Norman Cousins Laughed His Way Back to Health and Life
Norman Cousins was given a few months to live
in 1964. He had Ankylosing Spondylitis, a rare disease of the connective
tissues. He was told my a doctor who was his friend that he had a 1 in 500
chance of survival. He was told to 'get his affairs in order'.
But Cousins would have none of it. A
journalist, he was used to research and set himself to find a solution. He read
and discovered that both his disease and the medicines were depleting his body
of vitamin 'C', among other things.
He did three things that would be usual today
and were unheard of then.
1. He fired his doctor and left the hospital
to check into a hotel. He ascertained that the cultural of defeat and over
medication in the hospital was not going to be good for his health. He found a
doctor who would work with him as a team member as opposed to insisting on
being in charge.
2. He began to get injections of massive doses
of vitamin 'C'.
3. He obtained a movie projector, no small
feat in those days, and a pile of funny movies including the Marx Brothers and
'Candid Camera' shows. He spent a great deal of time watching these films and
laughing. And he didn't just laugh. In spite of being in a lot of constant
pain, he made a point of laughing until his very stomach hurt from it.
Did it work? Who knows. You should know that
Cousins finally died November 30, 1990 in Los Angeles, California, having
survived years longer than his doctors predicted: 10 years after his first
heart attack, 16 years after his collagen illness, and 26 years after his
doctors first diagnosed his heart disease.
Can it be proved that laughing added 26 years
to Norman Cousins' life? Not really, but we see above that it strengthens the
immune system that fights disease. There can be no double blind tests for this.
They can't take two groups of dying people and have one laugh and the other cry
and see who lived. The ethical restraints would be enormous and there would be
too many variables. We will just have to take his word. Perhaps a version of
Pascal's Wager. If laughing doesn't extend life, wouldn't it be better to laugh
anyway to make your last more pleasant?
The
results of the study also supported research indicating a general decrease in
stress hormones that constrict blood vessels and suppress immune activity.
These were shown to decrease in the study group exposed to humor.
For
example, levels of epinephrine were lower in the group both in anticipation of
humor and after exposure to humor. Epinephrine levels remained down throughout
the experiment.
In
addition, dopamine levels (as measured by dopac) were also decreased. Dopamine
is involved in the "fight or flight response" and is associated with
elevated blood pressure.
Laughing
is aerobic, providing a workout for the diaphragm and increasing the body's
ability to use oxygen.
Laughter
brings in positive emotions that can enhance - not replace -- conventional
treatments. Hence it is another tool available to help fight the disease.
Experts
believe that, when used as an adjunct to conventional care, laughter can reduce
pain and aid the healing process. For one thing, laughter offers a powerful
distraction from pain.
In a
study published in the Journal of Holistic Nursing, patients were told
one-liners after surgery and before painful medication was administered. Those
exposed to humor perceived less pain when compared to patients who didn't get a
dose of humor as part of their therapy.
Perhaps,
the biggest benefit of laughter is that it is free and has no known negative
side effects.
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