A few laughs a day may help keep the doctor away More than a bemused pastime, laughter is proving to be the best anecdote to good health. As well as erasing feelings of gloom, comic relief can protect us against disease and alleviate our pain. When we laugh, a multitude of actions take place in our body; these include the release of endorphins (the feel good chemicals), which stimulate feelings of joy and act as powerful painkillers. Laughter's analgesic effects are so pronounced that some doctors are now using humor to help manage their patients' pain. Having a hearty laugh can catapult us into a good mood, dispelling our stress. Indeed, laughing reduces our levels of stress hormones which, if left to linger, can have nasty deleterious effects including increasing our risk of developing high blood pressure and heart disease. Studies show that people who laugh heartily on a regular basis have lower standing blood pressure than the average person and one recent study found that people with heart disease were 40 percent less likely to laugh. This suggests that having a sense of humor may be key to keeping heart disease at bay. How can laughing protect against heart disease? The exact mechanisms are unknown, but stress hormones may cause damage to the inner lining of our blood vessels - the endothelium. This can lead to fat and cholesterol build-up in the coronary arteries and ultimately to a heart attack. Laughing not only reduces these stress hormones, but the endorphins it releases may also act directly on the endothelium to keep the blood vessels relaxed and dilated, increasing blood flow to the heart and other organs. Even watching a comedy is enough to increase your blood flow; one study found that blood flow increased by 20 percent in people watching a funny video (and decreased by 35 percent in those watching a stressful video). If you read last week's column, you will remember that having good blood flow throughout your body can affect the blood flow in your genital area, which can be key to having a healthy sex drive. Funnily enough, choosing to watch a comedy like "Friends over a thrilling series like "24 may help you have a more amorous evening. But then again, you may not actually need to watch the comedy. Laughter's impact is so profound that even its anticipation is beneficial. One study found that people who anticipated watching a funny video had 27 percent more endorphins and 87 percent more human growth hormone (which boosts our immune system) in their blood stream than those who were not anticipating watching a humorous video, and the effects lasted up to 12-24 hours. Our immune system comprises an army of cells that fight against disease and infection. Laughing stimulates essential components of our immune system (while stress hormones have the opposite effect of depressing them), including Natural Killer Cells, which, as their name suggests, kill intruders such as viruses and tumor cells. The two main types of white blood cells, B (that make antibodies) and T cells (involved in many immune responses to infection), are also increased when we laugh, as is gamma interferon, a hormone that orchestrates the different cells of our immune system. Laughing may protect against having high blood sugar levels and diabetes. One study found that people who watched a funny show during dinner had lower blood sugar levels than those who watched a lecture. Laughing may not only protect us from disease, but it is also a form of "internal aerobics exercising most of our muscles, particularly those of the diaphragm, abdominal, respiratory, facial, leg and back. Some researchers have gone so far as to suggest laughing 100 times is like 10 minutes of rowing and 15 minutes on an exercise bike. Clearly, having the gift of making people laugh is like having the gift to heal. It's not surprising then that witty people are often the most popular, and that the happiest couples and closest friends are usually those who share the same sense of humor. Laughter is strongly linked to happiness and happy people are able to withstand more hardship and pain, and live healthier and longer lives than people who are often "down in the dumps . "Survival of the fittest may be secondary to "survival of the funniest as numerous testimonials from cancer patients show that having a positive outlook and laughing more not only helps you survive illness, but may also cure you. As William Shakespeare wisely said: Nothing is good or bad. It is thinking that makes it so. Looking on the bright side of life, despite hardship, and taking the time and making the effort to laugh more, may be the ultimate factor determining good health. May El Meleigyholds a Ph.D in Immunology (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine), an MSc in Toxicology/Pathology (Royal Postgraduate Medical School, London) and a BSc in Pharmacology (University College London). May is a medical and health journalist, and is a regular contributor to the British Medical Journal, Lancet, and WHO bulletin. May also produces health programs for Egypt
