High levels of stress can have a negative effect on our psychological and emotional health. Good thing that there are multiple methods available to reduce its negative impact. Some of us have hectic schedules and face stress after stress after stress without even being able to do coping techniques for stress. Hence, time constraints are frequently cited as one of the reasons for high-stress levels. For busy people who are usually stressed, 30-minute stress management strategies can be beneficial because they can easily fit it into your schedule and would not require much time from your work or studies. You can easily do it anytime should you need an immediate stress reduction before any highly stressful day. It can also help you deal with anticipatory stress when it seeps in just before an activity.
Reading or watching humorous shows in a short amount of time could help reduce physiological and psychological acute stress. An American study published in 2009 compared the immediate effects of humor and reading on acute stress. Twenty-two physical therapy and Master of Occupational Therapy students at Seton Hall University were the participants of the study. For three weeks, volunteers participated in 30-minute humor and reading intervention sessions, once a week on a similar day and at the same time
For the humorous videos, the volunteers selected either The Best of Saturday Night Live with Will Farrell, Chris Farley, or Jimmy Fallon. The findings of the study showed that watching a humorous TV show clinically decreased psychological and physiologic stress. The decrease in systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, and heart rate could be attributed to the experience of laughing throughout the entire length of the 30-minute video.
Reading for 30 minutes had similar effects in reducing acute stress, and lowering blood pressure and heart rate with watching humorous shows. During the reading session, the graduate health sciences students read historical events and innovative technology articles from Newsweek and various internet sites. Their readings were non-provocative and unrelated to any health maintenance topics. After the reading session, the volunteers had a stress reduction. Reading a neutral reading material relaxed the students. As a result, it reduced their sympathetic nervous system arousal and decreased their stress level.
Reference:
(1) Rizzolo, D., Zipp G.P., Stiskal D., Simpkins S. Stress Management Strategies For Students: The Immediate Effects Of Yoga, Humor, And Reading On Stress (2009) Journal of College Teaching & Learning 6 (8), 79-88
Further readings:
(1) White, S. & Winzelberg, A. (1992). Laughter and stress. Humor,5(4), 343-355.
(2) White, S. & Camarena P. (1989). Laughter as a stress reducer in small groups. Humor, 2(1), 73-79.31.
Ciele 