II. Discussing the text. 1. Read the text. What is the topic and the implied main idea of paragraphs 6, 7 and 9?

1. Read the text. What is the topic and the implied main idea of paragraphs 6, 7 and 9?

Laugh Your Stress Away

If fast relief is what you’re after, then laughter really is the best medicine.

By S. Lally

1. Humor is one of the best on-the-spot stress busters around. It’s virtually impossible to belly laugh and feel bad at the same time. If you’re caught in a situation you can’t escape or change (a traffic jam, for example), then humor may be the healthiest form of temporary stress release possible.

2. Even when you can change the situation, humor helps. Research by Alice M. Isen, Ph.D., a psychologist at Cornell University, in Ithaca, New York, shows that people who had just watched a short comedy film were better able to find creative solutions to puzzling problems than people who had either just watched a film about math or had just exercised. In other studies, Dr. Isen found that shortly after watching or experiencing comedy, people were able to think more clearly and were better able to “see” the consequences of a given decision.

3. The physiological effects of a good laugh work against stress. After a slight rise in heart rate and blood pressure during the laugh itself, there’s an immediate recoil: Muscles relax and blood pressure sinks below prelaugh levels, and the brain may release endorphins, the same stress reducers that are triggered by exercise. A hearty ha-ha-ha also provides a muscle massage for facial muscles, the diaphragm and the abdomen. Studies show it even temporarily boosts levels of immunoglobulin A, a virus-fighter found in saliva.

4. While our cave-dwelling ancestors were stressed by actual life-threatening situations like bumping into a wooly mammoth, times have changed. “Nowadays, stress is usually not caused by the situation itself, but by how we perceive that situation,” says Allen Elkin, Ph.D., program director of Manhattan’s Stress Management and Counseling Centers. Getting a new perspective is what comedy is all about. Several philosophers and writers have pointed out that comedy and tragedy are different ways of looking at the same stressful event.

5. Comedy works by stepping back from a situation and playing up its absurdities. The same kind of disinterested observation makes the tale of your disastrous vacation seem funny – after you get safely home. For stress busting, the trick is to find ways to laugh at the situation while it’s happening. Even if you don’t consider yourself much of a comedian, here are a few simple techniques you can use:

Дата добавления: 2014-12-24