Do you ever wonder why negative situations often seem less dire after a good night’s sleep? Or why a sarcastic or witty remark provides levity to a tense situation?

Learning Goal: I’m working on a psychology multi-part question and need an explanation and answer to help me learn.

Walden University

PSYC 8748: Stress and Coping

Week 9

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PSYC 8748: Stress and Coping

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Week 9: Stress, Humor, Sleep, and the Immune System

A good laugh and a long sleep are the best cures in the doctor’s book.

– Irish Proverb

A priest, a rabbi, and a monk walk into a bar. The bartender looks up and says “What is this, some kind of joke?”

– Unknown

Do you ever wonder why negative situations often seem less dire after a good night’s sleep? Or why a sarcastic or witty remark provides levity to a tense situation? Think back to the image of the stressed man in the introduction to this course. What would it take to calm his frazzled nerves? Maybe a solution to his problem, a good laugh, or a nap would help. Often people give very little thought to the connection between sleep, humor, the immune system, and stress. A good laugh and a sound slumber not only benefit your emotional well-being, they also support your biological functioning.

This week you consider how sleep hygiene and laughter can affect your immune system and your stress levels.

You also continue to work on your Final Project.

Objectives

Analyze influences of humor on the health condition and stress response

Evaluate use of humor in stress management training

Analyze influences of sleep on stress and stress hormones

Analyze influences of sleep deprivation and stress on illness

Evaluate concepts to improve sleep hygiene

Analyze evaluation methods for stress management workshops

Learning Resources

Required Readings

Spaulding, D.T. (2008). Foundations of program evaluation. In Program evaluation in practice: Core concepts and examples for discussion and analysis (pp. 3–35). San Francisco, CA: Jossey–Bass.

Program Evaluation in Practice: Core Concepts and Examples for Discussion and Analysis, 1st Edition by Spaulding, D.T. Copyright 2008 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. – Books. Reprinted by permission of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. – Books via the Copyright Clearance Center.

American Cancer Society. (2008). Humor therapy. Retrieved from http://www.cancer.org/Treatment/TreatmentsandSideE…

Benham, G. (2010). Sleep: An important factor in stress-health models. Stress and Health: Journal of the International Society for the Investigation of Stress, 26(3), 204–214.

Bonnet, M. H., & Arand, D. L. (2011). How much sleep do adults need? Retrieved from http://www.sleepfoundation.org/article/white-paper…

Capaldi, V. F., II, Guerrero, M. L., & Killgore W. D. S. (2011). Sleep disruptions among returning combat veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan. Military Medicine, 176(8), 879–888.

D’Eon, M., Sadownik, L., Harrison, A., & Nation, J. (2008). Using self-assessment to detect workshop success: Do they work? American Journal of Evaluation, 29(1), 92-98.

Frick, L. R., Rapanelli, M., Bussmann, U. A., Klecha, A. J., Barreiro Arcos, M. L., Genaro, A. M., & Cremaschi, G. A. (2009). Involvement of thyroid hormones in the alternations of T-Cell immunity and tumor progression induced by chronic stress. Biological Psychiatry, 65(11), 935-942.

Martin, R. A. (2002). Is laughter the best medicine? Humor, laughter, and physical health. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 11(6), 216–220.

National Heart Lung and Blood Institute. (2010). What is sleep apnea? Retrieved from http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/health-topics/topi…

National Institute on Aging. (2011). A good night’s sleep. Retrieved from http://www.nia.nih.gov/health/publication/good-nig…

National Sleep Foundation. (2011). Healthy sleep tips. Retrieved from http://www.sleepfoundation.org/article/sleep-topic…

National Sleep Foundation. (2011). Trauma and sleep. Retrieved from http://www.sleepfoundation.org/article/sleep-topic…

Rowe, A., & Regehr, C. (2010). Whatever gets you through today: An examination of cynical humor among emergency service professionals. Journal of Loss and Trauma, 15(5), 448-464.

Steinert, Y., Boillat, M., Meterissian, S., Liben, S., & McLeod, P.J. (2008). Developing successful workshops: A workshop for educators. Medical Teacher, 30(3), 328-330.

Stokenberga, I. (2008). Humorous personality: Relationship to stress and well-being. Baltic Journal of Psychology, 9(1,2), 70-84.

Vandekerckhove, M., & Cluydts, R. (2010). The emotional brain and sleep: An intimate relationship. Sleep Medicine Reviews, 14(4), 219–226.

Note: For help with the biopsychology references, refer to the Lupien et al. article from Week 3.

Evaluation of the Guided Imagery Workshop

Walden University, LLC. (2012). Humor and sleep hygiene: Your natural allies against stress. Unpublished document.

Association for Applied and Therapeutic Humor. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://aath.org/

National Sleep Foundation. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.sleepfoundation.org/

American Academy of Sleep Medicine. (2012). Practice guidelines. Retrieved from http://www.aasmnet.org/practiceguidelines.aspx

National Sleep Foundation. (2011). Sleep topics. Retrieved from http://www.sleepfoundation.org/articles/sleep-topi…

Optional Resources

Cancer Treatment Centers of America. (n.d.). Laughter therapy. Retrieved from http://www.cancercenter.com/treatments/laughter-th…

American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Sleep-wake disorders. In Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed., pp. 361-422). Arlington, VA: American Psychiatric Publishing. Retrieved from the Walden Library.

