I want you to enjoy life . . .
Even though my last health article was about the cancer risk of drinking even small amounts of alcohol.
That doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate having a good time.
In fact, smiling and laughing are good for your health.
And that’s not just what the Reader’s Digest has said for decades (“Laughter is the Best Medicine”), it’s proven by science.
Let’s face it, there’s going to be a lot of bad news in 2020 – the presidential election and (maybe) an economic recession or stock market crash.
If you read last week’s article, you know I hate New Year’s resolutions but love incorporating beneficial habits permanently into my lifestyle.
So, let’s start off by taking time every day to laugh. At least, smile.
Norman Cousins’s Landmark Book
It’s Anatomy of an Illness as Perceived by the Patient: Reflections on Healing and Regeneration.
In 1964, Cousins was diagnosed with a connective tissue disorder, also known as a disease of collagen, plus Ankylosing spondylitis. This greatly limited his physical activities and caused him a great deal of pain. The doctors told him he had a one in 500 chance of recovering.
In 1964, “alternative medicine” was NOT popular or even well-known. Doctors were revered just short of God, and the most common supplements were “One a Day” for grownups and Flintstones vitamins for kids. Only kooks went to health food stores. When diagnosed with terrible diseases, 99.9999% of everybody did what their doctors expected. They went home to die or to live with the pain.
Not Norman Cousins. He refused. He found a way to obtain intravenous Vitamin C – and he laughed.
When most people had only a TV in their living room and watched whatever the 3 major networks decided to show and VCRs hadn’t been invented yet, Cousins set up a screen and a movie projector. He obtained copies of the Candid Camera TV show and old comedy movies, such as those by the Marx Brothers.
He discovered that ten minutes of belly laughter pushed the pain away, giving him two hours of restful sleep.
When the pain returned, he’d switch on the projector and watch another movie.
Studies Show People Who Rarely Laugh Have a 21% Higher Risk of Heart Disease.
And a 60% higher risk of stroke.
Those figures come from a 2016 study done on 20,934 Japanese seniors.
Yet, while children laugh 300 times a day, adults do so only 17 times.
Who’s healthier and more youthful?
Laughter is Often a Social Activity
Robert Provine, Ph.D., has been studying laughter for over 20 years. He found laughter caused by jokes is just 10-20% of the total. The rest of it comes from being with the other person. Often, what they say is not even funny or amusing to an outsider.
That is, the other person is more important than the quality of the joke. How many times have you laughed at the same old tired crack by a friend or family member, but it’s always funny because you care about that person?
We often laugh to bond with other people and smooth over what would otherwise be rough edges in our relationships.
Therefore, you’re getting a double whammy. The health benefits of socially interacting with other people and laughter.
Besides, laughter is contagious. As the old saying goes, laugh and the world laughs with you. Our brains are wired to smile or laugh when we hear others laugh.
TV shows use that to manipulate us with “laugh tracks.” That’s the sound of a fake audience laughing, seemingly in response to the joke a TV character just made.
And we like people who make us laugh. So when you laugh with others, they’ll like you more. And so you’ll like them more. And so all of you benefit.
Brian Tracy’s Observation on Relationships
He’s mainly known as a self-help and business guru, but in one of his books he points out we can gauge the quality of our relationships by how much we laugh with the other person. He was speaking of romantic relationships and marriage, but it applies just as much to children, other family members, friends and even ourselves – that 10-20% of laughter we have from reading a joke when we’re alone is important as well.
The Physical Benefits of Laughter
While you’re laughing, it’s sort of like exercise. Your heart beats faster, you breath faster and with more depth, so you take in more oxygen.
That’s followed by a period of relaxation, where your heart beats more slowly. Your breathing goes down, and so does your blood pressure.
According to the Mayo Clinic, laughter:
* Reduces pain
* Relaxes muscles
* Lowers your levels of stress hormones
* Decreases risk of heart disease
* Strengthens your abdominal, facial and back muscles
* Lifts your emotional health
* Increases your energy
* Strengthens your immune system
* Improves your brain’s functioning
In one study of the effect of laughter therapy on seniors, they attended two 90-minutes sessions twice a week for six weeks. That improved their general overall health and reduced insomnia and anxiety.
Clearly, laughter lowers stress. More specifically, it decreases cortisol, growth hormone, epinephrine, and 3,4-dihydro-phenylacetic acid.
Plus, it increases endorphins, which reduce depression.
Dedicate Time to Laugh Just as You Should to Exercise, Meditating and Brushing Your Teeth
Deliberately spending ten to fifteen minutes a day to laugh is a great habit to get into. Whether you read a joke of the day, watch a funny video on YouTube or a full-length Hollywood comedy or go out to a comedy club . . . do it.
And you’ll find you’ll laugh more easily during the rest of your life as well.
Not to mention lowering your risk of heart disease by 21% and stroke by 60%.
Did I ever tell you this one? Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton go into a bar and . . .
