laughter is good medicine

Please share your experiences, successes, and failures in using non-drug therapies for RLS/WED (methods of relief that don't involve swallowing or injecting anything), including compression, heat, light, stretches, acupuncture, etc. Also under this heading, medical interventions that don't involve the administration of a medicine to the body (eg. varicose-vein operations, deep-brain stimulation). [This forum contains Topics started prior to 2009 that deal with Non-prescription Medicines, Supplements, & Diet.]
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brightventure
Posts: 5
Joined: Mon Aug 30, 2004 1:29 am
Location: nashville, tn

laughter is good medicine

Post by brightventure »

Laugh!
By Peter McWilliams
Many years ago, Norman Cousins was diagnosed as "terminally ill." He was given six months to live. His chance for recovery was one in 500.

He could see that the worry, depression and anger in his life contributed to, and perhaps helped cause, his disease. He wondered, "If illness can be caused by negativity, can wellness be created by positivity?"

He decided to make an experiment of himself. Laughter was one of the most positive activities he knew. He rented all the funny movies he could find - Keaton, Chaplin, Fields, the Marx Brothers. (This was before VCRs, so he had to rent the actual films.) He read funny stories. He asked his friends to call him whenever they said, heard or did something funny.

His pain was so great he could not sleep. Laughing for 10 solid minutes, he found, relieved the pain for several hours so he could sleep.

He fully recovered from his illness and lived another 20 happy, healthy and productive years. (His journey is detailed in his book, Anatomy of an Illness.) He credits visualization, the love of his family and friends, and laughter for his recovery.

Some people think laughter is a waste of time. It is a luxury, they say, a frivolity, something to indulge in only every so often.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Laughter is essential to our equilibrium, to our well-being, to our aliveness. If we're not well, laughter helps us get well; if we are well, laughter helps us stay that way.

Since Cousins' ground-breaking subjective work, scientific studies have shown that laughter has a curative effect on the body, the mind and the emotions.

So, if you like laughter, consider it sound medical advice to indulge in it as often as you can. If you don't like laughter, then take your medicine - laugh anyway.

Use whatever makes you laugh - movies, sitcoms, Monty Python, records, books, New Yorker cartoons, jokes, friends.

Give yourself permission to laugh - long and loud and out loud - whenever anything strikes you as funny. The people around you may think you're strange, but sooner or later they'll join in even if they don't know what you're laughing about.

Some diseases may be contagious, but none is as contagious as the cure...laughter.

:lol:

Rubyslipper
Posts: 992
Joined: Wed Mar 24, 2004 2:53 am
Location: Missouri

Post by Rubyslipper »

I am a firm believer in the healing power of laughter. If you look back at tome of the various postings here, you will see that many others do to. thanks for sharing.

jan3213
Posts: 1706
Joined: Wed May 26, 2004 8:46 pm
Location: Illinois

Hi Ruby!!!!!

Post by jan3213 »

It's Jan

Speaking of laughter.......If you'll just look at the post I just left for Lyn (I can't even remember what thread it was under), I said "we're all rottin' for you" instead of "we're all rootin' for you". Talk about a ditz! Oh well, maybe EVERYONE will get a chuckle out of THAT one!!! May we ARE all ROTTIN! Ha!

Laughter IS one of the best medicines, isn't it?

Jan
No one is alone who had friends.

Rubyslipper
Posts: 992
Joined: Wed Mar 24, 2004 2:53 am
Location: Missouri

Post by Rubyslipper »

Remember the old Bugs Bunny cartoon with Yosemite Sam? (Really telling my age here, aren't I) He was a rootin', tootin' cowboy. It's even funnier if he called himself a "rottin', tottin' cowboy!!!"

jan3213
Posts: 1706
Joined: Wed May 26, 2004 8:46 pm
Location: Illinois

We're not getting older, we're just getting better!!!

Post by jan3213 »

Ruby, it's Jan

Yes, I remember those cartoons--they were my absolute favorite!!!!! Glad you saw the humor in my typos!!!! 'Cause you can BET YOUR BOOTIES I'm gonna keep makin' 'em!!! Ha!!! Glad to hear from you!!

(((Hugs)))

Jan
No one is alone who had friends.

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