The phrase “laughter is good medicine” has merit, according to mental health professionals and physicians. Author, Chuck Swindoll, wrote “10% of life is what happens to you and 90% is your attitude about the event”.
Suicide rates and depression hit a high during the holidays, and the ability to laugh becomes critical. Humor is a powerful emotional medicine that can lower stress, dissolve anger, and unite families in troubled times. Mood is elevated by striving to find humor in difficult and frustrating situations. “Laughing at ones self and the situation helps reveal that small things are not the earth-shaking events they sometimes seem to be. Looking at a problem from a different perspective can make it seem less formidable and provide opportunities for greater objectivity and insight”, states the Alliance for the Mentally Ill. “Humor also helps us avoid loneliness by connecting with others who are attracted to genuine cheerfulness. And the good feeling that we get when we laugh can remain with us as an internal experience even after the laughter subsides.”
Mental health professionals point out that humor can also teach perspective by helping patients to see reality rather than the distortion that supports their distress. Humor shifts the ways in which people think, and distress is greatly associated with the way people think. It is not situations which generate stress; it is the meaning that is placed on the situations. Humor adjusts the meaning of an event so that it is not so overwhelming.
Laughter, along with an active sense of humor, may help protect people against a heart attack, according to the study at the University of Maryland Medical Center. A recent study, which is the first to indicate that laughter may help prevent heart disease, found that people with heart disease were 40 percent less likely to laugh in a variety of situations compared to people of the same age without heart disease. According to the research, people who laugh heartily on a regular basis also have lower standing blood pressure than the average person. When patients have a good laugh, initially the blood pressure increases, but then it decreases to levels below normal. Breathing then becomes deeper which sends oxygen enriched blood and nutrients throughout the body.
The American Association of Physical Therapists advocates the use of humor in the overall healing process in the body. Laughter increases infection fighting antibodies that the body needs in order to heal. It can be a great workout for the diaphragm, abdominal, respiratory, facial, leg, and back muscles. It massages abdominal organs, tones intestinal functioning, and strengthens the muscles that hold the abdominal organs in place. Not only does laughter give the midsection a workout, it can benefit digestion and absorption functioning as well. It is estimated that hearty laughter can burn calories equivalent to several minutes on the rowing machine or the exercise bike.
Professionals working with patients who have brain dysfunctions often incorporate the use of humor into treatment plans. Laughter stimulates both sides of the brain to enhance learning. It eases muscle tension and psychological stress, which keeps the brain alert and allows people to retain more information.
The holidays offer ample opportunity during social gatherings to find humor. Bring humor into conversations. Ask people, “What’s the funniest thing that happened to you today? This week? In your life?” Some other ways to get a daily dose of laughter are: watch comedy DVD’s and TV shows (Remember classics like the Marx Brothers and the Three Stooges), go to comedy clubs, listen to comedy while driving, read comic authors, seek out funny people, and spend less time with overly serious people. Even in the most difficult of times, a laugh, or even simply a smile, can go a long way in helping a person feel better.
Originally published in print paper, Sebasticook Valley Weekly
