The Health Benefits of Humor
Laughter May Alleviate Allergies and More
Work out with laughter
Maybe it's not a replacement for the gym, but a good laugh can give your body a good workout.
In fact, researchers say that laughing 100 times a day is equal to spending 15 minutes on an exercise bike or 10 minutes on a rowing machine. Laughter also exercises the muscles in your diaphragm, abdomen, chest, legs, back and face. this may explain why you sometimes feel exhausted after watching a funny movie - you've just had an aerobic workout!
April 2006 — Being sick is no laughing matter, but laughter may play an important role in restoring — and maintaining good health.
Did you know that researchers at the University of Maryland Medical Center discovered a positive correlation between cardiac health and a good sense of humor?
And another study demonstrated that humor may play a role in alleviating allergy symptoms. Japanese scientists showed an 87-minute Charlie Chaplin video to 26 patients who were prone to skin reactions caused by allergies to dust mites. Before and after the video, each patient was injected with the dust mite allergen so that researchers could observe the effect on the skin. They found that patients tolerated the allergens significantly better after watching the video.
When the procedure was repeated using an 87-minute video featuring weather information, there was no significant difference in skin inflammation before and after the viewing — a phenomenon that led researchers to speculate that the humorous content of the Chaplin video might have been the deciding factor in alleviating the symptoms. Surprising? Not really.
“There's nothing more sensitive to stress than your immune system,” says Charles Gluck, MD, gastroenterologist on the medical staff at Memorial Regional Hospital, Memorial Hospital West and Memorial Hospital Pembroke. “Humor can help your ability to withstand infection and even malignancies by releasing endorphins, interferon and all kinds of good stuff.”
Physical and Mental Benefits
Good stuff indeed. Laughter has been shown to lower blood pressure, increase oxygenation of the blood and boost the immune system by increasing the production of various disease-fighting cells. And then there’s the mental aspect of laughter — quite simply, it feels wonderful.
The social value of humor is apparent in the old adage, “Laugh, and the world laughs with you. Cry, and you cry alone.” Humor’s ability to attract others may explain why a positive, if not downright humorous, outlook is often associated with stronger social support networks, which in turn improve mental and physical health.
The ability to externalize anxieties through laughter and other appropriate outlets can be crucial to health, according to Dr. Gluck.
“Anxiety, if internalized, can work its way into the gastrointestinal tract and contribute to problems such as ulcers, colitis and Crohn’s disease,” he says.
Dr. Feel-Good
To build a rapport with patients, Dr. Gluck cracks an occasional joke — a habit that stems from the days when medicine wasn’t his only gig. Dr. Gluck was, of all things, a stand-up comedian from 1986 to 1996.
“I was a regular at the Comic Strip in Fort Lauderdale, and every few months I'd also perform at fundraisers for different charities. I’ve always been a storyteller, and I come from a family that values laughter. It was our way of communicating,” he recalls. “And since healing has so much to do with establishing relationships, I use humor now as an icebreaker to take the edge off patients’ anxieties.”
While laughter alone can’t cure your ills or make you live to a ripe old age, it certainly doesn’t hurt. If anything, it might even alleviate physical pain. Through the “Rx for Laughter” organization, preliminary research at UCLA suggests that children and adolescents who laugh while watching funny television shows, films and cartoons are able to withstand painful procedures longer and with less overall anxiety. Rx Laughter is now focusing on putting these findings into practical healthcare settings.
Science aside, there’s plenty of anecdotal evidence to support the notion that laughter is good medicine for the mind and body.
“Many of my patients are elderly, and I find that anybody who lives to be 95 has a great sense of humor,” says Dr. Gluck. “The same goes for couples who’ve been married for 50 years. They’re always laughing together. So humor is undoubtedly a common denominator.”
If you would like a referral to a physician, please call the Memorial Physician Referral Service toll-free at (800) 944-DOCS. We’re available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.