Laughter is the Jest Medicine – from my book “A Doctor’s Guide to Alternative Medicine: What Works, What Doesn’t, and Why – Foreword by Dr. Bernie Siegel”

You can order “A Doctor’s Guide to Alternative Medicine” from melborins.com or Indigo.ca.

Humour is a powerful tool to improve communication and put people at ease. Victor Borge, the famous comedian once said, “Laughter is the shortest distance between two people.” Not only is laughter therapeutic, but laughter can be a way of uniting and uplifting us as human beings.

Laughter has been described as a release of tension mediated through the autonomic nervous system . A good belly laugh will relieve pain , boost immunity , and rest the brain . Humour when used in a sensitive, caring, manner builds rapport and breaks down barriers of communication. Humour has been called the “bullet-proof vest against the ravages of negative emotions”. When you can laugh at a problem, the problem ceases to exist in its original form and becomes more manageable and less threatening. Dr. Joel Goodman director of the Humour Project and pioneer in the area of the therapeutic effects of laughter says, “Laughter can take you from moping, to coping, to hoping.”

I remember watching a You Tube video that quickly went viral on the internet. A female passenger standing inside a commuter train began to laugh. The more she laughed, the more strangers around her noticed, smiled, and chuckled. The woman’s laughter continued to grow and became so infectious that soon most of the people in her end of the train car were laughing. When they pulled into the station, a man got on the train and passengers shared another round of belly-shaking mirth. At first the man looked bemused, and then a little worried. When he moved to the farthest end of the train car, it caused the jolly passengers to break into a fresh round of hilarity. It was impossible to watch the video without laughing myself. The most intriguing thing to observe was how quickly complete strangers had become joined in a sort of laughter conspiracy, as if they were friends. With the exception of the passenger who started laughing in the first place, none of the gigglers had any idea what they were laughing about. And that was really funny!

LAUGHTER AS A WEAPON

Unfortunately, humour can also be used to ridicule, degrade, ostracize, and control people. Laughter is used in many societies as a way of maintaining the status quo of the privileged “in group.” These derogatory jokes cause the object of the humour to feel shame, fear, and hurt. Be assured, they are abusive. They are usually about gender, nationality, religion, or ethnic background. People who use ridicule try to increase their own self-esteem by negating those who they perceive as different. It is a way of accentuating differences, stigmatizing, and discriminating against groups or individuals. One good response to people who try to inflate their ego on the backs of others is: You don’t have to snuff out their candle in order for yours to burn more brightly.

Children first begin to learn this kind of humour from watching and listening to parents and other adult models. When we teach children to laugh at others who are different, we are setting up barriers and teaching them prejudice. Many studies have shown that children begin to learn prejudice as early as three years old and show acts of discrimination by time they are five. What we should be teaching children with our own behaviour-modelling is that laughter at the expense of other peoples’ feelings is not only degrading, but it helps to create rifts between individuals and nations. It also leads to bullying – a serious problem that can end not in laughter, but suicide.

Think back over some of the most embarrassing moments in your life. What was so distressing? One of a child’s greatest fears is to be laughed at or ridiculed, and this concern carries over into adult life. Many children and adults stop themselves from interacting with others, entering social situations, or standing up in front of audiences because they fear making fools of themselves or that people might laugh at them. Often with these people, a parent may have repeatedly embarrassed them in public when they were a child.

A 27 year old nurse Sandra was in a Gestalt Therapy group of mine. After many weeks I noticed that she had not participated at all. When I confronted her she said that she had three older brothers who constantly laughed at her and poked fun at everything she said and did. She grew up very self-conscious and became afraid to talk in public. This was very challenging in school and held her back in many social situations.

Another 33 year old physiotherapist named Monika was also in that same Gestalt Therapy group. She wanted to improve her ability to play with her 4 year old son. She felt extremely inhibited and she was unable to really play with him. She related the story that when she was growing up in Holland after the war her father was a very serious man. He suffered greatly during the War and believed life was not for fun. If Monika smiled or laughed he would send her to her room and sometimes even slapped her. She learned that it was not ok to have fun or play. This impacted on her ability to play with her son.

As part of the therapy she did an empty-chair technique that is used in psychodrama and gestalt. I had her imagine her father in an empty chair and had her talk to her imaginary father expressing all her anger and resentment that she had for him during her early years. She screamed and yelled and pounded the floor. After the session was over she felt different. She explained that she felt much lighter and freer and began to dance around the room. When she came back the next week she reported that for the first time in her life she was able to get down on the floor and play with her son.

Sometimes there are people in our life who put a damper on our humour or our ability to play and have fun.

A patient of mine who survived the Nazi death camps told me that his sense of humour is what helped him stay alive. No matter how terrible things were there was always a part of him that could see the humour or the absurdity of a situation. They could never take his smile away. As long as he could laugh he felt human. “Laughter is a way of “thumbing one’s nose at the inescapable and incomprehensible vagaries of existence and declaring ” … I choose to rise above this. I choose to meet life head on excited about the varied possibilities in each day…Laughter is freedom.”

You don’t have to be Carole Burnett or Jerry Seinfeld in order to bring humour into your life. The first thing that is necessary is a willingness to acknowledge how important laughter and play can be especially when we are sick. George Bernard Shaw said, “Life doesn’t cease being funny when people die, anymore than it ceases to be serious when people laugh.”

