Laughter as Medicine

"A clown is like an aspirin, except that it works twice as fast."

-- Groucho Marx.

Laughter creates immediate relaxation, because much like a sneeze, it causes all the muscles of the body to release their energy.

Patch Adams, MD believes not only in humor for health but in nurturing and cultivating joy in life. He is billed as "Renowned Medical Clown and Social Activist." Further, he was worked to put joy into patients' lives for over 30 years.

Robin Williams portrayed Patch Adams in the movie Patch Adams. Williams has become adept at portraying doctors, not only as Patch Adams by as Dr. Oliver Sacks in Awakenings. Both movies really show what joy can be found in life, even if that joy is fleeting. I watch these movies over and over.

Dr. Adams is the leader and founder of his Gesundheit Institute in West Virginia. It is a holistic medical campus and family that provides free medical care to thousands of people, founded in 1971. Dr. Adams more recently wrote Gesundheit to talk abut his ideas on the American health care system. He has often stated that he looks for ways of making people happy and that laughter, joy and creativity are vital to healing.

This is borne out by a study in the 1980s of cancer patients with terminal conditions. They were all going to die, but they were offered the chance to do anything that they had not been able to do in their lives. One had wanted to play the piano and others had similar wishes. The long and the short of it is that each patient, provided the time and finds to pursue his or her dreams by the funding f the study did just that. They became pianists and artists and such. And all of their cancers went into remission. The joy of being able to use their creativity in a supportive environment helped to heal them.

Dr. Adams operates three programs to groups, the names of which are:

• The Joy Workshop
• Prescribe Laughter Medicine for Fun, Not Funds
• Humor and Health

Right now, Dr. Adams is taking volunteers so that he can take a planeload of clowns to Moscow and St. Petersburg Russia in November 2007. This is actually his 24th annual trip to Russia. It is a tour f two weeks of clowning by individuals ages 10 - 90.

Dr. Adams also sponsors the Dr. Clown project for therapeutic clowning in hospitals. Therapeutic clowning began as a real, professional medical field in the 1980's in Winnipeg, Canada and New York City and it works for all ages.

In the 1960s, Norman Cousins, a magazine editor, began to suffer from symptoms like rheumatoid arthritis and from a collagen disorder . He underwent many medical treatments and became tired of feeling sicker and sicker. He moved out of the hospital and across the street to a hotel where his doctor world be nearby and he went off all of his medications. He asked his wife to look into organic foods and nutrition and he himself researched healthcare, taking a great interest in natural cures and laughter as medicine.

Normans Cousins' condition became worse before it became better, until one day he was completely unable to move. However, he began to watch comedy movies - the Three Stooges, the Marx brothers, and many others. Each time he laughed, he was able to loosen up a little and move some extremity like a toe or finger or even his jaw. So, he watched and laughed every day. When he loosened up enough in the major joints, he added exercise to his laughing regimen, along with natural and organic foods and vitamins, especially large doses of vitamin C. Eventually he fully recovered, without medications of any kind. Her lived to age 75 in 1990 and was on the faculty of the University of California at Los Angeles School of Medicine, where he taught holistic healing methods and philosophies, including laughter.

From another discipline, in the art of Kung Fu, it is taught that a master must be 1/8 fool (comedian). One must laugh and make others laugh in order to remain balanced and in good health overall.

In the Holy Bible, there is the statement by King Solomon in the Old Testament:

A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones. Proverbs 17:22

From the poet Sper:

Laughter is a remedy

For sorrow and for care;

It brings joy to troubled souls,

To damaged hearts, repair

.

Modern American proverb:

He who laughs, lasts.

.

Forbes company states that scientists have supposedly found 15 ways to live to be 129 years old and 4 of them can be directly related to laughter and joy:

1. Don't oversleep
2. Be optimistic
3. Have more sex
4. Get a Pet
5. Get a cholesterol test
6. Be rich
7. Stop smoking
8. Relax
9. Ingest antioxidants
10. Marry well
11. Exercise
12. Laugh
13. Lose weight
14. Manage Stress
15. Meditate

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