Laughter can interrupt tension before tension invents unnecessary meaning.

Tension left alone does not stay neutral. The silence after a sharp comment starts filling with explanation, and the explanations we invent tend to be unkind, about ourselves or about the other person. A laugh cuts across that process before the story has time to harden, which is why it can feel like relief out of proportion to the joke.

In the next tight conversation, watch for the pause where meaning is about to be manufactured. Something light and honest, at your own expense rather than theirs, is usually enough to release it. If humor would seem dismissive of something real, say the plain thing instead, but say it before the silence writes its own version.