Laughter Humor as Medicine and the benefits of laughter from USWEST Health and Safety
Vol. 20, No. 8
If we took what we know
about the medical benefits of laughter and bottled it up, it would require
FDA approval. Laughter can lower blood pressure, increase muscle
flexion, and trigger a flood of endorphins - the brain chemicals that can
bring on euphoria.
But laughter most profoundly
affects our immune systems. Gamma-interferon, a disease-fighting
protein, rises with laughter. So do B-cells, which produce disease-destroying
antibodies, and T-cells, which orchestrate our body's immune response.
Laughter can also shut off
the flow of stress hormones - the fight-or-flight compounds that come into
play when we feel hostility, rage, and stress. Stress hormones supress
the immune system, raise blood pressure, and increase the number of platelets
in the blood - which can cause fatal artery blockages.
The average child laughs
hundreds of times a day. The average adult laughs only a dozen times.
If only we could collect
those lost laughs, and use them to our advantage.
