Laughter is good for what ails you. Mark Twain once said, “The human race has one really effective weapon, and that is laughter.” The only down side to laughter may be that your cheeks could get tired from all the laughing and grinning. 

     In our usual day-to-day lives, stressors wear us out, make us cranky and in general, complicate our lives. Since Sept 11, 2001 terrorists’ attacks, there has been added stress. One thing we can do to reduce stress and improve our overall health is laugh. Humor is therapeutic. It reduces stress and improves the immune system. It decreases anxiety, rests your brain and boosts your morale, mood, creativity and hope. 

     A new area of research is psychoneuroimmunology. It explores the links between emotions and the immune system. To put it another way, it studies the link between the emotions and how well we resist and get over illnesses. Two researchers, Dr’s Lee Berk and Stanley Tanl, of Loma Linda University in California, divided subjects into two groups. One group watched a 60-minute humorous video, and the other group did not. Blood samples drawn afterward indicated there was a significant increase in special cell activity, Natural Killer Cells, in the group that watched the humorous video. There was no increase in the special cell activity in the group that did not see the video. These special cells are able to recognize early and remove virus and tumor cells. The hormones that suppress the immune system were decreased. Meaning that with a suppressed immune system, one is less able to fight off diseases and infections. 

     Laughter is used in some hospitals as adjunct therapy along with traditional treatments. There are even healthcare workers that specialize in humor therapy. They have a “humor cart” loaded with stuff to bring a smile and a guffaw. In our normal daily settings, humor is a good tool for “self-care.” It can offset job stress, burnout, shorten sick time and hospital stays. These humor therapist have their own organization, Association for Applied and Therapeutic Humor. They are on the web at http://www.aath.org.

     Years ago, as a nursing student, I was assigned to a clinical area that was particularly stressful, difficult because of the bizarre behavior of the patients and unpleasant sights. One morning it was worse than usual and as we took our breakfast break, I felt that I would be unable to eat. I asked my fellow student nurses to start talking and talk about anything except what we had just been through. I told them to talk about their boyfriends, family, friends and pets. They began their chatting and did not let up. It began to be funny and we ended up laughing and wiping happy tears from our eyes. At the end of our break, we returned to the area and were able to face the reminder of the day with uplifted and greatly improved attitudes. 

     So, what is funny? What makes us laugh the best? The further we are from a situation, emotionally, actual miles or time, the more we can see the humor during a crisis. Otherwise, the humor attempt is seen as hurtful and insensitive. Others are better able to receive humor that we aim at ourselves. When aimed at others or groups, it is insulting and degrading. 

     There are many sites on the Internet about humor and jokes. On one site, www.humormatters.com, the web page of Steven M. Sultanoff, Ph.D., Mirthologist and Clinical Psychologist, offers daily jokes, t-shirt and bumper stickers slogans to name a few of the jolly links. One can sign up to have a joke a day emailed. Another humor site is (get ready for this) www.teehee.com. On this site, you can even link to “Coach Me” and receive suggestions about how to laugh and find day-to-day humor. Annette Goodheart, Ph.D., MFCC (the website owner) writes, “Healthy, non-ridiculing and connecting laughter provides physiological, psychological and spiritual benefits you probably never realized or imagined. We are born with the gift of laughter—it’s being serious that we learn. So, learn to laugh, and live, all over again.”

     Look for some humor in your life and share it with others to brighten their day too. Make laughter and gentle humor a part of your wellness plan. 

© 2001 Joy B. Burch RN. All Rights Reserved.

Readers may contact Joy B. Burch via email jburch@worldskyline.com.