Laughing at Stress

Patient: Doctor, if I give up wine, women, and song, will I live longer?

Doctor: Not really. It will just seem longer.

Laughter therapy is one of my personal favorite complementary and alternative medicine therapies.

Laughter has been proven through clinical trials to boost endorphins, our natural pain killers, and suppress epinephrine, the stress hormone. The result is less pain and less stress. Less pain and less stress is an obvious boost for the immune system. A very good thing.

Once again the healing power of the mind comes into play here. Laughter is not proven to cure but it certainly is a tool, part of your arsenal in the battle against diabetes.

From Reader’s Digest, Stop Diabetes In Its Tracks:

“What’s so funny about having diabetes? It’s a serious condition and certainly not a laughing matter. But research does show that a sense of humor can help people deal with health issues–perhaps improve their condition. Having diabetes is stressful. Homor can help to relieve this burden and also defuse fear, especially when you are first diagnosed. Getting the gigles also burns caloreis, and the more you laugh, the more you burn.”

Laughter the Best Medicine, Research Points to the Power of a Good Giggle. This report by ABC News shares that “a study of 20 men and women conducted at the University of Maryland School of Medicine found that 95 percent of the volunteers experienced increased blood flow while watching a funny movie, such as There’s Something About Mary, while 74 percent had decreased blood flow during a heavier picture, such as Saving Private Ryan. The results lasted about 12 to 24 hours.”

Why don’t oysters give to charity?

They’re shellfish.

The Growing Popularity of Laughter Therapy, An NPR report. This audio report by Luke Burbank discusses the laughter movement.

“What’s significant about the laughter was not just the fact that it provides internal exercise for a person flat on his or her back-a form of jogging for the innards-but that it creates a mood in which the other positive emotions can be put to work too.” Norman Cousins.

Humor and Laughter May Influence Health: II Complementary Therapies and Humor in a Clinical Population, 2006 Oxford University Press. The article points out the subjective nature of humor and the difficulty in quantifying and measuring the correlation between humor and health.

The good news is that research into this therapy has begun.

Patient: Doctor, I have a pain in my eye whenever I drink tea.
Doctor: Take the spoon out of the mug before you drink.

Online Resources:

Steve Wilson’s World Laughter Tour.

Children With Diabetes: Humorous Tidbits

LOL Diabetes Blog

The Joy of Diabetes Blogspot

Check out the diabetes humor merchandise at Cafe Press.

Humor at the Movies:

Wedding Crashers

Freaky Friday

Mean Girls

The Three Stooges

Robin Hood-Men In Tights

Dodgeball

Now go ahead, laugh.

Then do the research for yourself.