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October 2, 2008

Laughter is the best medicine during UW’s Work and Family Month celebration

When was the last time you had a good laugh? Maybe it was while watching a movie, joking with a friend or, if you’re a member of the Harborview Medical Center Laugh Club, doubling over with a raucous crowd of fellow giggle-seekers. Kevin Wilhelmsen, a “laugh leader” and clinical nurse educator at Harborview, will bring laughs to the HUB by conducting laugh sessions Oct. 7 and 21 (both sessions are full) as part of the UW’s celebration of National Work and Family Month. The celebration aims to highlight an array of programs and events designed to ease stressful conflicts between employees’ work and family lives, demonstrating the theme, “Wherever you are in life… We’re here to help.”

Wilhelmsen believes laughter is a great way to reduce tension, clear the mind and develop a greater sense of humor. He said many Laugh Club attendees, who meet Friday mornings at Harborview, get both physical and emotional relief from the free 30-minute laugh sessions.

“Many people come and say they’ve had a headache, and after laughing for 30 minutes, the headache is gone,” Wilhelmsen said. “One woman with chronic lower back pain says all the laughter pops her back out of a painful position better than a chiropractor.” Laughing also boosts immune response, provides an aerobic workout and increases camaraderie among the people you laugh with, according to Wilhelmsen.

“When we laugh with people who work at Harborview, there is a levity and a lightness when we see each other in the hall later,” he said.

Wilhelmsen calls the sessions “laughter yoga,” but don’t go expecting to practice your downward facing dog. He defined yoga as a set of activities that can relax a person and put him or her in a focused state of mind. The sessions help participants shed learned inhibitions about laughing and looking silly in front of other people.

“We work to create an environment that makes it safe for them to laugh. True safety means you can laugh without a consequence,” Wilhelmsen explained. “People usually feel that they are risking public ridicule if they laugh in front of other people for no reason.”

And how does Wilhelmsen make laughers chuckle? Creating laughter is a group effort rather than a one-man comedy show. Attendees practice triggers for laughter until it becomes genuine, which include repeating laughter sounds like “ha” and “ho,” greeting each other while laughing and performing silly antics called laugh exercises.

“We try to help people understand that it’s not just humor; it’s that when you look into the face and eyes of a laughing person, it will actually create laughter in you in a short period of time,” Wilhelmsen said.

In addition to a side-splitting good time with Wilhelmsen, faculty and staff can enjoy several other events and programs during Work and Family Month. Round up your kids for a tour of the Henry Art Gallery, get tips from retirement and investing seminars and learn about your health care and insurance options at the annual Benefits Fair.

The celebration also highlights resources already available to help balance employees’ personal and professional lives, including on-site child care, divorce support groups and lactation stations for breastfeeding mothers. Randi Shapiro, assistant director of Worklife (www.washington.edu/admin/hr/benefits/worklife), which is part of Human Resources, said work and family support programs show employees that the UW offers them more than just a paycheck.

“We pull together all our partners across campus to create this work-and-family-centered environment,” she said. “This year especially, given financial constraints and concerns, people can get a sense of the valuable resources we have available.”

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