Could humour be the key to a healthier society?

Laughter may very well be the best medicine for a healthy life, according to research which has found that humour interventions could be effective to influence people’s behaviour and intentions around their health.

Uniquely, the research was conducted by Scottish comedian and women’s health physiotherapist Elaine Miller in collaboration with a team of Monash University researchers led by Professor Helen Skouteris.

“I have seen comedy used to address the most taboo subjects on stage,” Ms Miller said. “My field is incontinence which is often very embarrassing for people to talk about, but because laughter is universal it has the potential to reach people broadly. 

“This robust, systematic review analysed 13 studies over the past 10 years whereby humour had been used to communicate serious messages covering topics such as mental health, breast and testicular cancer self-examination, safe sex, skin cancer and binge drinking.

“What we found is that humour can act as an effective vehicle for delivering messages people might find fear-inducing or threatening. Humour, if used well, can be an emotional buffer that breaks down some of that fear, so the underlying messages reach the intended audience and influence their behaviours and attitudes.” 

The study highlighted a number of factors that could impact the effectiveness of a humour-based message, including the level and type of fear or perceived threat, the ‘taboo’ nature of the topic and an individual’s taste in humour.

“It’s definitely not a one-size-fits-all approach. A poorly judged joke can ruin a health campaign’s message, a therapeutic relationship, a gig; or all three of those at once. Humour is very complex and further research to examine humour and public health promotion is certainly warranted,” Ms Miller said.

“What this study also highlighted is, there’s a lot of us who work in health promotion who can learn from commercial advertising and public safety campaigns, such as road and rail safety where humour has been shown to attract attention, promote the memory of and positive attitudes towards an advertisement, brand or message.”

Professor Skouteris said the study was an “encouraging first step” towards implementing humour-based messaging more broadly across public health.

“Humour is enjoyable. People are drawn to it – they want to look at it and be part of it,” Professor Skouteris said.

“Importantly, this review highlighted that humour can be utilised as a tool to encourage conversation and sharing. It’s not just a way to send a message but actually encourages people to talk about it and be open with others, which we believe can lead to influencing society’s perceptions and behaviours around important public health prevention messages.”

Are you more likely to listen to health advice that plays on your sense of humour?

1 comments

It feels great to have a good bellylaugh. What motivates that laugh however is very individual. Some humour is total crap in my view. For example, people who grab space socially to tell learned jokes all of the time. BORING! I have also experienced people using humour to detract from deeper communication. Such humour, used to detract, never feels healthy. Humour is a personal thing that seems to hang together best within family units.

1 comments



To make a comment, please register or login

Preview your comment