Laughter in the Time of Quarantine
Have a Happy Weekend (if you can still tell the days apart!)
This Tex-Mex restaurant’s famous marquee sign, whose black letters tell a new joke to passing motorists each day, is featured in “El Arroyo’s Big Book of Signs: Volume One.” And there’s already a Book 2 plus a mini book out!
Laughter improves your resistance to disease!
Laughter decreases stress hormones!
Laughter increases immune cells and infection-fighting antibodies!
Laughter triggers the release of endorphins, the body’s natural feel-good chemicals.
How do they do it? Being funny and topical on a daily basis is a team effort — and one that’s shrouded in secrecy. The signs’ masterminds include the owner/brothers and a small group of contributors who remain anonymous.
Sometimes, the signs just write themselves, Ellis says. “We pay attention to what’s going on in the world, which is usually pretty humorous!” Other times, the group uses a submission from one of El Arroyo’s passionate group of fans, which includes 92,000 followers on Facebook and almost 66,000 on Instagram.
Social media has become an integral part of the sign’s fame, as it has in our lives, spreading the word(s) across the country, and beyond.
Laughter has an anti-inflammatory effect that protects blood vessels and heart muscles from the damaging effects of cardiovascular disease.
Laughter contagiously forms social bonds. i.e. Laughter is central to relationships. You make friends on Medium!
Laughter fosters rigorous brain-region connectivity that kicks in when we hear a laugh as our brains work on decoding what sort of laughter is being heard: joyous, taunting, tickling. Laughter makes us smarter!
And finally….a message from the author via El Arroyo.
