Posted on: January 11, 2008
Ha-Ha-Ha-Healthy
Laughter eases the pain in more ways than one and could even add happiness to a relationship
By Matthew M. F. Miller
CTW Features
“When people are laughing, they’re generally not killing each other,” said comedian Alan Alda.
And although it is sometimes difficult to look on the bright side, laughter truly is the best medicine, and research proves it.
Emotions trigger the release of neurotransmitters in the brain. These chemicals enter the bloodstream and plug into receptor sites on immune cells. The cells’ metabolic activity can be altered in either a positive or negative way. Humor and laughter can strengthen the immune system, says Paul McGhee, a developmental psychologist known internationally for his research on humor.
While there is no evidence that humor and laughter actually reverse the course of a disease, they help ensure that the body’s healing mechanisms are working. Humor provides a sense of control, and this positive emotional state provides resilience for coping.
A good laugh boosts your energy level. You experience a sense of letting go of anxiety and anger, says McGhee, who serves as president of The Laughter Remedy, www.laughterremedy.com, and has written several books, including the “Health, Healing and the Amuse System: Humor as Survival Training” (Kendall/Hunt, 1999).
McGhee says laughter lowers the level of stress hormones (cortisol, epinephrine, dopac and growth hormone), can temporarily lower blood pressure and reduce pain. A good laugh also replaces residual air in the lungs with oxygen-rich air, reducing the risk of pulmonary infection.
Passive participation, such as watching a funny movie, does not work as well as active involvement, McGhee says.
Research has shown that stress weakens the immune system, enabling disease to gain a foothold. Norman Cousins, in his best-selling book “Anatomy of an Illness” (Bantam Doubleday Dell, 1991), described his use of laughter in his battle against ankylosing spondylitis, a form of chronic inflammation of the spine and the sacroiliac joints. Cousins’ research on the negative and positive effects of emotional states on health was the “Sputnik” of humor, McGhee says.
Research proved that humor worked to improve his health, and Cousin’s book spread the word to millions. Cousin’s research led him to found the Humor Research Task Force at the UCLA Medical School.
“Be more playful,” says McGhee, who urges people to lighten up and make fun of themselves.
He says that if you can keep the ability to have fun as you get older, it makes all the difference in the world.
Laughter is also an important tool in keeping relationships happy. A recent study, conducted by Doris G. Bazzini and three of her former students at Appalachian State University, Boone, N.C., found that couples that laugh together and intentionally reminisce about that shared experience are likely more satisfied with their relationship than those that don’t.
Bazzini’s study, which appeared in the January 2007 issue of the journal, “Motivation and Emotion,” says the idea for the study came from observing her own family. “I have often wondered why I enjoy visiting my family so much and why my husband fits in so well with my family,” Bazzini says. “We all laugh a lot together. I think that’s one of the reasons we have had success in our 15-year marriage.”
Her team interviewed 52 couples for the study, which were placed in one of four experimental groups and asked to reminisce about shared laughter, independent laughter (an event that did not involve their partner), a shared positive experience or an independent positive experience.
Couples who recalled times they had laughed together immediately reported an increased satisfaction in their relationship. “For how long term that is, we don’t know,” Bazzini says.
Couples who recalled laughter experiences they had independent of one another, or who reminisced about shared positive events that did not involve laughter, did not report the same spike in relationship satisfaction.
Bazzini says there are several benefits from reminiscing about laughter. “First, it induces laughter, and laughter has a positive affective component,” she says, because laughter has been shown to lower blood pressure, and it triggers the release of endorphins, which results in a sense of well-being.
“But you also reap this cognitive benefit which colors your judgment of the relationship and validates the self at the same time. I doubt that couples realize why it’s so reinforcing,” she says. “It says this is something special between us and creates a bond and cohesiveness in the relationship.”
