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A reader said she started to get sick and she tried everything I mentioned in the column, “A few of my Favorite Things” (Feb. 2). She said it worked and she is telling all her friends. Simple things are best— right?
It has long been said that laughter is the best medicine. In fact, I think the Bible says, “A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.” It has been said, but now it has been proven scientifically.
According to Dr. Lee Berk of the Loma Linda School of Public Health in California, laughter strengthens the immune system and lowers levels of stress hormones. After a bout of laughter, blood pressure drops to a lower, healthier level than when the laughter began. Dr. William Fry, of Stanford University, found that “twenty seconds of guffawing gives the heart the same workout as three minutes of hard rowing.”
Another year-long study of heart attack victims done at the Oakhurst Health Research Institute in California found that of those who spent half an hour a day watching comedy videos, 10 percent had a second heart attack, whereas, 30 percent of those who did not watch had a second attack. Another study done by the University of Maryland Medical Center, found people with a well-developed sense of humor are less prone to cardiac problems. The study found that patients with heart disease were 40 percent less likely to laugh in a variety of situations, less likely to recognize the humor in a situation, and generally laughed less even in positive situations.
If you have not read Norman Cousins’ book, Anatomy of an Illness as Perceived by the Patient, it is well worth the read and still available on amazon.com. Diagnosed with a life-threatening and incurable condition, Cousins checked himself out of the hospital, lived in a motel, and basically healed himself with laughter, rest, and intravenous vitamin C, along with a healthy diet. A few years later, he recovered from a major heart attack on his own and wrote about that in another book, Healing Heart. He had doctor friends who supported him in his choices on the journey back to health.
Are you in pain? There is evidence that laughter actually releases chemicals in the body which help relieve pain. A study in 1993 measuring the effect of humor on people’s pain thresholds took two groups, one with high humor traits, and one with low humor traits and subjected them to pain. In this case transcutaneous nerve end stimulation created the pain. Both groups got to watch a funny video while they were subjected to pain. They found that the people with high humor traits coped well with pain, but the people with low humor traits were more vulnerable to pain and less able to cope. The study also found that watching the funny video raised the pain thresholds of both groups.
Have you noticed that most children laugh spontaneously? A study showed that children laugh about 400 times per day. I do hope this has not changed, as I see sad faced children today who do not seem to feel like laughing. Adults laughed only 15 times per day. I wonder if we still laugh that much. When did we stop laughing?
Since laughing can be done sitting, costs no money, and requires no equipment or skill, it’s the perfect workout for those who lack time, money, or desire to do other exercise. Next time you feel stressed and need a break, take a laughter time-out. Take a deep breath and laugh as loudly as you can. Visualize all your muscles and cells smiling. Then remember a time when you felt really good and laughed and laughed. Even when you fake a smile or laugh, you get the physiological benefits like you do when it’s the real thing.
When I conducted a wellness class at a nursing home, sometime during each session we simply laughed as loud as we could. In a few seconds, we found there was a lot to laugh about since we all looked funny. These people had little to laugh about, and yet, they could force themselves to laugh and every one felt better afterward, especially me.
Rather than watching depressing news, why not try reruns of Andy Griffith or Cheers. They are hilarious and may give you more stamina and courage to face the challenges lamented in the news.
If you are a worrier or one of those people who is “duty bound” and feel guilty when you have fun, just for the fun of it, get over it!! Try to worry while laughing – you can’t do it. We are actually doing the world a favor when we laugh. Remember the poem: “Laugh and the world laughs with you; weep and you weep alone, for the sad old earth has need of your mirth. It has tears enough of its own.”
(Janice Norris lives in Heber Springs, has a B.S. in home economics from Murray State University, taught home economics, owned and operated health food stores in Illinois and Heber Springs, has taught numerous health and nutrition classes, and wrote a weekly newspaper column in Illinois for 15 years. She can be reached at janicenorris34@yahoo.com)
A reader said she started to get sick and she tried everything I mentioned in the column, “A few of my Favorite Things” (Feb. 2). She said it worked and she is telling all her friends. Simple things are best— right?
