“A day without laughter is a day wasted.” Charlie Chaplin.

Recently, I was interested to learn that NHS Trials are underway to see if “comedy on prescription” can help improve people’s mental health and reduce NHS costs by being an alternative to antidepressants. The scheme will offer stand-up and workshops to people struggling with their mental health.

Craic Health has secured funding for a scheme which uses stand-up shows and workshops to help people who are isolated, lonely and vulnerable. Its project is aimed at helping the government work with the comedy industry, communities and organisations on comedy-based social prescriptions, in the hope the health service can use them more widely.

One of the sayings that I remember from my childhood is “laughter is the best medicine.” As a result, the health benefits of laughter was one of the topics that I featured in my book Be First Class, which was published in 2016. I have included some of the content of that particular chapter below.

Whilst researching the benefits of laughter I came across an interesting story about Norman Cousins who was an American political journalist, author, professor and world peace advocate who died in 1990 aged 75. Remarkably, Cousins was diagnosed in 1964 as having a serious disease and was told that his chances for survival were one in five hundred and that he had just months to live.

But Cousins had a strong will to live, so he decided to assume most of the responsibility for his own healing. Having been told that he had little chance of surviving, he developed a recovery programme.  It included big doses of Vitamin C, along with a positive attitude and laughter induced by Marx Brothers films and anything else that he could get his hands on to make him laugh. Cousins developed a systematic programme for getting daily doses of hearty laughter.

He said “I made the joyous discovery that ten minutes of genuine belly laughter had an anaesthetic effect and would give me at least two hours of pain-free sleep.”  It’s remarkable that he was able to laugh having been told he had an irreversible disease and didn’t have long to live. He wrote of his healing experiences in “Anatomy of an illness.”

Medical tests done since then have established that there’s a physiological basis for the theory that laughter is good medicine. After his remarkable recovery, Cousins continued to study the effects of positive emotions on the human system. Eventually, he joined the medical faculty at the UCLA Medical School, a rare appointment for a person without a medical degree.

Cousins was one of the pioneers in linking laughter to healing. Since his initial explorations, his research has been duplicated by many both in and out of the medical profession. These include Dr Bernie Siegel and Dr Patch Adams. Both have written extensively about the power of humour and hope in the healing process. A film called Patch Adams about Dr Adams work is worth watching. It is heart-warming, funny and based on scientific evidence.

Laughter Yoga is gaining in popularity worldwide. It was made popular as an exercise routine developed by Indian Physician Madan Kataria. It’s a practice that involves prolonged voluntary laughter and is based on the belief that voluntary laughter provides the same physiological and psychological benefits as spontaneous laughter. It’s done in groups and laughter is easily stimulated and sustained with eye contact, exercises and playfulness amongst the participants.

Sessions start with gentle warm-up techniques which include stretching, chanting, clapping and body movement. These help break down inhibitions. Breathing exercises help prepare the lungs for laughter, followed by a series of laughter exercises.

During my research, I found the following information from the Mayo Clinic about the short- and long-term benefits of laughter: –

Some of the short-term benefits that laughter can bring:

  • Enhances intake of oxygen-rich air, stimulates your heart, lungs and muscles and increases the endorphins that are released by your brain.
  • Activate and relieve your stress response and lead to a good relaxed feeling.
  • Soothe tension, stimulate circulation and aid muscle relaxation.

 
Some of the long-term benefits that laughter may bring:

  • Pain relief by causing the body to produce its own natural painkillers. Laughter may also break the pain-spasm cycle common to some muscle disorders.
  • Increase personal satisfaction and can make it easier to cope with difficult situations as it helps you to connect with other people.
  • Improve your mood, it can reduce depression and anxiety and increase happiness.

This week why not pause for a few moments to reflect. Consider what steps can you take to introduce more laughter into your life.

To arrange a free no obligation consultation, please contact Stephen Pauley via the contact form or by e mail: Stephen@befirstclass.co.uk;