The Healing Power of Humour

 Laughter is the best medicine

I always try and bring humour to therapy when appropriate, and bringing laughs to my friends and family is one of my joys in life. Reflecting on that this week has sent me on a bit of a deep dive on the history of humans and humour. It wasn't a big shock that I soon saw that humour has always been a part of the human experience. One of the most interesting things I learned in this deep dive was that the world’s oldest known joke is from ancient Sumer, dating back nearly 4000 years. It makes sense to me that ancient peoples no doubt knew the benefits of happiness and humour. Indeed, the phrase ‘laughter is the best medicine’ dates back to the Old Testament, making it over 2000 years old!

The most radical act anyone can commit is to be happy – Dr. Hunter ‘Patch’ Adams

Over the last 40 years, the field of psychoneuroimmunology has grown and showed the connections between the mind and the body. This revolutionary research is also exploring how training the mind may lead to positive effects on the body. One way in which research is showing how the mind can affect the body is with humour.

You may not be able to change a situation, but with humour, you can change your attitude about it. – Allen Klein

Humour and Health

I have been lucky to get to know some amazing practitioners over the last twenty years of my career that all bring a lot of humour to their practices. Evidence is growing that shows how even the simple act of laughing can cause the brain to produce beneficial chemicals that can help the heart work better, boost the immune system, increase energy, and lower stress levels. It makes me happy to see that this is now beginning to be recognized by health care ministries across Canada. What all of this means is that developing ways to be happy, and finding more things to laugh about, may have tremendous positive effects on overall health.

Some ways that are being suggested to bring more laughter into your life include:

· Ask others, such as a spouse, partner, or friends, to help by telling you jokes or bringing you funny movies.

· Laugh and be silly with a child. Children are often the world experts on laughter.

· Find more time to surround yourself with people and things that make you laugh-whoever or whatever they may be.

· Ask at your local library or bookstore for funny books, audio programs, podcasts or movies.

The most radical act anyone can commit is to be happy. ― Patch Adams

Humour as Therapy and Activism

Did you know that laughter and humour can be also be activism? One of the leading experts of bringing humour into medicine, Dr Hunter ‘Patch’ Adams, believes that humour, activism, and medicine all go arm in arm. Since 1985, Patch has taken groups of medical staff to war zones, refugee camps, and areas of natural disaster, to practice free medicine and to clown, bringing smiles and laughter to people going through the worst experiences. Doctors, nurses, and mental health practitioners have all travelled from around the world to learn alongside Patch about how to bring humour, laughter, and radical kindness back to medicine.

Humour therapy can be thought of as therapy that uses the power of smiles and laughter to encourage healing. A practitioner using humour therapy helps the client to discover ways to smile and laugh more. Many people picture clowns making sick children laugh in hospital rooms when they think of humour therapy. One of the best features of this therapy is the fact that it carries low risk. Humour therapy is completely safe, inexpensive and often free, and readily available in a variety of ways to suit the individual who wishes to try it.

Nothing is a miracle cure, but I think that with how low risk this kind of thing is, it's always worth a shot. If you spend an hour laughing with friends or family, or even by yourself watching a funny movie, it may not change your life, but at least it might offer a brief respite and some laughter or smiles to your day.