When people take anything too seriously they put blinders on, which cause them to miss the important aspects of what is going on around them. They develop “tunnel vision”, which limits and distorts their perception of reality. Tunnel vision can be disastrous for any leader. Historically, ‘jesters’ or ‘fools’ were valued by the Crown because they served criticism disguised as humour. Wit was often the only way a ruling monarch could listen to negative news, the consequences of his decrees, or hear the public’s reaction to his rule. The entertainment and mirth inspired by his jester’s witty comments made the often deflating, but important, lesson bearable. While a jester who went too far with his critique might be whipped or banished from court, a clever fool could earn the king’s special favour, even when delivering news that no one else would have dared to give. In 1340, Philippe VI’s jester was asked to bring the devastating news to the French king that the whole of his Royal fleet had been destroyed in a battle with the British. His jester said of the English sailors that they “don’t even have the guts to jump into the water like our brave French.”

Researchers interested in how humour affects learning found that the use of humour by teachers increased student attention; reduced test anxiety; improved critical thinking, literacy skills and concept learning; and promoted positive classroom climate. Humour stimulates learning. When something is learned with humour it is learned well.

Humour is not necessarily joke telling or comedy but it is a sense of delight and exuberance that life is funny. Alison Crane a nurse, who teaches how to bring laughter into health care settings, explains, “You don’t have to be a stand-up comic to get your patients to relax, but just have a cheerful, spirited approach and be willing to respond to their humour.”

Carl Simonton, author of “Getting Well Again”, said that play is essential for health, not elective. He found that play is one of the first things to go when patients get cancer. John F Kennedy wrote, “There are three things which are real, God, human folly and laughter. The first two are beyond comprehension. So we must do what we can with the third.” The pursuit of happiness is one of the basic precepts of the Declaration of Independence.

There is so much humour in our day-to-day life that when you begin to look at the frailty of the human condition, you can see the humour in all predicaments. Jeanne Robertson, comedienne and inspirational speaker for over 40 years, looks for the funny things that happen between her and her friends and family every day. Referring to her husband as LB, which is short for “Left Brain,” and tells hilariously funny stories that everyone can relate to because they’re based on the simple things of life, like shopping, camping, and traveling. In the midst of story-telling, Jeanne reminds the audience that we should accept what we can’t change, look for the funny side of things, and keep smiling.

Humour can be a way of raising consciousness and getting closer to each other. The comedian Danny Kaye used humour to communicate across all racial, religious and cultural communities. His cross-cultural humour didn’t need language because his humour was that of the human condition and it was understood across the world. Humour can be a way of raising consciousness and getting closer to each other, regardless of language barriers.

The comedian Danny Kaye used humour to communicate across all racial, religious, and cultural communities. His cross-cultural, slapstick style didn’t need language because his skits involved situations that are common to all people, and his humour was understood across the world. One scene I will never forget was filmed for the Danny Kaye Show in 1962. It earned so many laughs from fans that in 1976 NBC included it in their 50th anniversary special. In this particular skit, Danny took Lucille Ball to a Japanese Restaurant where they tried to act with their best, culturally sensitive manners. Without a word of dialogue, they played out one of the funniest scenes I have ever watched. Recently I found it on You Tube, and I enjoyed watching it as much today as I did in the sixties and seventies.

Frederich Froebel said,”Play is the highest expression of human development in childhood for it, alone, is the free expression of what’s in a child’s soul.” Remember, catch someone laughing and join in. You don’t have to be happy to laugh, you are happy because you laugh. What happens to a duck who flies upside down? He’s apt to quack up. Laugh and the world laughs with you. Always remember that a smile is your umbrella. It’s sugar-free, fat-free, salt-free, and tax-free! When you look in the mirror, if you think you need a facelift, try smiling. Suddenly you will look ten years younger. Your smile is available 24-7, and you don’t need a prescription. There’s no assembly required, and you don’t need to buy batteries. Smiles are environmentally friendly, and best of all, they are contagious!

He who laughs, lasts.

 
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DR. MEL BORINS’ LAUGH PRESCRIPTION

1. Never make irreversible negative statements about your ability to be funny.
2. Learn one new joke a day, write it down and practice telling it.
3. Take a two week break from sadness, violence and fear. Read, listen and watch only funny books, movies & T.V. shows.
4. If you find someone laughing and it’s not putting someone else down or downgrading, join in and laugh.
5. Wear a funny article of clothing for tense days.
6. Have a joke area in your home with favourite funny books, tapes, videos, joke collection, funny sayings, etc.
7. Create joy in the workplace – joke contest, theme day, silly dress-up, bulletin board of jokes.
8. When you are sick that’s the time to start paying attention to laughter and play. A smile is your umbrella. It’s sugar-free, fat-free, salt-free, and tax-free! It’s available 24-7 and you don’t need a prescription! There’s no assembly required and you don’t need batteries! It’s environmentally friendly, and best of all, it’s socially contagious!”
9. Stop telling everyone to stop being so silly. Be silly too
10. Laugh for no reason daily.

No substitution
Repeat p .r. n.
MEL BORINS M.D.

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