Learning To Laugh: How Giggling Can Boost Retention

Most kids love to laugh, but a giggle attack may be more than simply a silly moment – it can actually help children learn better and improve their memory! But beyond a good giggle session, it’s important to understand that kids who come to school smiling and happy find a reason to laugh and learn more in the process. Happy students retain more than students who are tense or stressed. The problem is that not many students walk into school ready to laugh at a well-timed quip – many of them need some help.

Here’s what you need to know about how giggling can boost retention, how it works, and the benefits of laughter that can be put to use to help kids improve memory.

Does Laughing Help You Learn?
When people laugh, they relax. And as anxiety decreases, the ability to retain information increases. Laughter also helps to prompt memories as your mind works to process the funny thing that was said, aiding in the retention of information. Basically, heightened emotions that accompany funny things make it easier to remember stuff.

So how is all this possible? Well, there’s some physiology at work here. Laughing is a buildup and then a release. You inhale, your cheeks flush, and you might even snort-giggle – all of which help to reduce the stress hormone cortisol in your system, releasing endorphins instead. These endorphins are neurotransmitters that help to reduce stress and relieve pain when released, also working to stimulate the frontal lobes of the brain that increase attention span – all of which helps you to retain information.

What Are the Benefits of Laughter in Learning?
Does laughing help learning? Yes! In fact, there are a variety of benefits for students when laughter is incorporated into learning, such as:

• They learn faster
• They concentrate better
• They retain concepts better

Think about it – how well have you been able to recall things when they made you laugh? Chances are, pretty well.

Does Laughing Improve Memory?
Studies have shown that laughing does help to improve memory, but how does that work? Well, you already know how the stress hormone cortisol plays a role in consolidating memory. High levels of cortisol will impair the brain's ability to retain information and learn. But if you dig a little deeper, you’ll learn that studies have also found that the reason cortisol can be so detrimental to learning is that it can damage the hippocampus. The hippocampus is the part of the brain that helps to consolidate short-term memories – like the things you learn during a lesson.

Other research has found that laughter helps to activate the reward system of the brain through the release of dopamine. It makes the brain feel good and so the brain will crave more and more of it. But beyond the reward system, dopamine has also been found to be an important component in both motivations for long-term goals students have, as well as long-term memories. Humor, if used the right way, can help any student from preschool to college retain what they learn.

Why Is Humor Important in Teaching?
A lot of things make a teacher great, but memorable teachers also tend to have a good sense of humor. Humor is something that is inherently social. Teachers of young children can usually tell the same knock-knock joke a million times and still get some giggles – probably because humor is contagious, and it also helps to build a sense of community in a classroom that brings children and teachers together.

Learning begins with curiosity, and humor helps to activate that curiosity in a way that enhances the experience. But you have to be careful to make the humor make sense in regards to what you’re teaching. Studies have found that if teachers want to improve retention in their students, they need to make sure the humor is on-topic in order for it to be most effective. Obviously, the humor used in the classroom has to be age-appropriate too. A joke told to preschoolers about something they don’t understand is guaranteed to fall flat!

A few dos and don’ts for teachers who want to incorporate humor into their classrooms include:

• Do try humor out in an attempt to make school more engaging and fun
• Don’t use too much sarcasm as humor
• Do use humor as a tool along with repetition and instruction
• Don’t be cruel with the humor you choose
• Do use humor to help create a sense of community in your classroom
• Don’t force it – humor has to come naturally
• Do use humor related to the concept you’re teaching
• Don’t go off-topic with your humor
• Do use humor that is age-appropriate
• Don’t use too much humor

It may sound a bit complicated, but the more you use humor to enhance lessons, the easier it will be.

Studies have found that humor is a great tool in the classroom to help students retain information, so don’t shy away from it. Fine-tune your funny bone and figure out what works and what doesn’t. After all, humor is just another tool in your teaching toolbox that can take your students’ retention to another level – and that’s no joke!

Featured image by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash