Fascinating Facts About Burn Out & Stress
Physiologist, Humorist and Neuroscience Researcher
Making technical and scientific information entertaining and understandable
Laugh and Learn While You Experience the Relationship Between Education and Humor
Disclaimer:
Humor for the Health of It cannot be held responsible if during the show
your sides end up splitting and you end up in stitches
You may have seen educators and you may have seen humorists ...
but how often have you seen a humorous educator?
Why Choose Humor for the Health of it?
By presenting updated information from a comedian/physiologist/heath educator and neuroscience researchers perspective, the audience is given the opportunity to laugh and learn. One minute they will think they are in a comedy club, while the next minute they couldn't be more relaxed if they were lounging in a jacuzzi.
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Testimonials
Joel Weintraub performed at our 3-day conference-Holistic Medicine:Primary Care for the 21st Century. Jointly sponsored by the College of Osteopathic Medicine and the American Board of Holistic Medicine(ABHM), the vast majority of the audience were physicians. Judging from the laugher, their response to his performance was enthusiastically positive. Joel is funny, clever and quite talented in the manner in which he integrated his performance. A job well done! The conference attendeesand I were very pleased.
Robert S. Ivker, DO President ABHM
The most scientifically and medically competent comedy show I've hear heard.
Mark Erlebacher, MD
If you have ever tried to orchestrate a conference ... then Joel Weintraub's presentation will certainly be music to your ears. Joel's uncanny ability to bring your audience from the depths of some intense sessions to a room filled with roaring laughter is simply magical.
The interesting thing is, Joel does not throw out punch lines just to get a laugh. There is a message and meaning behind every laugh. If you are looking to improve employee morale, attitude and customer service, If you want to get the most out of your employees but you want your employees to get the most out of their job ... then you can't have another seminar without inviting Joel to speak at your conference.
Daneen Reese, formerly with PA Assisted Living Association and now with Daneen Resses Associates
On behalf of the Virginia Association of Counties, thank you for your participation in our annual conference.
You were a hit!! I received many positive comments about your entertaining presentation, "Humor for the Health of it". This is quite an accomplishment. The "Counties Put Citizens First" Conference at the Homestead last week was filled with "seasoned" elected officials who think they have seen or heard everything!!
Your energy was contagious and you did a great job stimulating the audience. Thanks again for sharing your insights and your down-to-earth message filled with ideas that can be used immediately.
Sincerely, Linda Butterfield CMP Director of Meetings & Events.
Press Releases
Lafayette Hill Journal
Medicine man from Lafayette Hill takes a funny look at life's foibles
Laughter: it's still the best medicine.
HE FINDS HUMOR IN THE STRANGEST PLACES: CAREER WORRIES, RELATIONSHIP WOES, CHRONIC STRESS..
AND. PROVES THAT'S IT'S ALWAYS BETTER TO KEEP YOUR FUNNY SIDE UP.
By: May Mariner
"Stress is something you wish you didn't have," says Joel Weintraub. "But get together with friends and you kill yourself trying to prove that you have more of it. One guy says, "I've got an ulcer,' and the other replies, 'Mine's bleeding."
Same with older folks and their health problems. I walked into the lobby of a senior citizens' home and saw a guy talking to his friend. One guy was complaining about his arthritis, the other one was talking about his heart disease. Then I see one guy just sitting there. He says, I'd like to develop a bunion so I can have a half-decent conversation.'"
The Philadelphia Inquirer
Health and Science
Laughter Is the Medicine for Body and Soul
Art Carey
There is nothing in life as precious as laughter. Laughing is a close cousin of crying. It's a tool of catharsis, an involuntary spasm of deep emotion. Tragedy is often the wellspring of laughter and laughter helps us cope with the inexplicable and uncontrollable. Laughter, says Mel Brooks, is "our defense against the universe".
My personal philosophy is that 90 percent of life is absurd and the remaining 10 percent is nonsense. There are two ways to respond to this knowledge. You can seek solace with a drink in hand or you can laugh. I prefer the latter. It's more enjoyable, better for you body and mind and as we all know, he who laughs ... lasts.
Atlantic City Press
Senior citizens learn how humor helps health
by Joyce Vanaman
staff writer
VINELAND — The senior citizens went on a fitness walk on the outdoor track at the Center for Health and Fitness on Thursday, and they did country line dancing on the tennis court, and they laughed and laughed.
When Joel Weintraub asked what their hobbies were, some said playing pinochle, bingo and poker "I can tell I’m in New Jersey: everything is gambling.’ he said.
Weintraub's comedy-lecture, Humor for the Health of It" touched on stress management, nutrition, exercise and fitness, hobbies and recreation - all with humor.
The more than 100 seniors who participated In the activities at the Center for health and Fitness joined an estimated 100,000 seniors participating in National Senior Health and Fitness Day, said Erin Romani, sponsor of the Wellness Center at South Jersey Hospital-Bridgeton.
Weintrauh, who has a masters degree in exercise physioIogist and an undergraduate degree in health education from Temple University, has lectured to corporations. Government agencies and other organizations. He also has performed as a stand-up Comedian at numerous clubs on the East Coast
Using Jim Smith, 69, of Bridgeton, as his partner, Weintraub tossed him one plastic cup, which he said became boring; then two cups, which required some skill in going back and forth; then three cups, which imposed too much stress.
My Two Books
Happy New Year I get a bit philosophical towards the end of the year. I was interested in knowing why we celebrate the beginning of the New Year with a party, instead of celebrating the New Year at Staples with a new calendar and next year’s stationary. If we feel the need to celebrate the start of the new year, wouldn’t you think we would also want to party at the beginning and end of every month? Can you imagine watching the Ball Drop in Times Square every month? Happy February! Happy March! The months get no special treatment or celebration. Even the end of the week gets special treatment as we all leave work yelling, “Thank God it’s Friday!” But you never see anybody getting excited at the end of the month. It’s not that I think we should be banging pots and pans and setting off fireworks every month, I’m just questioning the exuberance we have for the end of the year. In addition to knowing why we are brimming with so much excitement when it is time to leap from one year to the next, I was also interested in knowing the history of why New Year’s begins on January 1. To begin this story, did you ever wake up on a cold January morning anxiously waiting for the frost to turn to dew with the arrival of March? If you lived in the days when the Romans developed the calendar, you would have gotten your wish. The Romans began their New Year in March, which was celebrated as the Spring Equinox. Equinox is Latin for equal nights and days, which means that the northern and southern hemispheres have equal light. In the Northern hemisphere the days are about to become longer and down below in Australia they are preparing for winter. Now before you get too excited about the Romans beginning the year in March and missing the wintry weather, the Romans decided just to exclude January and February as months. You still would have been complaining about those cold and sometimes snowy days but you would not have been able to complain to a calendar. The calendar stopped in December and did not begin again until March. You still would have paid full price for a 12-month calendar at Staples but you would have only received 10 months. That’s hard to believe, isn’t it? The Romans developed the calendar from March to December and then decided to quit. I would love to go to ancestry.com and figure out who their descendants are today because if they are in the home building business, I definitely don’t want them putting an addition on my house in December and deciding that they will get around to the roof in March”.; The Romans even named the first four months of the year after Gods. They even came up with a name that described what was unique to that particular time of year. Since the Romans made it a point that there will be no wars during the New Year celebration, March was named after Mars, the God of War and Agriculture. This was not a bad deal for the God of War. He got to have the night off and they name the first month of the year in his honor. April was derived from Aprilis, which is derived from Aperire, which in Latin means “to open”. This may have been in reference to the opening of the flower buds in spring. Another theory is that April is named after Aphrodite, the Goddess of Love. If that is true, then our entire calendar is thrown off since Valentine's Day is in February. The love of your life would be celebrated in February and two months later the Goddess of Love would be celebrated in April. You would think the calendar designers in ancient Rome would just have one month dedicated to love or at least not skip a month of loving. Perhaps more than 30 consecutive days of loving was too much for them and they needed a love break. May was derived from Maius or Maia, who was the Greek fertility Goddess. This makes sense to me since the previous month was dedicated to the Goddess of Love. It does seem a bit rushed though, but back in the Roman Mythology days it must have been important to keep the population growing. Maius was Mercury’s mom and had a reputation as a good mother. It is interesting that May also happens to be the day that we celebrate Mother's Day but this is just a coincidence. Maia is also known as the Goddess of Spring and Growth. June was named after Juno, who was the wife of the God Jupiter. Juno was also the goddess of marriage and childbirth. Coincidentally this is one of the most popular months for weddings. Getting married in June makes a lot of sense since you have already expressed love for your special someone in February, worshipped the Goddess of love Aphrodite in April and heaped praise on Maius, the Greek fertility goddess in May. I’m assuming they ran out of ideas for the next six months. Instead of honoring a God or a description of the season, they just named them five through ten. The fifth month or what we fondly call July was originally called Quintilius, until they changed the name to July, in honor of Julius Caesar and his birthday and for Julius’ fine job in 46 BC of updating what was a formerly chaotic calendar. His month of July was also extended to 31 days. August was originally called Sextillius, for the sixth month, until they changed our warmest month of the year to August for Augustus Caesar. Augustus, who was Julius successor as well as his great nephew and eventually adopted son, got a month named after him after defeating Marc Antony and Cleopatra in 31 BC and by also becoming the emperor of Rome. The Roman Senate also wisely decided that August should also have 31 days as did July. That was a smart move. You wouldn’t want anyone thinking that August was an inferior month to July, especially since August was named for your boss who just happened to be the emperor. September was the seventh month and it comes from the old Roman word Septem. October was the eighth month, followed by November for nine and December for the tenth month. The calendar was completed by adding Januarius to the eleventh month or what we call January. Februum or February was added as the last month. January was named after the two-faced god Janus. Calling Janus two-faced was not an attack on his character. The nick name two-faced just indicated that this was the God that could look back to the past and towards the future at the same time. Having this ability to travel back and forth in time is perfect for the month of January, since January is the day that we usually look back to the past and also envision the future. Februm was derived from the word purification. The Purification Festival, also known as the Forgiveness Festival, was when people were forgiven for their past misdeeds, as preparation for spring. They only needed 28 days in February to finish out the year until they realized that once every four years, they needed to add an extra day, which we now call Leap Year. You are most likely wondering how January went from the eleventh month to the first month. Well, whenever they had an election in Rome, the Consul, who had similar duties to a present-day President, would assume office on March 15, which was the beginning of their year. However, in 153 BC, the Consul could not assume office until January 1, which would be 10 months later. So instead of just being late for work by 10 months they just moved the beginning of the year to January 1. That is some power, isn’t it? Can you imagine coming into work on Tuesday instead of Monday morning? Instead of being reprimanded for missing a day of work, the boss just changed the first day of the week to Tuesday. This is why January became the first month. However, New Year's Day was still observed on March 25 well into the Middle Ages. That changed in 1582 when Pope Gregory XIII tweaked the Julian calendar and created the modern Gregorian calendar. March 25th was the Feast of the Annunciation when the Angel Gabriel told Mary she would have a baby boy. This was always associated with the first month of the year. With the start of the Gregorian calendar, the New Month was moved from the Feast of the Annunciation on March 25th to the Feast of the Circumcision 8 days after the birth of baby Jesus’. There you have it … the history of our modern calendar. In theory, I guess it does not matter which month begins the first of the year. The important thing is that we make the most of every day. Happy New Year! Joel
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