Laughter as medicine

Remember Norman Cousins? He was a journalist, professor at UCLA, and author of many books, including Anatomy of an Illness as Perceived by the Patient: Reflections on Healing. This was a long time ago, but I just remembered it. In 1964 he was diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis, a degenerative disease causing the breakdown of collagen. He was in constant pain and given the prognosis of only a few months to live.

As a professor, he had conducted research on the biochemistry of human emotions, which he believed were the keys to success in resisting and fighting illness. He decided to fight his disease with laughter (along with lots of vitamin C). For his laughter program, he’d watch the TV show Candid Camera and comic movies. "I made the joyous discovery that ten minutes of genuine belly laughter had an anesthetic effect and would give me at least two hours of pain-free sleep," he reported.  He lived for 25 more years.

Laughter has since become a legitimate field of study (called gelotology). A related field, psychoneuroimmunology, examines the complex interactions between the nervous and immune system.  It is now well documented that human emotions interact with the mind and body in complex and powerful ways that impact our health. As far as laughter goes, it profoundly affects a number of physiological processes:

• Alters heart rate, blood pressure, sweating, and sleep patterns. including increasing blood flow.
• Decreases levels of stress hormones.
• Activates the brain's natural dopamine reward pathway in the brain.
• Increases the production of antibodies, which are important constituents of the immune system.
• Increases endorphins, the body’s natural painkillers. 

If only our orange clown would make us laugh instead of cry.

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