Is Laughter Really the Best Medicine?

Q: I've been reading your series, and I am wondering about the effects of humor on healing. Do you have any research or information about this?

A: Just over 20 years ago, long-time editor, writer, and humanitarian Norman Cousins was widely reported to have cured himself from a painful disease through laughter. "I made the joyous discovery that ten minutes of genuine belly laughter had an anesthetic effect and would give me at least two hours of pain-free sleep," he wrote in his book "Anatomy of an Illness as Perceived by the Patient."

A merry heart doeth good like a medicine; but a broken spirit drieth the bones.

Cousins is not the only one in history to have felt there to be a strong connection between humor and healing. In "The Taming of the Shrew," Shakespeare writes: "And frame your mind to mirth and merriment, which bars a thousand harms and lengthens life." And perhaps you are familiar with Proverbs 17:22: "A merry heart doeth good like a medicine; but a broken spirit drieth the bones."