If you could have one of the best antidotes for stress, would you take it? If I told you it is something that you can easily access and is free, would you want it? If I raved about how this one thing does everything, from decreasing the risk of heart attack, to stimulating the immune system, would you order it? Well, get ready, because it’s something you already have. (At least I hope you have it.) It’s humor!

Now if you don’t have a sense of humor, go get one. Read joke books, listen to comedy and learn to laugh at funny things. You are probably taking life too seriously and need to laugh at yourself and others at least once in awhile.

My private practice group used to kid me that I wasn’t doing therapy with my clients. They couldn’t hear behind my sound proof walls, but laughter permeated my doorway. What was it that was going on in those therapy sessions that was so funny? Let me assure you we were dealing with painful and difficult subjects, but I always found some way to bring humor into the mix. Why? I have practiced what I am now telling you. I have used humor to decrease stress.

Humor takes a stressful condition and turns it into a challenge. Studies at Cornell University found that people exposed to humor in the workplace were not only more creative problem-solvers, but they also could better see the consequences of their individual decisions. Humor defuses stress and makes it easier to look at a situation and do something about it. Humor is fun. It feels good to laugh and laughter does wonders for the physical body.

For example, my mother just called. She was lamenting the number of family and friends ill with serious conditions. Then she injected a humorous thought: “You know we have to have lots of volunteers at the hospital (she volunteers at the hospital) because we never know who will be able to help and who will be in the beds.” We both started laughing.

My mom’s ability to laugh and make jokes helps relieve stress. She’s not joking at inappropriate times or making fun of people. She laughs at herself, the situation and the craziness of life. Humor is a release from the tension of the stress.

Next time you feel stressed

Try to laugh.

Take a different perspective and try humor.

Rent a silly movie.

Tell a joke.

Tickle someone.

Play a crazy game.

It just might make you a healthier person!

Dr. Mintle – author, professor, Approved Supervisor and Clinical member of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy – is a speaker and media personality, as well as a licensed clinical social worker with twenty years in psychotherapy practice. For more articles by Dr. Mintle, go to Counseling and Advice on the Health Channel.