Laughter is the Best Medicine
This site is not meant only to give you information about diagnosis, suffering, therapies, treatments etc. for Fibromyalgia but we hope to raise a smile - make you laugh - the best feel-good factor.
'A Wit Fix' by Jeanne Hambleton
Friday, 20 May 2005
I have always understood that laughter is the best medicine. It is strange, but I feel better when I have laughed so much that it pains me—tears roll down my face and my ribs ache. On reflection, laughter does lift my spirits and make me feel better. I guess you temporarily forget your pains and woes and briefly inhabit the world of happiness.
Having done some research into the wonderful topic of laughter, I now know what I am actually doing when I laugh is “internal jogging’ and using about 15 facial muscles. Meanwhile I am trying to convince myself that the lines around my eyes as laughter lines. It could not possibly be anything to do with old age (could it)?
Would you believe that laughter helps to balance your immune system, which in turn fights off diseases? It does—and the moral is, we should laugh more often. But if you´ve been through middle age, old age and are into the synthetic age, AND you are suffering with fibro, you have greater things to worry about—thinning and grey hair, wrinkles, double chins and an expanding waist line… It is sad when your mirror image does not reflect the age you feel inside. I must find my picture of Dorian Gray!
We all love to laugh, and most of us laugh 15 or 16 times a day—possibly without remembering (fibro fog and all that). In fact, we enjoy laughing so much that an industry has sprung up around it. Think about the TV sitcoms, comedians and jokes, not to mention humorous books, birthday and get well cards. They all help us to start laughing, and laughing makes us feel great.
Laughter is infectious and contagious. In the last 50 years television companies have been adding “laugh tracks’ to sitcoms. Some call this canned laughter—a recording of laughter made earlier. When the audience hears others laugh, they want to join in and laugh along. They also begin to believe the show is funnier than they first thought. The power of laughter is amazing.
Some believe laughter helps to strengthen human connections. This happens when people are at ease with each other. We also know that laughter can start with the giggles, which can spread like wildfire—with luck!
But laughter can also mask misery. I affectionately remember how much my late father loved to laugh. During World War II air raids we sat in the damp, dark and miserable conditions in the Anderson dugout shelter in our back garden in London (often with 2 or 3 inches of water underfoot). While the enemy buzz bombs were humming overhead, my father would wind up an old gramophone and play an ancient record of “The Laughing Policeman.’ In my warm, homemade black-and-white-check siren suit, just like Winston Churchill, I would snuggle up to my Mum and within minutes we were all laughing and forgot the mortal dangers, the bombs, the shrapnel for a brief while. On reflection I believe I was the only one who forgot the possibility that we all might die that night. We even sang funny songs about Adolf Hitler, which made us feel better.
Now, all these years later, when I feel fed up with the pain everywhere from this awful invisible fibromyalgia syndrome, I watch a funny program on TV, get a humorous video off the shelf, stop in the local greeting card shop and have a good laugh at the humorous cards. I do not have a copy of “The Laughing Policeman,’ so I tell myself it can only get better and strangely enough, it does.
You might be lucky enough to have a friend who sends you funny emails. Save them up and read them when you are feeling down.
I guess you think I have been talking out of my hat—but there is scientific evidence to support my theory that laughter really is the best medicine. Stanford Prevention Research Center at the University School of Medicine has monitored the brain activity of study participants reading funny cartoons. It was found that humor and laughter triggered the brain´s “reward centers,’ which are the same areas activated by cocaine and amphetamines. That may be why laughter is habit-forming.
The Value of Laughter
For decades scientists have studied the value of humour and laughter and its ability to improve health, lower stress levels, improve morale and enhance the quality of life. Laughter has also been described as social glue, promoting a positive outlook, which helps us on our pathway through life. One researcher stated there is strong evidence that laughter can improve health and help fight disease. It is claimed that the responses used to laugh are the same as those activated for problem solving. These days we should be so adept at solving problems that we should be able to laugh easily.
Researchers also claim that laughter stimulates the immune system and disease-destroying antibodies by using natural killer cells to destroy tumours and virus increase. Even coughing at the end of laughter will help you clear your respiratory tract. I am told that laughter can reduce your blood pressure, help you relax and forget your stress, not to mention increasing your energy levels and endorphin activity resulting in a feeling of wellness. Laughter will knock boredom on the head and make you feel just fine.
Do you know what made the lobster blush? He saw the salad dressing!
Sorry about that – it just came over me!
But seriously, this humour business is no laughing matter.
I have read that Robert Province, PhD, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at the University of Maryland, Baltimore, a pioneering researcher studying laughter, is writing a book on the subject. The professor believes we have a “detector’ that responds to laughter. This motivates circuits in the brain to make more laughter. Maybe this is why some people get an attack of the giggles which become full-blown body laughs.
