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LAUGHTER IS THE BEST MEDICINE

By Hizbullah Khan

Mr. X and his friends decided to go for an outing; they were stranded in a traffic jam. Mr. X looked at every side of the road to find a way in order to reach his place with out any delay, but he couldn’t do it. Three of the friends along with Mr. X kept discussing how frustrating and tiring, being in this traffic jam was. However, the fourth friend was quiet for a while and then shared some jokes and spread laughter and cheerfulness all over. This lightened everyone’s mind, and they began looking very fresh as if they had not faced such a frustrating situation. After coming home, when they reflected back on the whole trip, they credited that time of laughter as the most memorable one and shared that they enjoyed this time more than anything else. Every one comes across with such scenarios in their day to day life and these are considered as usual stressors. Rarely people think of coping up with the same situations in such a good adaptive way and hence their maladaptive approach leads them to feel easily irritable and in the long run leads to depression and other mental disorders.

Development in Science has made our lives more easy and comfortable, because of new inventions and the introduction of new technologies. Modern science has contributed a lot to the medical line as well, and has found out sound rationales for new therapies and strategies. Laughter is considered as the best medicine, because it has certain physical, mental and social benefits to the individual. It is that medicine which has no expiry date, can be used anywhere at any time, having no side effects and can be prescribed to any individual. However, people have still not adopted laughter, humor and a smile as their remedy in the event of trails, illnesses and stressors.

Whenever someone wants to do any activity, the first concern that comes to mind is ones health. The doer searches the benefits and risks of each activity towards health. Certain good effects of laughter on physical health are identified as that it tends to boost up the person’s immunity, enhances cardiovascular system functions, acts as a natural pain killer and is thought to be anti aging. The immune system plays an important role in maintaining good health and keeping infections away. Researchers have found that laughter helps to increase the count of natural killer cells and especially the antibodies (Immunoglobulin A) in the mucous membrane of nose and respiratory passages (Muzio, n.d). These natural killers protect the body from the invasion of infectious organisms. It is thought that laughter is most necessary for those who have sedentary life styles and are at a risk for developing heart diseases. Laughter improves blood circulation due to which there is less chance of clot formation and hence the risk of thrombotic heart disease decreases. Moreover, experiments have proved that there is a drop of 10-20 mm in blood pressure of hypertensive people after participating for ten minutes in a laughter session (Muzio, n.d). Pain which is an unpleasant sensation to the body can also be relieved due to this unbelievable medicine. According to Das, (2007), “during laugh there is release of good chemicals including endorphins, the feel good hormone”. Apart from these benefits, laughter is also considered as anti aging, as it strengthens the facial muscles, because it is the only exercise that involves these muscles. Additionally, it provides good nourishment and prevents wrinkle formation as it increases the blood circulation to the facial muscles.

Along with physical health, is has great importance for mental health. Often, people fail to accept mental problems and thus respond to it very late. It is true that everybody has some stresses in his usual life, but the approach towards them is different. The maladaptive approaches like anger, frustration and aggression makes the stress more complicated, rather than resolving it. Laughter, which is thought to be a vital coping strategy, however, it is mostly ignored. It is one of the finest, most economical and easy to practice anti stress measures. According to Muzio (n.d), “A good bout of laughter also reduces the levels of stress hormones epinephrine and cortisol. It can be said to be a form of dynamic meditation or relaxation”. In addition, laughter also enhances the self- esteem of an individual which has directly effects the mental health in a positive manner. Moreover, it reduces tension, lowers anxiety and increases creativity of brain (Traywick, n.d).

Lastly, laughter has significant impact on a person’s social life. Social life involves the interaction of an individual within the family, with friends and peers, and with other people. In family gatherings, if a person continuously frowns no one feels like conversing with him. This on a regular basis will lead to poor self esteem and social isolation. Laughter makes a person feel good about others, helps in avoiding loneliness and enhances the ability to connect with others (Traywick, n.d). Additionally, if a person is laughing and smiling with every body, he will not have negative ideas and feelings about others, and ultimately he will not get angry with others. This will avoid him from quarrels and will lead him to a happy and socialized life.

To conclude, laughter is an inexpensive, yet beneficial medicine, which greatly affects the physical and mental health, and socialization of a person. Laughter is contagious; one smile can change the expression of another person. It can be shared freely with everyone, however first the barriers to smiling, laughing and humor need to be broken, so that friendship and happiness can be shared. As a therapy, laughter should not be ignored as its benefits are countless. To strengthen interpersonal bonding and improve socialization, individuals must include laughter and smiles into his life. As aptly said by Mark Twain “The human race has only one effective weapon and that is laughter.”