How to Improve Your Sense of Humor: Tips and Benefits

Do you love the feeling that remains in your body after a bout of laughter? Don't be surprised; it's your body feeling good! Here's how to boost that good mood.

One of the best things in life is to laugh out loud! You’ve probably experienced this feeling of euphoria and pleasure when you surround yourself with your friends and loved ones to share a good time. In addition, as if that weren’t enough, it has many benefits on a physical and psychological level. In this article, we’ll give you some keys to improve your sense of humor, as well as show you its many benefits.

Having a good sense of humor leads to a fuller and happier life. Moreover, the good news is that it’s a virtue that can be exercised. In this sense, it will help you have better relationships and greater charisma, regulate your stress levels, and even release happiness hormones.

How to improve your sense of humor

The idea is that having a good sense of humor becomes a habit for you. This doesn’t mean that you can’t have other types of emotions, such as sadness or anger. However, it’s about looking on the bright side of life and working on your emotional intelligence.

You don’t have to become a comedian or a buffoon, let alone change your personality. However, you can enhance the benefits of good humor and have a more relaxed and open attitude.

This is also related to increasing resilience and flexibility, two skills indicated to solve problems. The goal is to have better social relationships, because with a smile, you get a lot of empathy.

Think positive

To improve your sense of humor, it’s essential to have a good attitude. This is linked to leaving negativity aside.

Sometimes, thoughts of fear or uncertainty invade us and we tend to think the worst. However, this doesn’t contribute much to solving problems.

An excellent strategy is to think of reasonable arguments supported by facts to combat those negative thoughts that are often enlarged by our negativity. Also, try to turn your negative thoughts around by starting with language.

Apply the rule of 5: think if what’s happening to you is going to affect you or if you will remember it in five years. If not, it’s not worth being angry for more than 5 minutes.

Sleep well

It may seem like this has no relation, but sleeping well has many benefits for a good mood. To begin with, when there’s no adequate rest, irritability usually appears. Thus, we’re drowsy and without energy and we get stressed more easily.

In fact, sleeping well is a way to take care of our mental health. For this reason, you should get enough rest, avoid long exposure to screens before going to bed, and, if you find it difficult to fall asleep, practice relaxation exercises before going to bed.

Eat well

Just like sleep, proper nutrition is essential to have a good mood. Food has an influence on how you feel. Healthy food promotes well-being and good hormonal functioning in your body, affecting endorphin, serotonin, and oxytocin.

Learn to laugh at yourself

This is one of the hardest – but also most useful – things in life. There will always be problems and difficulties that aren’t so pleasant, but learning to laugh at yourself can help you cope with these moments in the best way.

A useful trick can be to exaggerate what’s happening to you to the point that it’s very funny. In fact, this is a technique used by many comedians and movies.

Be curious and educate yourself

Some say that good humor is a sign of intelligence. There are many types of humor, but it’s true that when you’re more curious and like to learn, you can know more references to make jokes and understand others’ jokes.

Enjoy a good comedy or monologue

Not all of us find the same things funny. This depends on context and culture.

However, by exploring comedy classics and comedy movies, you’ll be sure to find one that makes you laugh and laugh.

Also, try looking for or attending theaters to see comedy monologues. This will also increase your wit to make your own jokes.

You can talk to your friends or colleagues about some comedy shows they like. You’ll definitely discover someone who shares your tastes and with whom you can have a good laugh!

Stimulate your creativity

People with a good sense of humor tend to be very imaginative. Hence their ability to create jokes and make jokes.

For that reason, working on increasing and improving your creativity is also a way to improve your sense of humor. Enjoy art and do activities that allow you to feel free to experiment and read fanciful things.

Don’t be afraid of what people will say

Dare to play jokes on your friends and family. If you don’t have fun the first time, it’s no problem.

Overcome your fear of what others will say about you. That’s what good humor is all about: taking life in stride and making fun of whatever happens.

The health benefits of laughter

According to a Harvard Medical School publication in Harvard Health Publishing, laughing and being grateful are good for the heart. From brain scans and other tests, neuroscientists found evidence that laughter triggers chemical responses in the brain that are very beneficial.

Laughter impacts better blood circulation. However, this has to be genuine laughter and not sarcastic laughter.

Moreover, it allows the release of endorphins, which are the substances responsible for stimulating the parts of the brain related to pleasurable sensations.

Another piece of research from the University of Derby indicates that laughter has several physical, psychological, and social benefits:

• Laughter decreases stress hormones.
• It stimulates the immune system.
• It reduces pain.

In this sense, it allows to increase our energy levels and well-being. Thus, good humor is the ideal antidote to reduce stress and acts as a protective factor against anxiety and depression.

Relax a little!

After learning all the benefits of laughing and some tricks to improve your sense of humor, it’s time to put them into practice and start letting out your laughter more often! However, you must not forget the starting point: relax and take life in stride. 

To be in a good mood, it’s important not to take everything personally! Stress, as opposed to good humor, can bring a lot of different types of damage to your life. So, sometimes you have to pause along the way, and stop to face problems and situations with good humor.

It’s also important that you learn to differentiate when it’s appropriate to make a joke or not. For this reason, you must read the context of the situation and understand how the mood of others is.