HUMAN HEAD ANATOMY

You've heard of citizen saying "I died laughing," but have you ever heard someone say "I laughed myself healthy?"

That is exactly what Norman Cousins did. From 1942-1972, Norman was the editor-in-chief of the Saturday Review. In 1964 he was diagnosed with ankylosis spondylitis, which is a painful disease that causes disintegration of the spinal connective tissue. He was given a 1 in 500 opportunity of recovery.

Cousins checked himself out of the hospital and decided to infuse himself with humor therapy numerous times throughout the day. He found that for every 15 min. Of hearty laughter it would yield 2 hours of painless sleep. He would watch numerous films of the Marx Brothers, 3 stooges, and other funny movies to induce the hearty laughter.

He was able to monitor the changes in his body by measuring his blood sedimentation rate, a key determination of inflammation and infection in the blood. He found that this rate dropped by about 5 points each time he watched his funny movies.

Cousins described being in a state of euphoria over the next week as he continued to laugh himself back to health. Within a few weeks the editor was back to work at the Saturday report as his body continued to recover.

Cousins later wrote 'Anatomy of an Illness', a book about his illness and recovery.

You may think this seems a bit far-fetched but patients, doctors and health care professionals are seeing that laughter may nothing else but be the best medicine.
The benefits of humor and laughter to the body have been studied and have definitely been proven advantageous as a curative therapy.

The scientific evidence with regard to the effectiveness of humor to the body has been overwhelming. Published studies have shown that laughter lowers blood pressure, reduces stress hormones, increases muscle flexion, and boosts the immune ideas by raising the levels of infection fighting T-cells, disease fighting proteins called Gamma-interferon and B-cells, which yield disease destroying antibodies. Endorphins, which are the body's natural painkiller are also released with laughter. Overall, laughter produces a general sense of well-beings.

Joyful laughter is eustress - stress that is deemed remedial or giving a feeling of fulfillment. It empties the lungs of more air than it takes in resulting a in a cleansing effect - similar to deep breathing. This is especially helpful to citizen who suffer from emphysema and other respiratory ailments.

Due to the exponential discoveries with laughter and humor therapy, hospitals are incorporating laughter therapy programs into their therapeutic regimens. In some foreign countries they even have laughing clubs, where participants collect in the early morning for the sole purpose of laughing. Some clubs have even begun in the Us.

Laughter is an aerobic exercise, like internal jogging. It provides a workout for the diaphragm and increases the body's potential to use oxygen. Also being an rehearsal disposition it also brings about safe bet emotions, which enhances the curative and emotional state of a person.

Reduction in pain, as Norman Cousins demonstrated, is other attribute to laughter. In the Journal of Holistic Nursing a study was published where the patients were told one-line jokes after surgical operation and before painful medication was administered. Those exposed to humor perceived less pain when compared to patients who didn't get a dose of humor as part of their therapy.

After researching the therapeutic effect of humor on the body I decided to escort my own humor study. I e-mailed some citizen on my taste list and asked them if they wanted to partake in a study that I was conducting called the 'Humor Me' study. They were to reply to me on a daily basis on a scale of 1-10 (1 was nothing else but yucky and 10 was exuberant) with regard to how they felt physically, mentally, and spiritually. Reasoning and spiritual aspects are just as leading in comprehensive health as the corporeal aspects and they can definitely influence one another. They were instructed to take treatment two times daily. The treatment was to laugh out loud for about three minutes in the morning and in the evening. They were also sent a joke and a funny 1-3 min YouTube video to help them take their medicine. The participants were between the ages of 21-60 with occupations ranging from office manager, educator assistant, minister, pharmacy tech to retired.

The results were quite spicy on day 1 the averages on the scale 1-10 were physically 5.9, mentally 6.9, and spiritually 7.3. After 7 days with nothing given but two doses of laughter the participants felt 20% great physically, 19% great mentally, and 16% great spiritually.

The real surprising facts was the feedback given from the participants. By day 3 one someone stated that her headaches were great and other stated that she slept better. On day 5 one someone even commented that he felt 10 years younger from laughing so much.

A few of the jokes from the study:
1. A little girl went up to her mum one day while holding her stomach saying, "Mommy, my stomach hurts." Her mum replied, "That's because it's empty, you have to put something into it!" Later that day when the Evangelist and her husband were over for dinner. The Evangelist began to feel bad. holding her head she said, "I have such a terrible headache!" The little girl looked up at her giving her the sweetest smile that any little child could give. Then she said, "That's because it's empty, you have to put something into it!"
2. Sunday School they were teaching how God created everything, together with human beings. little Johnny seemed especially intent when they told him how Eve was created out of one of Adam's ribs. Later in the week his mum noticed him lying down as though he were ill, and said,

Johnny what is the matter? little Johnny responded, "I have a pain in my side. I think I'm going to have a wife."

After the study was completed, some commented how they missed receiving their daily therapy. They glimpse how each day they woke up with anticipation to see what their daily treatment would entail. They also said it was nice and relaxing in the evening when they took their evening therapy. Some said they intend to continue seeing for humor daily because it nothing else but did make them feel great overall.

Humor and laughter is advantageous to the body and health in general, but the greatest benefit of laughter is that it is free and has no negatives side effects to the body.

So, create some internal jogging and laugh yourself healthy.