D2

Jane Claxton-Oldfield
Healthy Habits

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This week, still under the umbrella of healthy habits, yet digressing a little from nutrition, I wanted to talk about humour.

Humour is undeniably a vital component in the overall jigsaw puzzle that makes up our health and so constitutes a 'healthy habit.'

If it is missing in our life, it can definitely affect the bigger picture. There are three questions that come to mind about humour. Why is humour (and therefore laughing) so important to us human beings?

How does it influence our physiology? What happens when we find that we aren't laughing very much?

The answer to the first question is pretty easy -- we laugh because it makes us feel good.

Incidentally, we are (as far as we know) the only animals who laugh (although I sometimes wonder if our dog might be having a good chuckle behind our backs).

The first answer partly explains the second answer -- if it makes us feel good then yes, we know it is affecting us on a physical level.

In fact, we now have the science to prove it. Laughter has been shown to affect the heart rate, pulse, breathing and even hormones. Those who laugh on a regular basis often experience fewer blood pressure problems and even -- according to a study out of the University of Maryland Medical Centre -- less heart disease.

Laughter has long been known to give an 'internal jog' by working out the diaphragm, abdominal, leg and back muscles (especially 'side-splitting' laughter).

It also stretches those facial muscles. This is not so good for keeping those wrinkles at bay although you could try laughing without smiling, an exercise in itself, that is guaranteed to make you laugh.

Don't believe me? Go on try it now, laugh without smiling!

Laughter can burn calories and even help with digestion. Not bad for just a good laugh eh?

And it gets better; humour is good for mental health and can even help mend emotional issues. Humour helps to connect us all.

Laughter (and smiling) is universal -- everyone the world over laughs and smiles. Now, we may differ in what we find humourous but when we are amused we will express that amusement in the same way, by smiling and laughing. Laughing helps to diffuse tension and can dissipate anger (try staying angry when you smile).

Learning to laugh at ourselves is an extremely worthwhile endeavour. It can save us so much stress in the long term. People who are unable to laugh at themselves are especially susceptible to the ill effects of stress.

This brings us to the final question: what happens when we aren't laughing very much?

In a word: stress. Stress could certainly be considered the antithesis to laughter and stress is arguably one of the most potentially dangerous experiences that we humans endure.

A little is OK (even necessary) but scientists are learning that stress on a regular basis can have dire consequences on our emotional, psychological and physical health. Stress can even contribute toward obesity.

It turns out that there is a lot to be said for that old adage: Laughter is the best medicine. The French philosopher Voltaire put it this way "The art of medicine consists of amusing the patient while nature cures the disease."

And in 1995 one doctor, Madan Kataria of India, decided to take this approach literally. He researched the idea of laughter having a positive effect on health and decided to find a way to maximize its benefits in his practice.

Katari eventually founded the International Laughter Club movement.

Basically he just gathered his patients and started laughing. Initially they would tell jokes but soon they ran out of material and so they started a new approach -- forced laughter (hahaha, hohoho).

This they found quickly gives way to real laughter. It is a great breathing exercise apart from all the other benefits.

The movement is now worldwide (www.laughteryoga.org). When asked who, in his experience, has the hardest time with this playful form of therapy he said "psychologists, doctors, scientists, journalists . . . in short all mind-centred and intellectual people laugh very little."

Not surprisingly it is children who do the most laughing although, according to German psychologist Michael Titze, compared to the 1950s where we laughed on average 18 minutes per day, today we all laugh a lot less -- under six minutes -- despite our enhanced standard of living.

Norman Cousins was a journalist who wrote extensively on the topic of humour as a coping strategy and as a tool for healing because he basically laughed his way back to health from a serious illness.

He found that a good 10-minute belly laugh could actually give him two hours of pain-free sleep!

Think about this seriously for a moment because the implications are staggering.

In his book Anatomy of an Illness he wrote: "it (laughter) creates a mood in which the other positive emotions can be put to work too."

So the evidence is before us. We must never underestimate the power of humour, knowing as we do that it has the potential to boost the immune system, an absolute key to maintaining health.

Once again, we are back to balance. We need a healthy whole foods diet, fresh air, exercise, spiritual, psychological and emotional connection and a darn good laugh on a daily basis!

If it is true that misery loves company, it is also true that laughter loves company. Laughter is very contagious, s, surprise everyone around you today and just start laughing.

If you don't get carted off to the psychiatric ward you just may find that everyone around you joins in.

After all, there is safety in numbers.

Healthy habits, written by Natural Nutritional Consultant Practitioner Jane Claxton-Oldfield, who works and laughs out of The Pear Tree Naturopathic Clinic in Sackville, appears every second Thursday on Health Page. If you have a topic suggestion for a future column, please e-mail Jane at holistic@nbnet.nb.ca. Please note: nutritional information is not intended as a substitute for your medical or naturopathic doctor. For health concerns see your healthcare practitioner.