Laughter as Medicine

Humor is an important survival tool. No. It's not a joke.

Laughter and tears affect hormones and other brain signals in ways we still do not understand. New studies seem to indicate that emotions are linked to the healing of some allergies. How strong is the evidence I am not able to say, but it is clear that hypnosis can reduce and even eliminate the brain’s ability to feel pain in subjects who trust their hypnotist. These are just a few reasons why we need to continually work on our attitudes and stay as optimistic as possible especially when life is hard.

Part of recovery from grief involves laughter and tears. Both are releases that improve brain clarity and invite calmness. The same with down time and vacations — assuming we don’t take our work and worry with us.

Part of relating with others involves humor. We are more likely to laugh to the point of tears around friends and loved ones when we are happy and relaxed. And part of being able to relax involves trust. It’s called “letting our hair down,” which is really funny if you don’t have much or any hair.

One of my favorite activities are board games, card games, dominos, anything that gets people around a table or in a circle for some silly activity that draws out our inner children.