Today’s talk Get Your Free Medicine continues with the benefits of laughter to heal, and this week its about our body. I’m referencing Annette Goodheart’s book Laughter Therapy; How to laugh about everything in your life that isn’t really funny. Last week we practiced saying “Ha Ha, Tee-Hee.” Let’s do this now.
Mark Twain wrote in Tom Sawyer, “The old man laughed loud and joyously, shook up the details of his anatomy from head to foot, and ended by saying that such a laugh was money in a man’s pocket, because it cut down the doctor’s bills like everything.”
Laughter engages every major system of the body. We literally lose muscle control. That is why we fall out of our chairs laughing. Scientists are studying pygmies because they fall down when they laugh. Plains Creek Indians are told to lean on something when they laugh. Laughter indeed is the loss of control.
Because the diaphragm keeps us breathing, it has been called the muscles of inspiration. Laughter exercises our diaphragm. When we laugh our diaphragm convulsively pulls on our side muscles. It creates a massive massaging action for our innards. No amount of running around the park massages our innards the way laughter does. Laughter giggles and massages every organ of our body. Laughing oxygenates the blood helps us to have plump juicy organs, rather than shriveled up ones.
Laughter dilates our cardiovascular system. Initially, when we laugh, our heart rate and blood pressure soar, but when we stop laughing they drop below our normal rate for a while, and then returns back to normal. The more we laugh, the greater our ability to lower our heart rate and blood pressure. Adults laugh about 15 times a day compared to a child at 400-500 times. It is the exercise and workout of laughter that help keep our cardiovascular system healthy.
When we laugh we inhale massive amounts of air. We gulp large amounts of oxygen, which sends richly oxygenated blood supply to our relaxed muscles. Laughter has been clocked exiting our lungs at speeds up to 70 miles an hour. Needless to say, this gives our respiratory system a massive workout.
Lao Tsu said “As soon as you have made a thought, laugh at it.”
Scans taken of the brain have shown that while stressed the left and right brain hemispheres differed considerably in color and pattern. After the patient laughed the scan repeated found the two hemispheres almost identical in appearance.
Countless chemicals are produced in our brains and throughout our bodies when we laugh. Natural brain beta-endorphins and opiates are pain relievers that get released when we laugh.
When we laugh our facial muscles are exercised. There is a direct connection from our facial muscles to our Thymus gland, it is the master gland of our immune system. This gland shrinks under stress. While you use the muscles of your face through laughter, tears and yawns, the Thymus gland relaxes and expands. In its expansive state it functions at its peak. The Thymus gland produces lymphocytes that contain cancer killing T-cells. T-cells attack the cancer cells that we produce everyday, and literally rip them apart.
A client came to Goodheart who had a tumor on their thymus gland, in hope that laughter therapy may help. This person told her that ever since the tumor, the muscles on the side of his face opposite the tumor no longer functioned. Their eyelid and mouth drooped considerably. Goodheart suggested to prop their face up while laughing. Every morning the client did just that; and the tumor began to shrink, and the muscles of the face also began to return normal.
There is an alternate way to stimulate the Thymus gland. You can thump it. In New Guinea there is a tribe whose members thump their Thymus glands every morning upon awakening. To locate your thymus gland its right below the upper part of the breast bone, put your chin on your chest.
“There isn’t much fun in medicine but there’s a great deal of medicine in fun.” from the Journal of American Medical Association.
Pain is our friend. It is our warning system and an ally against disease, destruction and death. Pain notifies us that something is amiss. It’s a red flag that calls out: “Pay attention over here!”
The “OW” and laughter technique helps to reduce pain. Goodheart worked with a client who was in the hospital for having a tumor removed located by their knee. There was an incision about 10-12 inches long. The client insisted on not being sedated during the operation, so that the healing process could begin more quickly.
As soon as the client returned to their room following surgery, Goodheart began her work. She had the client press very lightly around the incision area and say “OW!” and laugh. The more the client pressed the louder the “OW!” the harder the laugh.
In between the laughter, she had her client relate the events of the surgery to process the emotions. This prevented tension storing around the traumatized area, and to heal faster. In about half an hour, the incision was taking more and more pressure before the client felt pain. The surgeon came in and was surprised by the patient being able to kick their leg out. Within a few hours the client was walking.
Voltare said “The art of medicine consists of amusing the patient while nature cures the disease.”
Norman Cousins, known as a writer, as editor in chief of the iconic Saturday Review magazine, and as a citizen diplomat and leading advocate for world peace. But it was during his final chapter, at UCLA — which extended until his death in 1990 — that he made what is arguably his most enduring impact.
It all begin in 1964, Norman Cousins, was diagnosed with a painful and debilitating disorder. He was told by a doctor who was his friend that he had a 1 in 500 chance of survival. He was told to 'get his affairs in order'.
Since conventional medicine had little to offer, he prescribed his own therapy: liberal doses of vitamin C and laughter. For the latter, Cousins relied on Marx Brothers films and reruns of TV’s Candid Camera, among other movies and shows. His doctors were skeptical, but he laughed his way to a successful recovery.
Fake it till you make it! Laughter doesn’t have to be authentic for healing results, and eventually you will be laughing for real. There are laughing yoga groups around the world. In these groups people are taught how to laugh by making funny faces, and just fake it until they are truly laughing.
Be around young children, especially babies if you can. It’s so much fun to watch them giggle and laugh. When my 15-month-old great grandson feels joy he just lights up and then the laughter begins, giggling with his whole body. Soon we’re all laughing with him. He brings so much joy.
In the article of “Why we need to laugh,” states “It’s no joke, laughing may be one of nature’s cleverest tricks for keeping us healthy and safe.” And, there doesn’t need to be anything funny to laugh about. There is an exercise “Learning the Yoga Way of Laughter.” It is called the Lion Laugh. Six in the morning, in Bombay, India, a group of women gather for 45 minutes of hysterical, weeping laughter.
Dr. Madam Kataria, known as the Laughter Guru, started the Laughter Yoga Clubs in 1995 after reading about the medical benefits of a good giggle. He ran out of funny stories in a week. So, throwing in a few yoga stretches, he tried encouraging people to laugh for no reason. His formula for Laughing Yoga Clubs proved infectious. There are thousands of such clubs today around the world today. Every year there is a Kataria-inspired holiday called World Laughter day, celebrated on the first Sunday in May.
What if you don’t feel like laughing? Dr. Kataria instructs to get the yuks rolling with a “ho, ho, ha-ha-ha” chant. There is also the Lion Laugh which involves sticking out the tongue and at the same time flapping our hands by our ears. Just imagine a group of people all doing the Lion Laugh. And if alone, do the Lion Laugh in front of a mirror. That will surely bring the laughter on. Dr. Kataria has YouTubes of his laughter instructions.
Mercedes Nelson, RN, BSBA summarizes, “Laughter makes your thymus plumper and your circulation stronger; Laughter stimulates your pumper; helps you live a little longer. Laughter helps you keep your health, and it might increase your wealth: So, don’t let your organs shrivel – give a smile, a laugh, a giggle! It improves the atmosphere, and you’ll spread a lot of cheer!”
Let’s all make a funny face, stick out the tongue, and begin laughing.
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