Laugh Love Live: You Deserve a Joyful Life. Play Your Winning Card Now!

By Gianni Ferrario and Adolfo Panfili

A life that is fulfilling and satisfying, a happy life, can be the fruit of specific external events which influence it, but it is above all a choice that we can make, if we want to, at every instant.
Starting our ideal life-path itinerary with the word "laugh" is a form of provocation: we don't laugh because something good has happened to us, but good things happen to us because we laugh! Therefore "laugh", for it will lead to "love", which encourages us to "live" our life as though it were a work of art in the making, the best possible goal for our time on this tumultuous, often tormented planet. Creating our own personal "laugh love live" plan can be beneficial to others as well as to the environments in which we interact. How this can be brought about will be the theme of this book, a path, dear reader, which we will travel together and which certainly won't end once you've finished reading!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Gianni Ferrario
• Release date: Oct 3, 2017
• ISBN: 9781370989423

Gianni Ferrario

Gianni Ferrario is a successful Italian actor and performer. In his role as a zen jester, delivers experiential workshops and energizing performances. He is an International trainer who can manage to involve participants by creating an exciting experience that brings happiness. To achieve this, he makes use of techniques such as LAUGHTER THERAPY, choral singing, visualisation and concentration, vibrant and exhilarating interactive performances to the sound of captivating music. He has dedicated many years to the teaching and practice of disciplines that promote internal growth, harmony and creativity.

Book preview

  PREFACE  

Meeting someone like Gianni Ferrario cannot but leave a tremendous imprint on your life.

It feels like yesterday that our paths crossed in Genoa and my life was enriched with one of the most uplifting experiences.

I had suffered my fair share of hardships, with the catastrophic car accident of my sister catapulting our young family into full-blown crisis mode.

As a 16 year old, my role changed overnight from a carefree child to that of parent and caretaker.

I nursed my two younger brothers while my mom travelled the world in search of expert treatment for my sister who suffered massive head trauma and was severely affected both mentally and physically.

These years saw me focus all my energy on family and taking responsibility both emotionally and financially for those around me. I forgot and neglected myself.

What made me stay afloat during these times and countered the darkness was the support of my incredible friends and family

Dark days were countered with humor, laughter and deep empathy.

To be blessed with a very special group of friends to laugh with is something one should be grateful for, I thank God every day for these angels surrounding me.

Until I met and read Gianni’s book, the effect of laughter was just a pleasant feeling, but now, its my daily dose of life sustaining medicine, and I realize that we always have a job to do: to enrich each other’s life with the act of sharing laughter.

Alreem Altenaiji

A shower of life

  INTRODUCTION  

A Scientific and Medical Expertise

on the Phenomenon of Laughter

and its Effects on the Human Body

By Adolfo Panfili

What is Laughter?

First of all, laughter is not the same as humor. Laughter is the physiological response to humor. Laughter made up of two parts – a set of gestures and the production of a sound. When we laugh, the brain pressures us to conduct both activities simultaneously. When we laugh heartily, changes occur in many parts of the body, even the arm, leg and trunk muscles.

Under certain conditions, our bodies perform what the Encyclopedia Britannica describes as rhythmic, vocalized, expiratory and involuntary actions – better known as laughter. Fifteen facial muscles contract and stimulation of the zygomatic major muscle (the main lifting mechanism of your upper lip) occurs. Meanwhile, the respiratory system is upset by the epiglottis half-closing the larynx, so that air intake occurs irregularly, making you gasp. In extreme circumstances, the tear ducts are activated, so that while the mouth is opening and closing and the struggle for oxygen intake continues, the face becomes moist and often red (or purple). The noises that usually accompany this bizarre behavior range from sedate giggles to boisterous guffaws.

Behavioral neurobiologist and pioneering laughter researcher Robert Provine jokes that he has encountered one major problem in his study of laughter. The problem is that laughter disappears just when he is ready to observe it – especially in the laboratory. One of his studies looked at the sonic structure of laughter. He discovered that all human laughter consists of variations on a basic form that consists of short, vowel-like notes repeated every 210 milliseconds. Laughter can be of the ha-ha-ha variety or the ho-ho-ho type but not a mixture of both, he says. Provine also suggests that humans have a detector that responds to laughter by triggering other neural circuits in the brain, which, in turn, generates more laughter. This explains why laughter is contagious.

Humor researcher Peter Derks describes laughter response as a really quick, automatic type of behavior. In fact, how quickly our brain recognizes the incongruity that lies at the heart of most humor and attaches an abstract meaning to it determines whether we laugh, he says.

Philosopher John Morreall believes that the first human laughter may have begun as a gesture of shared relief at the passing of danger. And since the relaxation that results from a bout of laughter inhibits the biological fight-or-flight response, laughter may indicate trust in one’s companions.

Many researchers believe that the purpose of laughter is related to making and strengthening human connections. Laughter occurs when people are comfortable with one another, when they feel open and free. And the more laughter [there is], the more bonding [occurs] within the group, says cultural anthropologist Mahadev Apte. This feedback loop of bonding-laughter-more bonding, combined with the common desire not to be singled out from the group, may be another reason why laughter is often contagious.

Studies have also found that dominant individuals – the boss, the tribal chief or the family patriarch – use humor more than their subordinates. If you’ve often thought that everyone in the office laughs when the boss laughs, you’re very perceptive. In such cases, Morreall says, controlling the laughter of a group becomes a way of exercising power by controlling the emotional climate of the group. So laughter, like much human behavior, must have evolved to change the behavior of others, Provine says. For example, in an embarrassing or threatening situation, laughter may serve as a conciliatory gesture or as a way to deflect anger. If the threatening person joins the laughter, the risk of confrontation may lessen.

Laughing to the Brain

The physiological study of laughter has its own name - gelotology. And we know that certain parts of the brain are responsible for certain human functions. For example, emotional responses are the function of the brain’s largest region, the frontal lobe. But researchers have learned that the production of laughter is involved with various regions of the brain. While the relationship between laughter and the brain is not fully understood, researchers are making some progress.

For example, Derks traced the pattern of brainwave activity in subjects responding to humorous material. Subjects were hooked up to an electroencephalograph (EEG) and their brain activity was measured when they laughed. In each case, the brain produced a regular electrical pattern. Within four-tenths of a second of exposure to something potentially funny, an electrical wave moved through the cerebral cortex, the largest part of the brain. If the wave took a negative charge, laughter resulted. If it maintained a positive charge, no response was given, researchers said.

During the experiment, researchers observed the following specific activities:

The left side of the cortex (the layer of cells that covers the entire surface of the forebrain) analyzed the words and structure of the joke.

The brain’s large frontal lobe, which is involved in social emotional responses, became very active.

The right hemisphere of the cortex carried out the intellectual analysis required to get the joke.

Brainwave activity then spread to the sensory processing area of the occipital lobe (the area on the back of the head that contains the cells that process visual signals).

Stimulation of the motor sections evoked physical responses to the joke.

This is different from what happens with emotional responses. Emotional responses appear to be confined to specific areas of the brain, while laughter seems to be produced via a circuit that runs through many regions of the brain. (This means that damage to any of these regions can impair one’s sense of humor and response to humor, experts