It is amazing to hear claims that laughing 100 times uses the same energy as a 15-minute bicycle ride or using an exercise rowing machine for 10 minutes. If you want a complete workout for your body, start laughing now. When you laugh heartily, different parts of the body, the arms, legs and stomach muscles undergo change—that is why my ribs ache with laughing—and they will all feel better for a good laugh. Your blood pressure should be lowered and your respiratory system should benefit. The whole process has the same effect as an aerobic workout, but with less effort and no visit to the gym! Now you know why exhaustion often follows a good long laugh.
If you want to stay fit and keep healthy, just laugh! It is believed that laughter can also help to prevent some heart disease. Two emotions, fear and anger, are often responsible for heart attacks—and while you are laughing you are not getting angry. A good laugh also acts as a safety valve to control the stress hormones and the fight-or-flight reactions during times of stress, rage or hostility.
Why should we laugh? Because we forget our gloom and despondency. When our minds are filled with what ails us, pain, despondency and depression, we cannot think rationally about the future. But if someone has made you laugh or you have watched a funny film, you should find then ways to solve your problems.
I read that a physiological study of laughter has its own name: “gelotology.’ As gelotology was a new word for me I did some research. I came upon a website with an article by Victor Rozek called 'As I See It: Keep Laughing'.
I was amused to read two of his paragraphs and felt I should share these with you as a sample of British humor.
“Type the word gelotology, and your spell-checker will flag it. Look it up in the dictionary, and you won't find it. Gelotology is a new field of scientific study, although its subject is as old as humankind itself.… Gelotologists are serious people who study laughter, and they'd be the first to tell you that the result of their research is very much a laughing matter.’
He ends his story with these sobering thoughts about laughter.
“Not bad for something that doesn´t require a prescription and can be used generously without fear of overdosing. Plus, none of those charming little side effects the friendly announcer is always warning us about in the drug commercial disclaimers. You can laugh all you want and not have to worry about kidney failure or rectal bleeding.’
How is that for an independent testimonial?
If you want more laughter in your life, think about what makes you laugh, and do it. Read it or watch it more often. Try to mix with funny people as often as you. Sharpen your sense of humour by reading a joke book for kids of all ages. Some of the jokes are pathetic but they can make you laugh out loud. Also write down all the funny things you hear about and read them when you are feeling low. I always forget the ending of funny jokes.
I read that Bob Hope said he did not feel old—in fact, he did not feel anything till noon, and then it was time for his nap. He also added you know you are getting old when everything hurts and what doesn´t hurt, doesn´t work. Sounds like fibromyalgia…
The late Harold Macmillan, a former UK Prime Minster, is also quoted in the chuckle book as saying “…the young fool has first to grow up to be an old fool to realise what a damn fool he was when he was a young fool…’
I read a book full of “Old Wrecks´ Jokes’ designed to help you laugh your way through old age. The book, which supports the idea of “up with the oldies,’ made me laugh when I read that grandma could not go out as she was washing her hair—it was in the tumble dryer. She added that her head said she should go out with the young man inviting her, but her pacemaker said no.
Sorry, could not resist it—I really needed a quick wit fix.
With acknowledgements to the newsletter of the Worthing branch of the NHS Retirement Fellowship.
A couple in their twilight years were having problems remembering things so they decided to go to the doctor for a check up. The doctor told them that they were physically OK but they might want to start writing things down to help them remember.
Later that night, whilst watching TV, the old man got up from his chair. His wife asked: “Where are you going?” “To the kitchen,” he replied. She asked: “Will you get me a bowl of ice cream?” The husband said: “Sure.” She gently reminded him: “Do you think you should write it down so you can remember?” He said: “No, I can remember that.”
She then said: “Well, I’d like some strawberries on top. You’d better write it down because I know you will forget it.” He said: “I can remember that, you want a bowl of ice cream with strawberries.” She added: “I’d also like whipped cream. Now I’m certain you will forget that, so you’d better write it down.” Irritated, he said: “I don’t need to write it down. I can remember that. Ice cream with strawberries and whipped cream”, he grumbled on his way to the kitchen.
After about 20 minutes, the old man returned from the kitchen and handed his wife a plate of bacon and eggs. She stared at the plate for a moment and said: “Where’s my toast?”
The next one comes from the Reader’s Digest, February 2005 edition.
“The pharmacist just insulted me,” the woman sobbed to her husband. Upset, he jumped into his car and sped to the shop to defend his wife.
“Listen to my side!” the pharmacist pleaded. “First, my alarm didn’t go off and I overslept. Rushing out I locked both my house and car keys inside and had to break a window to get them. Then I got a flat tyre.
“When I finally got behind the counter, there was a long queue and the phone was ringing. After bending to pick up a roll of coins, I cracked my head on a drawer and fell backwards, shattering the perfume display cabinet. Meanwhile, the phone was still ringing. I answered and your wife asked me how to use a rectal thermometer. I swear, all I did was tell her.”
Living with Fibro and trying to Laugh
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Graham's Grins!
Graham Berry is collecting together some funnies to raise a smile or even some laughter. Go, have fun.
An Invitation to Smile
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