MARCH 21, 2012 GELOTOLOGY

“If every word I said could make you laugh, I'd talk forever... "

You have always heard that laughter is the best medicine, but now there are studies to show that laughter has a major effect on disease. The study of laughter is called gelotology. It is derived from the Greek word, "gelos" meaning laughter. When you laugh there are a number of physiological changes in the body.

1. One is the release of endorphins. These are the body's own opiates, which suppress pain.

2. A dramatic reduction in stress and reduction in cortisol levels

3. A decrease in the stress hormone epinephrine, which plays a role in high blood pressure and conestive heart failure

There have been studies on a variety of diseases which have shown laughter improved the patient's health. There are studies to suggest that laughter is effective in increasing the quality of life and resilience in breast cancer survivors.

Others studies examined laughter on depression, quality of life, cognitive function and sleep. These studies used Laughter Yoga. This is a combination of uncontrolled laughter and yogic breathing. It was shown that laughter yoga decreased depression and increased satisfaction with life in these patients. This was published in the International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry 2011. The Geriatric Gerontology International published a report in 2011 on the Effects of laughter therapy on depression, cognition and sleep among the elderly in a community based setting. For the last ten years there have been studies on laughter for cardiac disease, natural killer cells, and even atopic dermatitis. A recent study was done on the impact of trained clowns using laughter after embryo transfer and in vitro fertilization. Those with trained clown laughter had a higher pregnancy rate compared with the control group.

Since early 2002 there have been studies on laughter and cardiac disease and diabetes. Both had promising results and both showed that laughter reduced the stress hormone, cortisol as well as epinephrine (which is adrenaline - the fright or flight hormone)

So it will not kill you laugh once in a while. It may actually save your life. Think how many times you laugh in a given day. With all of life's stresses barking at your feet try a little laughter. Buy a joke book!

LAUGH. LOVE. LIVE.

Until tomorrow...