If You're Laughing, You're Living…Longer

Dear Health Conscious Reader,

Do you want to hear the funniest joke in the world?

If you do searches for the “funniest joke in the world,” this is the most common winner for U.S. audiences…

A couple of hunters are out in the woods when one of them grabs his chest, falls to the ground, and then lies there motionless.

The other hunter calls 911. “My friend won’t get up, and I think he’s dead! What should I do?”

The operator, in a calm, soothing voice, says: “Just take it easy. I can help. First, you have to make sure he’s dead.”

There’s a silence… then the operator hears two shots.

The hunter’s voice comes back on the line. “Okay, what do I do next?”

Now… I know jokes that I think are a lot funnier, but they’re a little too risqué to put in your letter. But here’s the point… Did you laugh? If you did, you may have just increased your lifespan.

I read about a Norwegian study that says adults who see humor in life are 35% more likely to live longer than those who don’t see humor in life.1 Not a single pharmaceutical can make the same claim.

In another study with cancer patients, those who kept a happy and positive outlook were much more likely to survive.2

One insight I draw from this is that you and I are naturally made to appreciate humor as a stress reliever. But in the modern world, we encounter different types of stressors. And this can affect our quality and even length of life.

In some important ways, our ancient ancestors lived much healthier lifestyles than we do today. This is partly due to the lack of modern and unnatural stress in their lives. Now, I’m not saying that

they were stress-free by any means. They had the stress of fighting for their dinner, finding shelter, and protecting themselves from predators. Now as brutal as those types of stressors are, we were built to handle them and get over them.

But it’s completely different now. Modern-day people are constantly moving. It’s always hurry, hurry! This makes it easy to forget the pleasurable things in life. Things like social intimacy, family, friends, and most of all fun – which are, when you stop and think about it, the really important things for happiness.

Think about this. You know that stress can make a condition worse. So is it such a leap to believe that laughter can make a condition better?

I found a fascinating case where it did. The American Physiological Society published the story of Norman Cousins. He was diagnosed with an “incurable” autoimmune disease. Yet Norman believed that laughter could help improve his situation. So he watched funny shows on a regular basis to test his theory. “Funny” enough, his “incurable” disease went into complete remission.3

After reading the study on Cousins, I dug deeper to see what else I could learn on this theory. One of the most interesting studies I came upon was on diabetics. Twenty high-risk diabetics were broken into two groups – control and laughter. After 12 months, research showed multiple “significant improvements” in the health of the laughter group over the control group.4

So, let’s take a minute and slow down… see the humor in everyday life… watch a funny movie… visit a comedy club. You’ll probably have a great time. And… you may live longer, too.

Okay, here’s one more for you:

Sherlock Holmes and Watson go on a camping trip. After a good dinner and a bottle of wine, they go to sleep. Later, Holmes wakes up and nudges his faithful friend.

“Watson, look up at the sky and tell me what you see.”

“I see millions and millions of stars, Holmes.”

“And what do you deduce from that?”

Watson ponders for a minute.

“Well, astronomically, it tells me that there are millions of galaxies and potentially billions of planets. Astrologically, I observe that Saturn is in Leo. Horologically, I deduce that the time is approximately a quarter past three. What does it tell you, Holmes?”

Holmes immediately replies. “Watson, you’re missing the point.”

“Someone has stolen our tent!”

To Your Good Health,

Al Sears, MD

  1. SVEN SVEBAK, BJØRN KRISTOFFERSEN, KNUT AASARØD, “Sense of Humor and Survival among a County Cohort of Patients with End-Stage Renal Failure: A Two-Year Prospective Study.” The Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim. The International Journal of Psychiatry in Medicine. Volume 36, Number 3 / 2006. 269-281.
  2. Jalal Al-Maskati, MBChB, MD, Mohammed A.Khaliq, MD, Shahzalan Fadhul, NS, Ali Al-Faraj, DPM, Arab Board. “Assessing Psychological Status of Cancer Patients Using the HAD Scale: a Pilot Study.” Bahrain Medical Bulletin, Vol.25, No.1, 03 2003.
  3. Norman Cousins. “Mirthful Laughter,” Coupled With Standard Diabetic Treatment, Raises Good Cholesterol And May Lower Heart Attack Risk. The American Physiological Society. 04 2009.
  4. Lee Berk, DrPH, MPH, Stanley Tan, MD, PhD. “Mirthful Laughter, As Adjunct Therapy in Diabetic Care, Increases HDL Cholesterol and Attenuates Inflammatory Cytokines and hs-CRP and Possible CVD Risk.” Loma Linda University, Loma Linda, CA. 2009.