American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Trauma- and stressor-related disorders. In Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed., pp. 265-290). Arlington, VA: American Psychiatric Publishing. Retrieved from the Walden Library.

Helpguide.org. (n.d.). Laughter is the best medicine: The health benefits of humor and laughter. Retrieved from http://www.helpguide.org/life/humor_laughter_healt…Discussion: Humor and Sleep Hygiene’s Potential Benefits for Stress and Immunity

A clown is like an aspirin, only he works twice as fast.

– Groucho Marx

Take rest; a field that has rested gives a bountiful crop.

– Ovid

Have you ever noticed that no matter how difficult the situation, if you can find humor in it, it becomes more manageable? Even in moments of loss, people remember their loved ones by reminiscing about the funny things they did or said. Many circumstances are judged by how they make you feel. Even in the face of serious illness, an active sense of humor can lessen its effects and improve the likelihood of a more positive outcome. These examples suggest that humor appears to buffer against the effects of stress. The effects of a good sense of humor benefit the body in a variety of ways.

Participating in a good laugh is not the only activity you might overlook when it comes to managing stress. A restful sleep provides a wealth of benefits to the mind as well as the body. Think back to the last time you had to get up early and despite having too little sleep, you had to keep going. Consider how the lack of sleep affected your mood, appetite, energy level, performance, and your interactions with others. People often trivialize their need for sleep, despite the numerous benefits it provides to mood, concentration, and coping with stress. The focus on connections between sleep, stress, and health are particularly timely because sleep patterns are changing. Between the late 1950s and the early 1990s, the average reports of adult sleep dropped from 8 to 9 hours a night to 7 to 8 hours a night. Recent studies report increasing numbers of individuals sleeping less than 6 hours a night. The annual direct cost of dealing with sleep deprivation in the United States is estimated to be $16 billion a year. Indirect costs are estimated at $50 to $100 billion and include motor vehicle and other accidents, resultant litigation, property destruction, medical costs, loss of productivity, and death.

For this Discussion, review this week’s Learning Resources including the “Humor and Sleep Hygiene: Your Natural Allies Against Stress” handout. Students with a last name beginning with A–M, research articles on the effects of humor on stress and health and then respond to Discussion A. Students with a last name beginning with N–Z, research illnesses related to stress and poor sleep habits and then respond to Discussion B.

With these thoughts in mind:

By Day 4

D1-A: Post by Day 4 an explanation of humor’s effect on the health condition. Then explain how humor might impact the stress response. Finally, describe how humor might effectively be used in stress management training. Be specific.

D1-B: Post by Day 4 an explanation of the relationship between sleep and stress, including any impact the relationship may have on stress hormones. Then explain how sleep deprivation and stress might contribute to the development of an illness. Finally, explain two concepts you might include in sleep hygiene education and explain why. Be specific.

Be sure to support your postings and responses with specific references to the Learning Resources.

Read a selection of your colleagues’ postings.

By Day 6

Respond by Day 6 in one of the following ways to at least one of your colleagues whose posting is in response to the portion of the Discussion to which you were not assigned:

Ask a probing question.

Share an insight from having read your colleague’s posting.

Offer and support an opinion.

Validate an idea with your own experience.

Make a suggestion.

Expand on your colleague’s posting.

Return to this Discussion in a few days to read the responses to your initial posting. Note what you have learned and/or any insights you have gained as a result of the comments your colleagues made.

Submission and Grading Information

Grading Criteria

To access your rubric:

Week 9 Discussion Rubric

Post by Day 4 and Respond by Day 6

To participate in this Discussion:

Week 9 Discussion

Final Project: Workshop Evaluation

Having access to an array of potential stress management strategies in response to the variety of stressors your clients may encounter increases the likelihood of improving the coping response to stress. However, without a means by which to measure each strategy’s effectiveness for a particular stressor, blind treatment is what results.

When developing an evaluation of your stress management workshop, identify your intention for the workshop’s overall outcome. Then consider the outcome of your workshop using the following measures:

How might you define or determine whether the workshop was successful?

Consider asking what has changed. Has the program made a difference?

Are behavioral changes going to occur? What behavior shifts have already occurred?

How are the participants’ lives changed?

Do they feel confident with the tools they were given?

Can participants envision a previous stressful experience where the application of these tools would have benefited them?

How well was the information relayed? Was the environment comfortable?

Are there wider ripples of social effect due to the resulting policy changes or institutional practice?

For the assignment, you continue to build on your Final Project. Review the “Evaluation of the Guided Imagery Workshop” handout provided. Also, conduct an Internet search for additional examples of reputable workshop evaluations. Then, consider the various evaluation methods and select an evaluation method appropriate for your stress management workshop.

The Assignment (2–3 pages)

Using APA essay format, describe the type of evaluation method you might use to examine the effectiveness of your stress management workshop and justify your selection.

Develop your evaluation form and include it as an appendix to the above justification.

Include a list of references in APA format.

Submit the assignment for Instructor feedback.

Support your Final Project assignment with specific references to all resources used in its preparation. You are to provide a reference list for all resources, including those in the Learning Resources for this course.

By Day 7

Submit your assignment by Day 7.

Submission and Grading Information