
- Shakespearean Comedy
- Sketch Comedy Shows
- Slapstick
- Stand-Up Comedy
- Tragicomedy
- Travesty
- Variety Shows
- Philosophy and Religion
- Aesthetics
- Aphorism
- Aristotelian Theory of Humor
- Bergson's Theory of the Comic
- Biblical Humor
- Buddhism
- Christianity
- Clergy
- Comic Frame
- Comic Versus Tragic Worldviews
- Comic World
- Confucianism
- Epigram
- Feast of Fools
- Hobbesian Theory
- Islam
- Jewish Humor
- Judaism
- Paradox
- Philosophy of Humor
- Platonic Theory of Humor
- Religion
- Rituals of Laughter
- Taoism
- Physiology and Biology
- Politics
- Business World
- Education
- Law
- Clinical and Counseling Psychology
- Cognition
- Developmental Psychology
- General Psychology
- Appreciation of Humor
- Failed Humor
- Humor Detection
- Humor Production
- Humor Styles
- Humorous Stimuli, Characteristics of
- Identity
- Laugh, Laughter, Laughing
- Pattern Recognition
- Psychological Distance
- Psychology
- Reactions to Humor, Non-Laughter
- Reception of Humor
- Release Theories of Humor
- Sense of Humor, Components of
- Smiling and Laughter: Expressive Patterns
- Health Psychology
- Interpersonal Relationships
- Motivation and Emotion
- Neuropsychology
- Personality and Social Psychology
- Tests and Measurement
- Sociology
- Aggressive and Harmless Humor
- Carnivalesque
- Conversation
- Cross-Cultural Humor
- Culture
- Dialect Humor
- Ethnic Jokes
- Ethnicity and Humor
- Failed Humor
- Gallows Humor
- Gender Roles in Humor
- High-Context Humor
- Homosexuality, Representation of
- Humor Group
- Identity
- Insult and Invective
- National and Ethnic Differences
- Obscenity
- Play and Humor
- Presidential Humor
- Race, Representations of
- Reactions to Humor, Non-Laughter
- Reception of Humor
- Roman Visual Humor
- Scatology
- Sick Humor
- Social Interaction
- Social Network
- Sociology
- Stereotypes
- Targets of Humor
- Teasing
- Visual Humor
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