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StillnessHealth fact

Laughter is mostly social: in Robert Provine's studies, people laughed about 30 times more often with others than alone, and fewer than one laugh in five followed anything like a joke. Laughing together also releases the brain's own pain-easing, feel-good chemicals.

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Provine, an American neuroscientist at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and his students noted down 1,200 laughs they overheard in everyday settings. Most followed ordinary remarks rather than jokes, and speakers laughed about 46% more than their listeners. He concluded that laughter is above all a signal of friendliness and shared mood. Brain scans later showed what happens inside. In a 2017 study at the Turku PET Centre in Finland, 12 men watched comedy clips with close friends for half an hour, and their brains released endorphins, the body's own opioids, which ease pain and bring pleasure. The Oxford psychologist Robin Dunbar, one of the authors, argues that shared laughter helps humans bond in groups too large for the one-to-one grooming that keeps ape friendships going. Laughter also starts early: babies laugh months before they say their first words.

Türkçe oku
Gülmek her şeyden önce toplumsal bir davranıştır: Robert Provine'ın araştırmalarında insanlar başkalarıyla birlikteyken, yalnız olduklarından 30 kat kadar daha sık güldü ve gülüşlerin beşte birinden azı bir şakanın ardından geldi. Birlikte gülmek, beynin acıyı dindiren ve keyif veren kendi kimyasallarını da salgılatır.

Maryland Üniversitesi'nde (Baltimore County) çalışan Amerikalı sinirbilimci Provine, öğrencileriyle birlikte gündelik ortamlarda kulak misafiri oldukları 1.200 gülüşü not etti. Gülüşlerin çoğu şakalardan değil, sıradan sözlerden sonra geliyordu; konuşan kişi de dinleyenlerden yüzde 46 kadar daha çok gülüyordu. Provine, gülmenin her şeyden önce dostluk ve yakınlık işareti olduğu sonucuna vardı. Sonraki beyin taramaları, gülerken içeride neler olduğunu da gösterdi. Finlandiya'daki Turku PET Merkezi'nde 2017'de yapılan bir çalışmada, yakın arkadaşlarıyla yarım saat komedi izleyen 12 erkeğin beyninde endorfin salgılandı. Endorfinler vücudun kendi ürettiği, afyon benzeri maddelerdir; acıyı hafifletir, keyif verir. Araştırmacılardan Oxfordlu psikolog Robin Dunbar'a göre maymunlar dostluklarını birbirlerinin tüylerini ayıklayarak sürdürür. Ama bu iş bire bir yapılır; insan toplulukları buna fazla kalabalıktır ve aynı bağı ortak kahkaha kurar. Gülme erken de başlar: Bebekler ilk sözcüklerini söylemeden aylar önce güler.

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Background reading: Laughter
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