Putting The Abs Into Absurdity

We’ve talked before about the health benefits of a broadly positive outlook on life:

Optimism Seriously Increases Longevity!

…and we’re very serious about it, but that’s about optimistic life views in general, and today we’re about not just keeping good humor in questionable circumstances, but actively finding good humor in the those moments—even when the moments in question might not be generally described as good!

After all, laughter really can be the best medicine, for example:

The effect of laughter yoga exercises on anxiety and sleep quality in patients suffering from Parkinson’s disease

From the roots

First a quick recap on de-toothing the psychological aspect of threats, no matter how menacing they may be:

Hello, Emotions: Time For Radical Acceptance!

…which we can then take a step further:

What’s The Worst That Could Happen?

Choose your frame

Do you remember when that hacker hacked and publicized the US Federal no-fly list, after already hacking a nationwide cloud-based security camera company, getting access to more than 150,000 companies’ and private individuals’ security cameras, amongst various other cyber crimes, mostly various kinds of fraud and data theft?

Imagine how she (age 21) must have felt, when being indicted. What do you suppose this hacker had to say for itself under such circumstances?

❝congress is investigating now 🙂

but i stay silly :3 ❞

~ maia arson crimew

…the latter half of which, usually rendered “but I stay silly” or “but we stay silly” has since entered popular Gen-Z parlance, usually after expressing some negative thing, often in a state of powerlessness.

Which is an important life skill if powerlessness is something that is often likely.

It’s important for many Gen-Zs with negligible life prospects economically; it’s equally important for 60-somethings getting cancer diagnoses (statistically the most likely decade to find out one has cancer, by the way), and many other kinds of people younger, older, and in between.

Because at the end of the day, we all start powerless and we all end powerless.

Learned helplessness (two kinds)

In psychology, “learned helplessness” occurs when a person or creature gives up after learning that all and any attempts to resist a Bad Thing™ fail, perhaps even badly. A lab rat may just shut down and sit there getting electroshocked, for example. A person subjected to abuse may stop trying to improve their situation, and just go with the path of least resistance.

But, there’s another kind, wherein someone in a position of absolute powerlessness not only makes their peace with that, but also, decides that the one thing the outside world can’t control, is how they take it. Like the hacker we mentioned earlier.

Sometimes the gallows humor is even more literal, laughing at one’s own impending death. Not as a matter of bravado, but genuinely seeing the funny side.

But how?

Unfortunately, fortunately

The trick here is to “find a silver lining” that is nowhere near enough to compensate for the bad thing—and it may even be worse! But that’s fine:

“Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to do the dishes before leaving for my vacation. Fortunately, I also forgot to turn the oven off, so the house burning down covered up my messy kitchen”

Writer’s personal less drastic example: today I set my espresso machine to press me an espresso; it doesn’t have an auto-off and I got distracted and it overflowed everywhere; my immediate reaction was “Oh! I have been blessed with an abundance of coffee!”

This kind of silly little thing, on a daily basis, builds a very solid habit for life that allows one to see the funny side in even the most absurd situations, even matters of life and death (can confirm: been there enough times personally—so far so good, still alive to find the remembered absurdity silly).

The point is not to genuinely value the “silver lining”, because half the time it isn’t even one, really, and it is useless to pretend, in seriousness.

But to pretend in silliness? Now we’re onto something, and the real benefit is in the laughs we had along the way.

Because those worst moments? Are probably when we need it the most, so it’s good to get some practice in!

Want more ways to find the funny and make it a life habit?

We reviewed a good book recently:

The Humor Habit: Rewire Your Brain To Stress Less, Laugh More, And Achieve More’er – by Paul Osincup

Stay silly!

Which Neurotransmitter?

There are a lot of neurotransmitters that are important for good mental health (and, by way of knock-on effects, physical health).

However, when pop-science headlines refer to them as “feel-good chemicals” (yes but which one?!) or “the love molecule” (yes but which one?!) or other such vague names when referring to a specific neurotransmitter, it’s easy to get them mixed up.

So today we’re going to do a little disambiguation of some of the main mood-related neurotransmitters (there are many more, but we only have so much room), and what things we can do to help manage them.

Dopamine

This one predominantly regulates reward responses, though it’s also necessary for critical path analysis (e.g. planning), language faculties, and motor functions. It makes us feel happy, motivated, and awake.

To have more:

• eat foods that are rich in dopamine or its precursors such as tyrosine (bananas and almonds are great)
• do things that you find rewarding

Downsides: is instrumental in most addictions, and also too much can result in psychosis. For most people, that level of “too much” isn’t obtainable due to the homeostatic system, however.

See also: Rebalancing Dopamine (Without “Dopamine Fasting”)

Serotonin

This one predominantly helps regulate our circadian rhythm. It also makes us feel happy, calm, and awake.

To have more:

• get more sunlight, or if the light must be artificial, then (ideally) full-spectrum light, or (if it’s what’s available) blue light
• spend time in nature; we are hardwired to feel happy in the environments in which we evolved, which for most of human history was large open grassy expanses with occasional trees (however, for modern purposes, a park or appropriate garden will suffice).

Downsides: this is what keeps us awake at night if we had too much light before bed, and also too much serotonin can result in (potentially fatal) serotonin syndrome. Most people can’t get that much serotonin due to our homeostatic system, but some drugs can force it upon us.

See also: Seasonal Affective Disorder Strategies

Oxytocin

This one predominantly helps us connect to others on an emotional level. It also makes us feel happy, calm, and relaxed.

To have more:

• hug a loved one (or even just think about doing so, if they’re not available)
• look at pictures/videos of cute puppies, kittens, and the like—this triggers a similar response

Downsides: negligible. Socially speaking, it can cause us to drop our guard, most for most people most of the time, this is not a problem. It can also reduce sexual desire—it’s in large part responsible for the peaceful lulled state post-orgasm. It’s not responsible for the sleepiness in men though; that’s mostly prolactin.

See also: Only One Kind Of Relationship Promotes Longevity This Much!

Adrenaline

This one predominantly affects our sympathetic nervous system; it elevates heart rate, blood pressure, and other similar functions. It makes us feel alert, ready for action, and energized.

To have more:

• listen to a “power anthem” piece of music. What it is can depend on your musical tastes; whatever gets you riled up in an empowering way.
• engage in something competitive that you feel strongly about while doing it—or by the same mechanism, a solitary activity where the stakes feel high even if it’s actually quite safe (e.g. watching a thriller or a horror movie, if that’s your thing).

Downsides: its effects are not sustainable, and (in cases of chronic stress) the body will try to sustain them anyway, which has a deleterious effect. Because adrenaline and cortisol are closely linked, chronically high adrenal action will tend to mean chronically high cortisol also.

See also: Lower Your Cortisol! (Here’s Why & How)

PS: it is also called epinephrine, and chemically different but almost identical in most ways, noradrenaline or norepinephrine

Some final words

You’ll notice that in none of the “how to have more” did we mention drugs. That’s because:

• a drug-free approach is generally the best thing to try first, at the very least
• there are simply a lot of drugs to affect each one (or more), and talking about them would require talking about each drug in some detail.

However, the following may be of interest for some readers:

Antidepressants: Personalization Is Key!

Take care!