Why People With a Great Sense of Humor Live Longer

Anti-aging methods are getting increasingly outrageous. Off the top of my head, we’ve got adults injecting themselves with the blood of teenagers, surfing eBay for bottled breast milk and ingesting off-label rapamycin (because it extends lifespan in mice).

Slide down a tax bracket, visit a contrast therapy studio and you’ll find people treating relaxation like a competitive sport. A recent article in The New York Times reported that Europeans are “baffled” by Americans’ dead-serious approach to saunas. In Finland, sauna-goers lounge naked, take swims in the sea (without timing or posting their “plunge”) and share wood-fired sausages. They unwind and laugh.

It’s fascinating, and somewhat sad, that people so determined to live longer are so far outside the joke. Especially — with a hefty dose of irony — when research indicates that laughter is a longevity powerhouse. Why bet the house on hyperbaric chambers when all you need is a sense of humor?

Laughter and Longevity

According to a 15-year follow-up of Norway’s Trøndelag Health Study, sense of humor is strongly connected to lower mortality rates. Humor decreases our risk of cardiovascular diseases, cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases. It enriches the brain, too — strikingly, the authors of the study described humor as a “health-protecting cognitive coping resource.”

The research indicates that a life lived in good humor can help adult men reduce their risk of death from infection by 74%. Ultimately, humor isn’t just something that makes life worth living — it also functions as a valuable tool, which can help us deal with the inevitabilities of aging in a healthier, more resilient way.

Good Humor

A key distinction to remember, though, is that not all forms of humor are created equal. There are two types you’ll want to prize over the others. One is affiliative humor, the most socially beneficial style, which is linked to positive interpersonal relationships and improved psychological well-being. This is defined, quite simply, as “telling jokes that everyone might find funny.” Imagine a fun dinner sitting at a booth with friends.

There’s also self-enhancing humor, the ability to maintain a comical perspective in the face of adversity. For instance, on a tough travel day, you might mentally chuckle at a nonsensical ad or eavesdrop on ludicrous interactions between others on your train. It’s an effective coping mechanism, offering you a reprieve from your own stress.

The research indicates a robust connection between these positive humor styles and longevity. They reduce stress and boost the immune system, basically. On the other hand, aggressive humor, which is mainly used to belittle others, and self-defeating humor, a self-deprecating style used to gain approval, can have negative impacts on health and longevity.

If you’re inclined to get a read on the humor you most typically employ, try Dr. Rod Martin’s free Humor Styles Questionnaire (HSQ). Don’t feel discouraged if you sometimes land in the aggressive or self-defeating buckets.

Shooting the Shit

Reflecting on your humor style could serve as a wake-up call for you to seek out affiliative humor, which is best characterized by shared laughter and bonding experiences. At a time when American adults are in a sort of loneliness freefall, it’s never been more important to remaster the art of the casual camaraderie, which the author Sheila Liming wrote about in her recent book: Hanging Out: The Radical Power of Killing Time.

When we gather — on the couch, at the bar, for a family function — we populate the lulls with jokes, bids, takes. Many fall flat, some get a big laugh, all are worth trying. Affiliative humor fosters closeness, builds trust and helps diffuse tension. It is absolutely critical to emotional well-being and personal satisfaction, so it should come as little surprise that it has such a positive impact on the body as well. If the body can store pain, it can store joy, too.