Does a person's attitude have a bearing on their health? Can humor or laughter actually enhance a person's ability to be healthy? There may be no way to actually measure the extent of how humor can affect our health, but it would seem that it does. Our ability to laugh and find humor in situations where we are ill, in pain, or under stress can improve our chances for recovery.
I'm a chiropractor. I help people to live healthier, pain-free lives, naturally without the use of drugs or surgery. One of the major factors that determines the rate of a patient's recovery is their attitude. A positive mental attitude, which includes being able to laugh at their pain, is more beneficial to the healing process than a negative doom and gloom attitude. The ability to find humor, when faced with adversity, empowers us and allows us to feel more in control of our destiny and our recovery. I use humor to help bridge the gap between myself and my patients. Many people I see are in severe pain when they arrive at our office. Helping them to laugh shows them that I care and that things will get better.
We all can acknowledge that laughter and humor can positively affect our mental outlook, but how does laughter affect our physical body? Recent studies have been able to measure some of the physiological changes that occur in us when we laugh. One such study has shown that laughter increases our ability to fight off disease by stimulating increased production of certain white blood cells. These cells are called "natural killer cells" and their function is to attack and destroy cancer cells in the body. Another study has shown that laughter decreases the amount of cortisol and epinephrine that our body produces during times of stress. These substances tend to weaken the body's ability to fight off disease. It is no wonder that people tend to get sick during periods of high stress. Most health-care practitioners acknowledge that stress, whether it is physical, emotional, or psychological has a negative impact on our health. Stress can lead to high blood pressure, gastrointestinal disorders, headaches, and various other symptoms of physical distress. Laughter seems to be an excellent antidote to some of these conditions. Another study performed at Western New England College showed that disease fighting agents in our saliva are increased during times of laughter and that this can be a factor in our ability to fight off upper respiratory infections.
The therapeutic value of laughter should not be underestimated. Although we now have scientific evidence to support the health benefits of laughter, philosophers and healers throughout history have acknowledged this benefit. Of course you don't need to be a philosopher to understand that when we laugh we feel good -- that's common sense.
So we see now that there is a direct relationship between mind and body. When we perceive something as humorous our bodies respond in a positive way. As a chiropractor, my job is to correct spinal misalignments that interfere with the normal transmission of nervous energy in the body. By restoring proper nerve flow, the body's natural ability to heal is enhanced. Every day I see how patient attitudes contribute to their recovery, and for me, the results are clearly evident. Those patients who possess the ability to laugh and have a positive attitude fare better than those who maintain a bleak, humorless outlook. I believe that the capacity to be healthy is naturally inherent in almost every individual and that usually illness or pain stems from something blocking the body's natural expression of health. Whether this block to good health comes from spinal misalignment or a negative attitude, both can result in a decrease in our quality of life.
So, can humor or laughter be a cure-all for pain and disease? The answer to this question seems to be no. Health does not come from any one source. In my opinion, proper nutrition, exercise and maintaining a well-adjusted spine free of nervous interference, all play a role in maintaining health. Nonetheless there continues to be compelling evidence to suggest that human wellness can be greatly enhanced through maintaining a humorous outlook. Our ability to fight off disease, to recover from an injury, or to combat psychological problems may lie in our ability to laugh and find humor in life. So, laughter just might be the best medicine.
Dr. Georg A. Kollias. D.C., is a gradulate of Life Chiropractic College. He is in practice at Sheldon Road Chiropractic & Massage Therapy, 10930 Sheldon Road, Tampa, FL 33626. (813) 884-1457. http://drkollias.chiroweb.com