[Originally published in Synapse on December 2001.]
It’s been one of those days. You lock yourself out of your car. You get into an argument with a loved one. Your professor decides to assign an additional packet of readings over Thanksgiving break to enjoy with your turkey dinner. And your neighbor’s dog mistakes your leg for a fire hydrant. What should you do? Well, the answer is not to check yourself into Langley Porter. Rather, you should laugh.
Through humor, we can survive life’s daily hassles. Comedian Bill Cosby insists, “Once you find laughter, no matter how painful your situation might be, you can survive it.”
Medical researchers from all over the United States have investigated the effects of laughter on the body. Laughter is a physiological response that begins in the brain.
While your internal organs go on a seventy mph roller coaster ride, your lungs take in oxygen thereby creating a diverse array of explosive sounds. All these events have a tremendous effect on the body.
Norman Cousins, adjunct professor of medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles, was one of the first to learn about the healing power of laughter. In his book, Anatomy of an Illness, Cousins reported that ten minutes of “solid belly laughter” would give him two hours of pain-free sleep. Laughter was a significant component of his treatment because Cousin’s illness involved severe inflammation of the spine and joints.
In addition, William F. Fry, MD, professor emeritus of psychiatry at the Stanford University School of Medicine says, “I think that laughter is a total body experience. Laboratory evidence has clearly demonstrated that humor has significant positive impacts on the cardiovascular, respiratory, nervous, muscular, and immune systems of the body.”
Fry further explains that muscles relax once we stop laughing. Also, people who suffer from pain due to arthritis, rheumatism, and even some headaches benefit from laughter — the release of the body’s natural painkillers, endorphins, is thought to play a role. There is also a link between laughter and the effectiveness of the immune system.
Laughter lowers the level of the stress hormone Cortisol, thus making us less susceptible to certain diseases. - So, be around people who laugh and have a positive outlook on life.
Laughter is contagious. When one person laughs, it creates a domino effect that can reach many others. Keep a scrapbook of favorite jokes, funny cartoon clippings, quotes, and photos.
Whenever you’re feeling down, look through your book to keep your spirits high. Finally, stay young at heart and realize that life puts us through a variety of experiences. Many of which are ones we enjoy, some we agonize over, and all become part of who we are as a person.
I would like to leave you with a few quotes by children that should bring a smile to your face:
“I believe that you should live each day as if it is your last, which is why I don’t have any clean laundry because, come on, who wants to wash clothes on the last day of their life?” - Age 15
“As you make your way through this hectic world of ours, set aside a few minutes each day. At the end of the year, you’ll have a couple of days saved up.” - Age 7
“For centuries, people thought the moon was made up green cheese. Then the astronauts found that the moon is really a big hard rock. That’s what happens to cheese when you leave it out.” - Age 6
