The idea that laughter has analgesic properties is not new. Dr. James Walsh, an American physician, noted in his 1928 book, Laughter and Health, that laughter appeared to reduce the level of pain experienced following surgery. This observation then disappeared from the medical literature until the publication of Norman Cousins’ 1979 book, Anatomy of an Illness.

Cousins was suffering from ankylosing spondylitis, a degenerative spinal disease which left him in almost constant pain. With the consent of his doctors, he checked himself out of the hospital and into a hotel across the street. He invited friends over and watched a lot of comedy films–and laughed a lot! He discovered that as little as 10 minutes of laughter would give him 2 hours of pain-free sleep.

In a study of 35 patients in a rehabilitation hospital, 74% agreed with the statement, “Sometimes laughing works as well as a pain pill.” These patients had a broad range of conditions, such as spinal cord injury, traumatic brain injury, arthritis, limb amputations, and other neurological, muscular and skeletal disorders.

Structures in the brain’s limbic system, which controls many
essential human behaviors, also contribute to the production of laughter.

Music is silence and sound, dancing together in space.
The heavens are music.
The earth is music.
Called into being, we listen.
Living resonances of the word, we sing.
Embracing in silence and sound
Together in endless song, is harmony.
Listen with love. Awaken to music.
Sounding the truth together is healing.

—Author unknown

The art of medicine consists of keeping the patient amused
While nature heals the disease.

-Voltaire
With respect to cellular immunity, watching a one-hour comedy video has been found to produce

• increased number of B cells,
• increased number of, and activation of, T cells,
• increased number of Helper T cells (the cells attacked by the AIDS virus),
• increased ratio of Helper/Suppressor T cells,
• increased number of, and activity of, Natural Killer (NK) cells, and
• increased levels of Gamma Interferon.

The increased number of B cells is not surprising, given the increased levels of IgA, IgG, and IgM, since B cells are responsible for making all the immunoglobulins.

Lots of love and laughter,

Susan 

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