Norman Cousins: Love those Belly Laughs
A very insiteful, and still relevant book was written sometime in the 60s on the benefits of laughter as a stress and pain manager. The book was written by Norman Cousins, Anatomy of an Illness, he wrote it after his first encounter with a debilitating disease. Over the years he wrote more books on this and many subjects, showing his strong determination not only to live, but to enjoy the life he had left. Norman was the editor of Saturday Review for about forty years. Later he was on the faculty of a prestigious University.
He died 1990, of a heart attack having lived years longer than doctors had predicted: ten years after his first heart attack, sixteen years after his collagen illness, and twenty-six years after his doctor’s first diagnosed heart disease. His books taught me a lot about staying healthy and attitude on having an illness. I still use laughter in-between meditation when I need some fun and to di-stress. Love those belly laughs…The last one I saw that I would recommend is Failure to Launch, a romantic comedy with some great one-liners.
Laughter is being taken more seriously these days in the medical and therapeutic communities. Research is seeping into professional journals validating the various benefits of laughter.
For example:
1) Laughter stimulates the immune system, by lowering levels of the stress hormones cortisol and epinephrine. The immune system grows stronger as it shows signs of heightened activity during laughter.
2) Laughter engages various parts of the brain. This could be why people often find that a good laugh can be followed by a burst of creativity and group problem solving.
3) Laughter is a good cardio workout. It increases the activity of the heart and stimulates circulation. In addition, after the laughter subsides, the cardiovascular system goes into a state of relaxation.
4) The threshold of pain is raised during and for a short period of time after laughter. After years of prolonged pain from a rare spinal disease, Norman Cousins, former editor of the US Saturday Review, stopped taking drugs and self-prescribed a new regime of pain killers: When the pain became unbearable, Cousins would watch videos of Laurel and Hardy and Marx Brothers. Five minutes of giggling could provide him with up to two hours of pain relief. This increase of pain threshold during and after laughing episodes has been confirmed in studies.
There are also studies showing the effects of laughter upon the muscular and respiratory systems. Indeed, with the growing validity of psychoneuroimmunology, laughter will most likely be linked to every cell in the human body. Not to mention the various psychological and emotional benefits when we laugh out loud. For instance, laughter offers a respite from intense moments and energizes us spiritually. Laughter builds rapport, increases communication, and increases our sense of safety with another. As Harville Hendrix, Ph.D. has repeatedly said in his workshops, “A belly laugh a day, keeps the divorce lawyers away.”
*Please e-mail me for more fascinating data on this subject.
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Comment by law of attraction book — January 24, 2008 @ 8:55 pm
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Comment by thinkbanc — February 18, 2008 @ 1:45 pm
Nice post. Good way to make life better than you expect. Waiting for your future post.
Thanks a lot
Comment by law of attraction social network — May 3, 2008 @ 4:35 am