Laughter: The Road to Better Health

As a child, laughter comes easily. Children will laugh at almost anything. As a result, they enjoy life and usually don't have the illnesses and diseases that plague adults. Instead of running to the doctor for pills that often do more damage why not try a dose of laughter.

There is solid scientific research that shows laughter improves many medical conditions. Some of these conditions include lowering blood pressure, improving circulation, reducing stress and it increases muscle flexion, strengthens cardiovascular functions, oxygenates the body and boosts the respiratory system.

There are many ways to get your daily laugh for the day. Read a funny story, or watch a commedy on TV. As I was growing up, we often watched the British shows like Fawlty Towers, To the Manor Born, and the Good Neighbors. We also watched I Love Lucy and The Honeymooners. The shows took me away from my problems and improved my health. I noticed that when my family watched these funny shows together, we weren't often sick.

Plain and simple, laughing boosts the immune function. It does this by raising Gammainterferon, or otherwise called disease-fighting proteins. The T-cells fight infection and B-cells produce antibodies that destroy disease. Laughter also releases endorphins, which are the body's natural painkillers.

Effects of Laughter is Studied at Loma Linda University

Loma Linda University conducted a study that involved 16 healthy male volunteers. The 16 men were divvied into two groups. During the test, the researchers drew blood and they did it again three more times after the tests. One group, (the experiment group) was told that they would watch humorous videos. The other group, the control group, was not. The results between these two groups were astounding. The experiment group showed a decrease in cortisol, epinephrine and dopac. These are all stress hormones. They showed an increase in chemicals that alleviates depression, (beta-endorphins) and the human growth hormone that boosts immunity. The research study reveals: The physiological effects of watching an hour of comedy can last from 12 to 24 hours in different people.

Photographer Joel Sartore relates a story about his grandmother. She lived to be 91-years-young and firmly believed that is what kept her young and alive.

Barb Fisher, a certified laughter yoga teacher reports that kids laugh about 400 times a day. Compare that to adults who laugh only about 15 times a day. It's no wonder that when we reach adulthood, we are reaching for the pills and are sick for more days than we care to admit.

Dr Michael Miller, director of the center for Preventive Cardiology at the University of Maryland Medical Center doesn't know why laughter protects the heart. Mental stress impairs endothelium. The endothelium is the protective barrier lining of blood vessels. Laughter releases the correct chemicals to counteract the imbalances.

Two Well-known People That Prove Laughter Cures Even Cancer

There are countless examples of people who used laughter to cure themselves, but two of the well known persons are Norman Cousins and Dodi Osteen. The doctors diagnosed Norman Cousins with a life-threatening illness. Norman found what his doctors suggested to be totally lacking hope, so he decided to check into a hotel. He made a life changing decision and that was to watch only funny movies and television shows. Form Charlie Chaplin to Candid Camera, he laughed and laughed until his sides hurt. Miraculously, his illness disappeared. Norman wrote a book called "Anatomy of an Illness" in an effort to help others going through the same ordeal.

In 1981, Dodi Osteen, mother to Joel Osteen well-known television minister, had been diagnosed with terminal cancer. She had been in the hospital for 21 days while the doctors ran every test they could think of on her. In the end, the results were always the same; she had metastatic cancer of the liver and was given only a few weeks to live. The doctors told her to go home and prepare to die; they could do nothing to save her life. This woman of faith refused that verdict and like Norman Cousins, she went home and watched comedies on television. For most of the day, she would watch cartoons and laugh and laugh. Years later, she is still healthy and active in the running of Lakewood church.

Here are two very different people diagnosed with a terminal disease. Neither one accepted the doctors predictions. They literally laughed their way to health. Laughter is the free medicine that is fun to do and has no limits on the amounts to take. A person can never take too much and they don’t have to worry about harmful side effects. What a great way to improve your health.

Sources:

CBS Sunday Morning:October 14, 2007 (Online)

The Natural News; Laughter; May 22, 2009 (Online)