When you have cancer, is laughter really the best medicine? The down and dirty answer is, it depends ... on you.
While there isn’t any current scientific proof to support the claim that laughter can cure cancer or any other disease, there is mounting evidence that there are real physical and mental benefits to yucking it up.
Research shows laughter and humor can reduce stress and enhance a person’s quality of life. What’s more, humor has been linked with positive physical changes and an overall sense of well-being by stimulating the circulatory system, immune system, and other regulatory functions in the human body.
Though laughter has been used in medicine since the 13th century, it wasn't until the late 20th century that researchers began focusing on its possible therapeutic value. Laughter continues to be among one of the most researched therapies.
One famous study, Anatomy of an illness (1979) documents how after years of pain, Norman Cousins, a journalist and adjunct professor of Medical Humanities in the School of Medicine at UCLA, cured himself from a serious illness with a self-invented regimen of laughter and vitamins.
As it turns out, there is concrete evidence why we humans can laugh until we hurt. Dr. William Fry, Stanford University professor emeritus of clinical psychiatry found the answer.
Dr. Fry studied the effects of laughter for 30 years. He compares laughter to "inner jogging," and claims one minute of jovial laughter is the equivalent of 10 minutes of heart-pounding rowing — and much more fun.
According to Fry, after a good laugh our heart rate decreases, blood circulation improves, and we've worked muscles all over the body.
That's the idea behind Laughter yoga, popularized by Dr. Madan Kataria, where yogic breathing is combined with laughter exercises.
Another famous study found using humor led to better pain tolerance. It's thought laughter causes the release of neurotransmitter chemicals in the brain, called endorphins, that control pain.
Other research suggests neuroendocrine and stress-related hormones decreased during episodes of laughter. These findings provide support for the claim that humor is an effective stress reliever and a positive means to curb depression.
Laughter worked wonders for Dianne Armitage, a humor writer living in Santa Barbara, Calif. Armitage is a two-time breast cancer survivor that has penned an online column about women’s health and living life as a survivor (she calls it “her new normal”) since 1998.
Armitage has become a cult hero among cancer survivors for her quick wit and ability to empower women to find and appreciate the absurdity or incongruity in their own situations.
While humor may not always be well received by some, particularly when battling a serious illness, Armitage found during and after cancer treatments—and later during a recurrence—that laughter improved her quality of life and helped her better cope with her cancer by “removing some of the burden of a grave situation.”
“Most people don’t know how to deal with cancer. Humor is a way to reach out a way to discuss cancer without making others feel uncomfortable,” she says.
For Armitage, who was first diagnosed in her mid-40s, breast cancer created a sense that her body was no longer her safe haven. “That was my biggest loss,” she says.
“I had always felt comfortable in my own skin. I suppose it may have been my own immortality staring me in the face. At the time I didn’t feel sick or look sick, but I was literally fighting for my life. Laughing helped me maintain that perfect balance between the tragic and the comedic.”
She recounted how she arrived at her personal motto during her second bout with breast cancer. Armitage was lying on the bed beside her French Bulldog, Lulu, when she happened to look down and see Lulu’s multiple sets of teats.
“It just hit me so funny because I couldn’t help thinking at the time ‘thank God we humans only have two breasts.’ It's been my motto ever since.”
Laughter and humor is increasingly being put into practice at cancer hospitals and clinics around the country. Humor therapy, also called laughter therapy, is considered a complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) used to relieve physical or emotional pain, promote health and cope with illness.
At the Cancer Treatment Centers of America (CTCA), laughter therapy is delivered once a week. Steve White, a certified laughter therapist at CTCA’s Phoenix, Ariz. campus leads Laughter Club, a group therapy session to help cancer patients and their families enjoy laughter as a healing tool.
Laughter Club focuses on laughter as a physical exercise rather than humor or jokes.
There are literally hundreds of different laughter exercises, Steve White says, but each one is designed to provide an internal workout while giving the recipient a “little vacation from cancer.”
This integrative approach, known as mind-body medicine, augments traditional cancer treatments. The idea here is to treat the whole person, body, mind and soul.
In Laughter Club, patients and their families’ use fake laughter or laughter greetings to evoke a sense of well being. During the exercise, everyone stands in a circle and chants “ha ha” or “hee hee” sounds while clapping.
“It may look and sound a little silly, but it works,” Steve White says. “People may not come to therapy in a good mood, but laughter is contagious and you can see them change right before you eyes.”
At the Association for Applied and Therapeutic Humor's 25th Annual Conference held April 19, 2012 in Chicago, medical professionals from around the country brushed up on their laughter skills.
According to the organization, we adults may be taking life too seriously. On average, adults laugh a mere 17 times per day compared to a child who laughs about 400 times.
Lucky for us there are about 6,000 Laughter Clubs worldwide, so chances are good one is close to you. Now what are you waiting for? Go ahead and have yourself a good chuckle.
em>Lynette Summerill is an award-winning writer, scuba enthusiast and laughter fanatic who lives in San Diego, CA. In addition to writing about cancer-related issues for EmpowHER, her work has been seen in newspapers and magazines around the world.
Sources and consumer information:
American Cancer Society. Humor Therapy. Accessed 12 April 2012 at:
http://www.cancer.org/Treatment/TreatmentsandSideEffects/ComplementaryandAlternativeMedicine/MindBodyandSpirit/humor-therapy
Strangely Charming the Science of Humor. Jack Cackler. Stanford Daily.com
http://www.stanforddaily.com/2010/04/28/strangely-charming-the-science-of-laughter
Interview with Dianne Armitage 15 April 2012. Cancercareblog.
http://www.thebreastcaresite.com/tbcs/AboutUs/OurAuthors/MeetDianneArmitage.htm
Interview with Steve White 23 April 2012. Laugh Therapy at Cancer Treatment Centers of America.
http://www.cancercenter.com/complementary-alternative-medicine/laughter-therapy.cfm
Weisenberg M, Tepper I, Schwarzwald J. Humor as a cognitive technique for increasing pain tolerance. Pain. 1995;63:207-212. Online at
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8628586
Association for Applied and Therapeutic Humor.
http://www.aath.org
Reviewed April 24, 2012
by Michele Blacksberg RN
Edited by Jody Smith