Laughter: The best medicine

[Guest guest]

[americanscientist.org]

Humor Makes You Friendlier & Sexier

Norman Cousins, the storied journalist, author and editor, found no pain

reliever better than clips of the Marx Brothers. For years, Cousins

suffered

from inflammatory arthritis, and he swore that 10 minutes of uproarious

laughing

at the hilarious team bought him two hours of pain-free sleep.

In his book Anatomy of an Illness as Perceived by the Patient (W. W.

Norton,

1979), Cousins described his self-prescribed laughing cure, which seemed

to ameliorate his inflammation as well as his pain. He eventually was

able to return to work, landing a job as an adjunct professor at the

School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles, where

he investigated the

effects of emotions on biological states and health.

The community of patients inspired by such miracle treatments believes

not

only that humor is psychologically beneficial but that it actually cures

disease. In reality, only a smattering of scientific evidence exists to

support

the latter idea--but laughter and humor do seem to have significant

effects on

the psyche, even influencing our perception of pain. What is more,

psychological well-being has an impact on overall wellness, including

our risk of

disease.