It has long been said that laughter is the best medicine. In fact, I think the Bible says, “A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.” It has been said, but now it has been proven scientifically.
According to Dr. Lee Berk of the Loma Linda School of Public Health in California, laughter strengthens the immune system and lowers levels of stress hormones. After a bout of laughter, blood pressure drops to a lower, healthier level than when the laughter began. Dr. William Fry, of Stanford University, found that “twenty seconds of guffawing gives the heart the same workout as three minutes of hard rowing.”
Another year-long study of heart attack victims done at the Oakhurst Health Research Institute in California found that of those who spent half an hour a day watching comedy videos, 10 percent had a second heart attack, whereas, 30 percent of those who did not watch had a second attack. Another study done by the University of Maryland Medical Center, found people with a well-developed sense of humor are less prone to cardiac problems. The study found that patients with heart disease were 40 percent less likely to laugh in a variety of situations, less likely to recognize the humor in a situation, and generally laughed less even in positive situations.
If you have not read Norman Cousins’ book, Anatomy of an Illness as Perceived by the Patient, it is well worth the read and still available on amazon.com. Diagnosed with a life-threatening and incurable condition, Cousins checked himself out of the hospital, lived in a motel, and basically healed himself with laughter, rest, and intravenous vitamin C, along with a healthy diet. A few years later, he recovered from a major heart attack on his own and wrote about that in another book, Healing Heart. He had doctor friends who supported him in his choices on the journey back to health.
Are you in pain? There is evidence that laughter actually releases chemicals in the body which help relieve pain. A study in 1993 measuring the effect of humor on people’s pain thresholds took two groups, one with high humor traits, and one with low humor traits and subjected them to pain. In this case transcutaneous nerve end stimulation created the pain. Both groups got to watch a funny video while they were subjected to pain. They found that the people with high humor traits coped well with pain, but the people with low humor traits were more vulnerable to pain and less able to cope. The study also found that watching the funny video raised the pain thresholds of both groups.
Have you noticed that most children laugh spontaneously? A study showed that children laugh about 400 times per day. I do hope this has not changed, as I see sad faced children today who do not seem to feel like laughing. Adults laughed only 15 times per day. I wonder if we still laugh that much. When did we stop laughing?
Since laughing can be done sitting, costs no money, and requires no equipment or skill, it’s the perfect workout for those who lack time, money, or desire to do other exercise. Next time you feel stressed and need a break, take a laughter time-out. Take a deep breath and laugh as loudly as you can. Visualize all your muscles and cells smiling. Then remember a time when you felt really good and laughed and laughed. Even when you fake a smile or laugh, you get the physiological benefits like you do when it’s the real thing.
When I conducted a wellness class at a nursing home, sometime during each session we simply laughed as loud as we could. In a few seconds, we found there was a lot to laugh about since we all looked funny. These people had little to laugh about, and yet, they could force themselves to laugh and every one felt better afterward, especially me.
Rather than watching depressing news, why not try reruns of Andy Griffith or Cheers. They are hilarious and may give you more stamina and courage to face the challenges lamented in the news.
If you are a worrier or one of those people who is “duty bound” and feel guilty when you have fun, just for the fun of it, get over it!! Try to worry while laughing – you can’t do it. We are actually doing the world a favor when we laugh. Remember the poem: “Laugh and the world laughs with you; weep and you weep alone, for the sad old earth has need of your mirth. It has tears enough of its own.”
(Janice Norris lives in Heber Springs, has a B.S. in home economics from Murray State University, taught home economics, owned and operated health food stores in Illinois and Heber Springs, has taught numerous health and nutrition classes, and wrote a weekly newspaper column in Illinois for 15 years. She can be reached at janicenorris34@yahoo.com)
