Currently, 124k Facebook users follow the appropriately named ‘UK Ambulance Humour’ page on the social network. Moreover, the page has collected 65k likes. The curators of this project openly note that “not everyone will understand” the British ambulance service jokes they feature. However, from their point of view, “the elite few that do” will have a great time.
Humor can be a powerful coping mechanism. Laughter can get you through the toughest of times. It’s not rare to see people in emotionally draining and mentally demanding jobs rely on it to look for a silver lining. When you’re constantly surrounded by pain and misery, you need to find a way to stay sane. Namely, embracing gallows humor.
Ambulance service personnel, first responders, doctors, and nurses are particularly well-known for having a penchant for dark, grim, and ironic humor due to the nature of their work. As do mortuary workers, soldiers, firefighters, police officers, people with serious illnesses, and the like.
Embracing humor when times are hard shouldn’t make you feel guilty. It’s only natural.
Laughter is good for us. Not just subjectively but from a scientific perspective, too. Research shows that laughter lowers our blood pressure, suppresses our pain, strengthens our immune system, and increases our endorphin levels.
It’s also a way for our bodies to manage stress and reduce our anxiety. So, from a purely biophysical point of view, it makes sense to find things to laugh at if you’re constantly in stressful, highly tense situations.
According to Marilyn Mendoza, Ph.D., a clinical instructor in the psychiatry department at Tulane University Medical Center, humor and hospices might sound like an unlikely combination but it’s one that works.
“It is said that there is a time and a place for everything. Most people believe that hospice is a time for sadness and grief and certainly there are times of great sadness,” she writes on Psychology Today.
“The truth is that hospice can also be a place for humor. A study done at Kent State and reported in the American Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care revealed that humor was present in 85 percent of 132 observed nurse-based visits. Amazingly, they found that 70 percent of the humor was initiated by the patient. If humor is a part of living, then why should it not be a part of dying?”
Furthermore, humor can help someone in the midst of the grieving process. Learning to laugh again can be beneficial for our health. For instance, one study found that widows and widowers who could smile and laugh when remembering their loved ones experienced less anxiety and depression.
“Many successful bereavement groups incorporate laughter where members are encouraged to share humorous experiences associated with their loved one,” Mendoza explains.
What’s more, humor is absolutely vital for those individuals who work with people who are passing away. Not only is humor a way for them to bond with their coworkers but it also helps counter some of the effects of emotional exhaustion.
In some hospices, the staff participate in so-called Laugh Day team meetings where they share funny things about themselves and their work.
