Is Laughter the Best Medicine?

“If you don’t learn how to laugh at troubles, you won’t have anything to laugh at when you grow old.” –Edward W. Howe

Everyone loves to laugh. In fact, we love laughing so much that there are entire industries built around it. Slapstick movies, sitcoms and comedians are all designed to provoke laughter. It’s no secret: laughing simply feels good. But does laughter have any lasting effects on our health?

In a word, yes. The value of humor in staying healthy and coping with problems is grossly underrated. Laughter is a natural healer. It doesn’t simply make us feel good temporarily; it reduces tension and has beneficial physiological effects. Laughter and an active sense of humor may even reduce your risk for heart disease.

Anatomy of a Laugh

Laughter is our physiological response to humor. The act is a complex response that consists of two parts: a set of gestures and the production of a sound. When we laugh heartily, changes occur in many parts of the body. Some researchers believe that laughter functions as a kind of social signal, because we are 30 times more likely to laugh in social settings than when we are alone.¹

What Laughter Means to Your Health

It has long been accepted that the ability to laugh is helpful to people coping with major illness and stress. But researchers now say that laughter can enhance the immune system and help us fight disease. It has been proven that laughter reduces levels of stress hormones.

Laughter is a way of cleansing our system of built-up tension. Humor can help us cope with stressful situations. The act of telling a joke gives us a mental break and increases our objectivity in the face of stress.

Laughter: The New Cardio?

Researchers estimate that the benefits of laughing a hundred times is equal to the benefits reaped by spending 10 minutes on the rowing machine or 15 minutes on an exercise bike. Laughter lowers blood pressure, increases vascular blood flow and improves oxygenation of the blood, all of which further assists healing. Laughter also gives your diaphragm and abdominal, respiratory, facial, leg and back muscles a workout. That's why you often feel exhausted after a long bout of laughter—you've just had an aerobic workout!

Laughter and an active sense of humor may help influence heart and artery disease, according to a study released in 2000 at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions. Researchers compared the humor responses of 150 patients with heart disease to those of 150 healthy age-matched controls. Results showed that heart patients were 40% less likely than their healthy counterparts to laugh in a variety of common situations. Individuals with heart disease were less likely to recognize humor or use it as an adaptive mechanism, and they generally showed less ability to laugh, even in positive situations.

Psychological Benefits of Humor

The psychological benefits of humor are quite amazing. People (caregivers, in particular) often store or suppress negative emotions such as anger, sadness and fear, rather than expressing them. Laughter provides a harmless release for these negative emotions. Have you ever felt better after watching a funny movie when you’re upset or stressed out? It’s a great escape and the feeling will last much longer than two hours. Increasingly, mental health professionals are suggesting laughter therapy (also known as humor therapy or therapeutic humor).

Find Humor in Every Situation

Norman Cousins, esteemed journalist and author of Anatomy of an Illness, spent months in a hospital and believed that his sense of humor was his first line of defense against defeating his illness. I’ve been told that one morning his breakfast tray was delivered at the same time an aide brought him a cup for a urine sample. He decided to have a little fun with his nurse. He poured his apple juice into the urine cup. When the nurse came in to get the sample, she commented on how cloudy it looked. He took the cup, looked at it, and said, “Well, let’s run it through again,” and drank it!

My father had Alzheimer’s disease. All his life he lived to fish: fresh water, salt water, from a pier or on a boat—he loved it all. As his disease progressed, he was no longer able to drive to fishing areas. Instead, he went through all my mother’s magazines and clipped out cartoons related to fishing, and “the one that got away.” It was a wonderful way of keeping him connected to his hobby, it gave him something to do to keep him out of mother’s hair for a few minutes, and later it gave us something to laugh together about.

I keep humor in my life by keeping an album of things that make me laugh. When I am upset, I pull out my humor notebook and look at the cartoons. It doesn’t take long before I start smiling and begin to relax. Your brain is one-tracked: you can only focus on one thing at a time. When you are laughing, you cannot be fearful, worrying, or feeling lots of pain. I encourage you to make a humor book for yourself. I bet you it will make a difference.

Next month I’ll share more easy ways to keep humor in your life—or your loved ones—including recommendations of humorous books, CDs and audiotapes, and movies. They make great gifts!

[1]Marshall Brain. "How Laughter Works". April 01, 2000.
http://people.howstuffworks.com/laughter.htm (October 26, 2007).

Posted in Geriatric Care Solutions, Tips for Healthy Living