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Getting Rid of Stress
Laugh Yourself Healthy
Physically and emotionally, humor really may be the best medicine
An apple a day? Old news. As researchers are discovering, a hearty laugh may be even better for your health.
Many studies have shown the physical benefits of laughter. It strengthens the heart, moves air through the lungs and releases tension. “Some people call laughter ‘internal jogging,’ ” says Joseph Vincent, M.D., critical care and lung specialist at Lehigh Valley Hospital and Health Network.
Sustained laughter also releases endorphins in the body, the substances that produce a “runner’s high.” “Endorphins make us feel good and relieve pain, and there is evidence they stimulate the immune system to fight disease,” Vincent says. Witness the case of writer Norman Cousins (Anatomy of an Illness), who helped himself recover from a potentially crippling disease by watching Marx brothers movies.
Improved physical health, though, is just the beginning of what humor can do for you. A good laugh also has powerful psychological benefits. When you’re making your way through tough times, humor can be “a way of stepping back and saying, ‘I’m bigger than this,’ ” as Vincent puts it.
Humor also helps you grow. “When you take yourself so seriously you can’t lighten up, it’s kind of a dead-end street,” Vincent says. “Fear of looking foolish closes you to the adventure of trying something new. So what if it doesn’t turn out great? We all fail sometimes. Being able to make a joke about it releases the tension and heads off the embarrassment.”
It comes down to a willingness to be “silly”—a word with a bad reputation it doesn’t deserve, according to humorist and author C.W. Metcalf. “Silly,” he points out, derives from an old English word meaning completely happy, healthy and blessed. Silliness in the face of seriousness is “a mark of mental health…a set of survival skills that keeps us fluid and flexible instead of rigid and breakable in the face of relentless change.”
Humor in this sense is not the ability to tell jokes (especially those that hurt others). It’s an attitude that lets you see the absurdity in stressful situations, take yourself lightly and maintain a sense of joy in being alive.
Laughter literally may help you live longer. Researchers have found that a sense of humor is a common characteristic of longevity. Finally, it’s an essential ingredient in strong relationships. “Clowning around makes it safe to express affection openly,” Vincent says. “Humor is almost magical in that way.”
So why don’t more of us use it? While children laugh about 400 times a day, the average adult only laughs 15 times, says humorist Mary Lilley-Thompson. (A “certified laugh leader,” Lilley-Thompson has delighted audiences at past Spirit of Women conferences.)
Maybe we grew up in a sober family and never learned to laugh. Maybe we’re suffering from “terminal professionalism,” as Metcalf puts it. But anyone can lighten up, with practice. (See some techniques, at left.) And it’s well worth the effort, Vincent says: “Laughter seeps into the cracks and crevices and improves all aspects of your life.”
This page last updated 2/12/08 04:08 PM
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