Laughter as the Best Medicine - Essay Example

Laughter as the best Medicine One of the cultural beliefs that have been supported by what can be considered a cliche or an old wives tale is that ‘laughter is the best medicine’. The nature of laughter is an expression of joy, a positive experience in which the mood, the environment, and the emotions of an individual are lightened. The question, however, that arises from the cliche is whether or not laughter has a direct effect on overall health. The implication of the cliche is that laughter has an effect on an illness or affliction and that through laughter an individual will have a sense of healing. In studying the psychological effects of laughter on health, it can be shown that it has an effect on the reduction of stress. Studying the physical effects of humor on health is done under the discipline of gelotology where benefits that are hormonal, cardiopulmonary, and muscular can be seen as a tangible benefit to health. These benefits are not universally accepted, thus many medical professionals believe that laughter is a psychosomatic medicine that allows for the patient to feel better simply because they are experiencing joy. There is some proof that can suggest that laughter has specific benefits to the body. Through an examination of the relevant literature on the topic of laughter as a medicine, this cliche is explored for the proofs and beliefs that have evolved from the study of laughter and its effect on the body. Martin discusses the psychological reasons that laughter might be good for health. One of the aspects of the idea of laughter as a medicinal application for health is that through the act of laughing, the individual creates positive emotional feelings. Through laughter, aspects of pain tolerance, immunity, and benefits to cardiac through the reduction of stress can be appreciated when studied under participant related research. The use of laughter creates a more positive atmosphere for healing. The benefit of stress reduction is one of the best ways in which laughter fights the existence of stress. Stress can contribute to heart disease and to the suppression of the immune system, and increases in infection potentials. Through the use of laughter to induce a stress reduction, overall health can be affected. Although benefits can be seen, they are small, however, and the overall conclusion that Martin comes to is that laughter has only a minimal effect on health. Eliopoulos discusses the academic discipline of gelotology, which is the study of humor and laughter on the physiology of the human body. The body of knowledge that has been accumulated about the benefits of laughter includes “stimulation of the catacholamines and hormones, which enhance feelings of well being and pain tolerance” (238). Laughter can also increase endorphins which act as a natural narcotic in the brain. Laughing will increase cardiac and respiratory rates which are good for exercising those systems. After an episode of laughter, the feeling of well-being that increases the corresponding hormones and system benefits can last as long as 45 minutes after the laughter has ended. In addition, it has been recorded that there is an increase in T-cells which helps to fight off infection and in anti-body immunoglobulin A which will help to fight off upper respiratory infections. In contrast to Martin’s findings that laughter has little effect on the overall health, Eliopoulos reports that there is a great many physiological benefits to the use of laughter for the treatment of illness. Most researchers believe, however, that laughter should be studied as part of the psychosomatic medicine which is based primarily on the psychology involved with an action that creates a benefit to the body. The basic belief is that “you feel better if you can maintain your good humor despite unavoidable ailments” (Krois 201). This would mean that the use of laughter as a medicinal property is defined by its effect on the mind without the physiological benefits being considered as relevant. This belief that laughter is not medicinal but psychological is based upon the difficulty in creating evidence about the affects of laughter. Like many non-lab created remedies, laughter is not often taken seriously by the medical profession because it is not something tangible that can be easily quantified. One of the beliefs about laughter is that it can work as an analgesic. An example is given by Krois in which a patient who was suffering from allergies that were impeding the functions of his life was not finding adequate help through medical doctors. He was sent to a psychologist who worked with him with laughter therapy, after which he felt better and was relieved from many of the symptoms that were plaguing him through his various allergies. He considered himself cured of the problems associated with his allergic condition. When he was tested through a prick test to see if he still had allergies he tested positive. Therefore the medical community did not see his reduction in symptoms as a provable point and could not attribute the management of his problems to laughter as it could not be measured. The patient and the psychologist, on the other hand, felt much differently (Krois 202) Schor discusses the work of Japanese allergist Hajime Kimata on what Shor calls the “Chaplin Studies” where Kimata studies those with allergies and took measurements of their allergic condition before and after watching the Chaplin film Modern Times. The participants all suffered from atopic dermatitis from various allergens such as dust mites and pet dander. After going 72 hours without medication some of the participants watched the 87 minute movie and a control group watched the weather for the same amount of time. The group that watched the film had a significant reduction in wheal size (the skin reaction) when prick tests were compared from before the movie until after the film. Those watching the weather did not have the same kind of change. In 2004, Kimata did a similar test in which the affects of asthma were reduced after patients watched a funny film, where the control group watched a movie that was not funny and had no reduction of symptoms when introduced to a stimulant for asthma. These studies show that laughter has the effect on health and are not simply the psychological reaction to ‘feeling better’ through laughter. Kimata showed that laughter reduces IgE production that is specific to allergic reactions (Shor 2). Although the answers as to why it works are not clear, that it works appears to be close to a certainty. Medical researchers can be skeptical of those types of events that cannot be explained, such as how laughter works on the physiological body. For a remedy that costs very little, however, it cannot hurt to add it into the ways that people are treated for their illnesses. The prescription “have a good laugh” may seem silly, but as shown it might have a positive effect on a physical affliction. Because it is difficult to pinpoint how laughter works, it is under scrutiny for having an actual effect as shown through Martin and reported by Krois. The apparent effects through both psychological and physiological seem to be provable in the sense that before and after tests show improvement by those who are suffering from different ailments. Holistic remedies are often not taken seriously because they straddled the worlds of home remedies and medical science in such a way as to threaten the established system. Laughter has been shown to have an effect on a great number of physical systems, and even though it is not yet all quantifiable, the effect of laughter can have a positive experience in the treatment of a patient. The prescription to watch a comedy or to take in a stand-up routine is not yet part of the medical bag of cures. The use of laughter appears to be one benign step; however, that does no harm. Works Cited Eliopoulos, Charlotte. Invitation to Holistic Health: A Guide to Living a Balanced Life. Sudbury, Mass: Jones and Bartlett Publishers, 2010. Print. Krois, John M. Embodiment in Cognition and Culture. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Pub. Co, 2007. Print. Martin, Rod A. “Is Laughter the Best Medicine? Humor, Laughter, and Physical Health. Current Directions in Psychological Science. 11.6 (2002): 216-220. Print. Schor, Jacob. “Emotions and Health: Laughter Really is Good Medicine”. Natural Medicine Journal. 2.1 (2009): 1-4. Read More