Laughter is the best medicine
Submitted by Daingerfield1 on
Pamela Lincoln
Cass County Extension Agent
Family and Consumer Sciences
Researchers in family relationships identify a sense of humor or laughter as an indicator of strong families. When family relations become strained or the family experiences difficult financial times, laugher is harder to generate, or may cease to exist.
Holding on to our sense of humor is serious business. Sometimes the only way to bear our burdens is to laugh and bear them anyway. Life is tough, but without laughter it is intolerable.
Recent medical studies indicate a connection between immunity and the mind. For instance, deep laughter releases substances into the body that seem to block pain. Some physiologists have found that stressful events often precede illness. Then, control over stressful events is important. Humor is evidence of our freedom - the freedom to transform our pain, fears and anxieties into absurdities. With humor, we choose to accept the world the way it is and laugh at it instead of getting hung up on the way we know it “should” be.
Laughter is also the body’s way of realizing that despite everything that has happened to us, we are not doomed. Laughter allows hope. When families come together in shared laughter, they enjoy a deep feeling of common humanity and unity. Laughing at our troubles presents us with an offer we can’t refuse.
Read more in our e-edition: http://www.etypeservices.com/SWF/LocalUser/Daingerfield1//Magazine53760/Full/index.aspx?id=53760
Rate this article:
- Log in to post comments
