April 2004
Perhaps Laughter Is the Best Medicine!
The big guffaws have become a mainstay therapy in integrative medicine programs
by Mary Beth Janssen
Eighty-year-old Virginia is a regular at Sherman Hospital’s laughing club in Elgin conducted by laughter leader Jill League. Having had her share of life’s challenges, the octogenarian says these gatherings allow her to maintain a sunny countenance as much as possible. “When you regularly laugh, it can’t help but change your attitude.” A breast cancer survivor, Virginia had a double mastectomy and says that “When I’m feeling down, I strip naked and stand in front of the mirror. Honey, that would make anyone laugh.” It’s this type of self-deprecating humor, and humor in general, that has gotten her through many “dark nights of the soul.”
Virginia’s laugh coach, League who is certified through the World Laughter Tour, likens the laughter club to an “exercise” class. Anyone can come, with attendees ranging in age from their teens into their 80s. League says, “We don’t really tell jokes, but engage in laughter ‘exercises’ for the sake of eliciting the laughter response. It jogs the muscles, providing an internal massage for all of the organs and tissues. It also oxygenates the blood, and gets the lymph flowing. We breathe, stretch and do a variety of laughter actions, warming up with laughter sounds that come from our laughter centers — ha, ha from the chest, ho, ho from the stomach, and hee, hee from the head. We may sit in a circle, facing each other, making eye contact, and silly faces.”
League says it doesn’t take long for inhibitions to melt away and “simulated” laughter becomes “stimulated” laughter. She leads her laugh students through a variety of laughter exercises lasting up to 30 minutes, and then discusses “good-hearted” living. “We not only want to promote the physical aspects of how laughter can benefit you, but the attitude of laughter as well. We discuss different practices that can be promoted through the week to prevent ‘hardening of the attitudes.’”
The participants then share with each other...telling a funny story or discussing an accomplishment. They may celebrate a birthday. The group will support each other, give a hug or a pat on the back as needed. This is about forming community and enhancing relationships, which is vital to managing stress.
Kristy Miller, fitness specialist at Marionjoy Rehabilitation Hospital in Wheaton, conducts the laughing club at the Wheaton Park District. Miller’s class is usually no longer than 10 minutes but she believes that this is all it takes to provide the physical and emotional benefits that come along with the laugh exercises. The exercises include a variety of different laughs (warm-up laugh, silent laugh, humming laugh, animal laugh, dancing laugh...you get the idea) and conclude with affirmations that “I’m the happiest person in the world...yes!; I am the healthiest person in the world...yes!; I am a laughing club member...yes!”
The benefits are great. Studies show that laughter can reduce stress, relieve pain, rev up your immune system, lower blood pressure and enhance cardiovascular and respiratory functions. Dynamic laughter (the big belly laughs) will give your diaphragm and abdominals quite an aerobic workout. And, something most of us probably suspected — that being in a humorous way can release negative emotions, inspire creativity and enhance communication skills.
The Laughter Club Movement
In 1979, Dr. Norman Cousins wrote Anatomy of an Illness, and described how watching Candid Camera classics and Marx Brothers movies helped him recover from the spine disease ankylosing spondylitis. Cousins made it a point to enjoy a hearty belly laugh several times a day. A few minutes of laughter, he reported, gave him an hour or more of pain-free sleep.
Cousins would become the inspiration for Madan Kataria, M.D., from India. Kataria pioneered the laughing club movement, serving as the inspiration for World Laughter Tour, Inc., an international organization that registers laughter clubs and certifies laughter leaders. There are more than 2,000 laughter leaders in the U.S. They come from varying backgrounds...doctors, nurses, psychologists, occupational and recreational therapists, educators, human resource and corporate professionals, childcare workers, senior caregivers...or quite simply anyone that wants to bring more laughter into their lives.
The Association for Applied and Therapeutic Humor, which also has a local chapter, defines therapeutic humor as, any intervention that promotes health and wellness by stimulating a playful discovery, expression, or appreciation of the absurdity or incongruity of life’s situations (like the approach used by breast cancer survivor, Virginia). This intervention can enhance work performance, support learning, improve health, or be used as a complementary treatment of illness to facilitate healing or coping, whether physical, emotional, cognitive, social, or spiritual.
Are You Laughing at Me?
Humor and laugh therapy is a standard offering for those receiving cancer treatment at the Cancer Treatment Center at Midwestern Regional Medical Center. Located in Zion, this facility was rated one of America’s healthiest hospitals by Natural Health magazine’s polling of leaders in the field of natural medicine.
Katherine Puckett, clinical social worker and director of the hospital’s department of mind/body medicine, says humor and laughter therapy is one facet of a patient’s treatment which is a form of psychology called intra-psychic humanism. “One of the many things that we know from this model...is the importance of the smile. We understand a smile to release endorphins like laughter does.
“Our patients have received a cancer diagnosis and are under great stress. It is very important to greet all our patients with a warm, compassionate, caring smile. Some will want to extend this smile to humor, and some will not. Some will want to laugh out loud and joke throughout their entire cancer journey, even through death. Others will find this devastating to be joking and laughing. We’re careful to individualize our approach and respond to each patient in a way that is comfortable for them. We let them set the agenda.”
After all, Puckett says, whether it’s laughing or crying, the object is to encourage the emotional release of pent up feelings to make room for hopefulness...it opens up the heart to welcome the positive feelings.
Mary Beth Janssen is a mind/body health educator who’s in very good spirits.
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Bring More Laughter Into Your Life * Share the humor — When you hear or read something that tickles the funny bone, pass it on and laugh all over again. * Put that favorite cartoon on the refrigerator door. Place a smiley face on your car dashboard, bathroom mirror or workstation as a reminder to lighten up! * Enjoy a lively dose of laughter — start the day with cartoons instead of talk shows, swap the news for the Simpsons, go straight to the funnies in the Sunday newspaper. All this looniness can make for a silly mood that can grow on you. * The friendlier, the better — choose your friends carefully. Those who make you laugh are a treasure. Distance yourself from those who are whiners or perpetually put out a doom and gloom vibe. * Take up a new interest — preferably with someone you like. Rudimentary attempts at anything new can bring on full-out hysterics, if you let it. Just remember, don’t take yourself too seriously. * Poke fun at yourself — or anything else for that matter. Comic complaining is a favorite tool of the trade for stand-up comedians. * Don’t hold back — make the wise crack, or blurt out the zinger. All you’ve got to lose is the blues! * If you’re not the naturally funny type, just concentrate on having fun! The laughs will come. * Have some funny movies on hand, or make a point of renting them...and visit your library or one of the many hilarious Web sites that are devoted to all things humorous. Read their articles, their jokes, order a tape or a book. — MBJ |
Where to Go for a Good Laugh:
Association for Applied and Therapeutic Laughter
Cancer Treatment Centers of America: 800-577-1255
Laughter Club International/Madan Kataria
Sherman Health’s Laughter League (Elgin): 847-429-5176
Laughter Club at Wheaton Park District’s Fitness Center: 630- 871-6713
World Laughter Tour: 800-NOW-LAFF
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