Humor seems to be hardwired into our physical, mental and emotional health. How much or how little humor we exhibit can help in diagnosing problems. A healthy body, healthy mind and healthy emotions will find humor in something every day. Lack of a sense of humor is usually a blinking neon sign that something in your mind or body is not well. But we can survive without humor.

A Luxury Item For The Body

There are very, very few occasions when your mind, body and spirit will not recognize that anything is humorous. Humor, like hair, is a physical luxury not necessary to our survival. When the body is under extreme stress, then it cuts off energy to certain bodily systems (like hair growth or sex drive) in order to try and stay alive. Being able to laugh and to see funny situations seems also to be one of these systems. We probably all know of a perpetually miserable person who winds up outliving many happier people.

Dealing With Shock

Humor is only not appropriate, but is completely wasted on someone who has just gone through a very bad shock. For example, when I discovered that my home was burnt down, I went into a panic attack. I was told they could hear my screams a half mile away. The firefighters tried to joke with me in order to get me to stop my panic attack, but I didn’t laugh and the panic attack went right on going.

It wasn’t until about two years later did I realize that any of them tried to get me to laugh. I couldn’t see anything funny right after my home burnt down, even if Chris Rock himself had walked up and did an entire monologue in front of me. If he had begun to tell jokes, I probably would have attacked him for not coming sooner to put the fire out. Even the whole idea of laughter seems somehow obscene after a tragedy.

People take their own time to come out of a severe emotional shock. Some people take longer to come back to life than others. One of the signs that the person has turned a corner in their mourning is when they begin to show a sense of humor again.

Alive, But Not Natural

The human body can survive without laughter, but this is not natural. We so need humor in order to be completely healthy. Humor seems a part of the balanced diet of our emotions. If someone is very, very sick, they also will not be able to recognize or respond to humor.

Although the human body can live without humor on a daily basis, the life left is often not worth living. It is like being brain dead and hooked up to life support machines. Yes, our bodies can survive, but we can’t live a life.