Healing Power of Humor
Studies are now showing that laughter may be one of
the healthiest things you can do. Several recent studies show that
laugher is actually very healthy and promotes healing from within.
One study reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association on
Feb 14, 2001 came from research at Unitika Central Hospital in Japan.
In this study the Japanese found that skin welts shrank in allergy
patients who watched Charlie Chaplin's comedic classic "Modern
Times," but not in patients who watched a video on weather.
Head researcher, Dr. Hajime Kimata said, "These
results suggest that the induction of laughter may play some role in
alleviating allergic diseases." Dr Kimata was influenced by a
previous study by Norman Cousins' whose 30-year-old research suggested
that laughter and a positive attitude can help reduce pain. Cousins
suffered from a life-threatening joint disease and reported that 10
minutes of laughter helped reduce his pain.
In another study on laugher and health,
Dr. Michael Miller of the University of Maryland Medical Center, led a
study of 300 people, half of whom had suffered a heart attack or had
undergone coronary artery bypass surgery. The other half matched the first
group in age, but had no heart problems. Both groups were asked to answer
two questionnaires designed to find out how much they laugh and what their
levels of anger and hostility were in a variety of situations. The results
showed that the group with heart disease was 40 percent less likely to
laugh, and was also more likely to feel hostility and anger.
A different but similar study by an Ohio State
University researcher also suggests a link between one's happiness and the
state of one's heart. In that large-scale, 10-year study the results
showed that clinically depressed men had been found to be more than
twice as likely to die of a heart attack as those who did not suffer from
depression. The Ohio study was published in the October 2000 issue
of the Archives of Internal Medicine.
If you had to go for a moral to these stories you
might be inclined to say that these studies show that "Health IS a
laughing matter!"
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