The notion that humour and laughter play an important role in protecting the individual from stress and enhancing one?s sense of well-being has been emphasised by many authors. Freud viewed a sense of humour as the highest defence mechanism, describing it as ?a rare and precious gift?. By means of humour, stated Freud, ?one refuses to undergo suffering, asseverates the invincibility of one?s ego against the real world, and victoriously upholds the pleasure principle, yet all without quitting the ground of mental sanity?. Humour may have evolved in humans as a cognitive alternative to stress, allowing the individual to take a more playful perspective on a stressful event and thereby reduce the often deleterious emotional consequences.

Many claims have been made for the health-enhancing effects of humour and, in particular laughter. Although these claims sometimes exceed our knowledge of the changes brought about by laughter, the results of research are generally encouraging. The physical effects of humour appear similar to those of exercise including increased muscle tension, heart rate, respiration rate, all of which are followed by a rebound reduction or relaxation effect.

Humour can act as a communication tool as well as providing emotional bonding. People may use humour to help put negative thoughts out of mind and profit from the social benefits it provides. Overholser (1992) found that students who reported using humour to cope were also less depressed, less lonely and reported higher levels of self-esteem. This suggests that one way in which a sense of humour relates to better coping with stress has to do with the types of cognitive appraisals that individuals make about stressful events. Those with a greater sense of humour appear to appraise potentially stressful situations as more challenging rather than threatening, and to evaluate their own performance and adjust their expectations for future performance in a more realistic and self-protective manner.

Use of humour may be predicted by experience, exposure and acceptance of humour in the emergency context, as well as a personal appreciation or tendency to use humour. It can be a means of socialisation, including the affirmation of common values, of teaching and learning, of asking for and giving support. Humour may be viewed as a form of play that does not require expensive equipment and that is generally available to individuals throughout the day, regardless of their activities or life circumstances. This may be one type of leisure activity that is good for one?s health and is accessible to everyone.

On the other hand, humour should not be used deliberately to shock or hurt; it needs to be used prudently, and those lacking in humour should not be seen as abnormal. We would add that, whereas lack of humour may be just part of the normal variation of human characteristics, loss of humour can be a predictor of poor coping or symptomatic of other conditions such as depression.

For the use of humour to be truly therapeutic, an important delineation needs to be made between a healthy use of humour and humour that is used to mask feelings in a way that will cause later distress. Whatever theory we may adopt, smile, be happy and spread the sunshine of good humour around?