WE HAVE ALL HEARD the phrase “laughter is the best medicine” so many times that we barely give it a second thought. But is it really true? The best medicine? Well, perhaps not, but there is no doubt—and a good amount of research to prove—that a positive attitude and a good sense of humor can go a very long way toward making you feel better, no matter how challenging your health concerns.
The concept of humor benefiting health is certainly not new. In The Taming of the Shrew, William Shakespeare wrote, “And frame your mind to mirth and merriment, which bars a thousand harms and lengthens life.” And from Proverbs 17:22 we get “A merry heart does good like a medicine, but a broken spirit dries the bones.”
Dr. Lee Berk and Dr. Stanley Tan of Loma Linda University have been studying the effects of laughter, and their results are only surprising in the vast quantity of proven health benefits. Drs. Berk and Tan’s studies showed that laughing decreases blood pressure, lessens stress hormones, and increases muscle flexion and immune function by increasing levels of infection-fighting T cells, disease-fighting proteins called gamma-interferon, and B cells, which produce disease-destroying antibodies. Laughing also generates the release of endorphins, the body’s natural painkillers, and creates an overall feeling of happiness.
Medical personnel have long known that patients who sustain a positive mental attitude and enjoy laughter respond better to treatment. Laughing promotes such physiologic responses as increased respiration, circulation, hormonal and digestive enzyme secretion, and a leveling of the blood pressure. Further, most people feel an overall sense of exhilaration after hearty laughter. But until the New England Journal of Medicine published the Norman Cousins case study in 1979, few professionals ever considered the healing applications of humor.
In 1964 Norman Cousins published Anatomy of an Illness, essentially the first documented case of humor positively affecting disease. Medical professionals were shown for the first time that humor could biologically reverse a painful disease. Cousins had been suffering from ankylosing spondylitis, causing the disintegration of the spinal connective tissue. Given a 1 in 500 chance of recovery, Cousins decided to treat himself with humor. With his self-designed humor therapy, Cousins discovered that 15 minutes of vigorous laughter could produce 2 hours of pain-free sleep. Blood samples also showed a decrease in his inflammation level after the humor treatments, and eventually Cousins enjoyed a full recovery.
Dialysis patient Peter Quaife knows well how laughter can improve one’s medical condition, and since the release of his cartoon book The Lighter Side of Dialysis, so do thousands of others. Quaife was diagnosed with kidney failure in 1998 and began drawing dialysis cartoons as a way to pass the time at the clinic. “It was really just something to do because I got bored with doing crossword puzzles and watching TV all the time,” says Quaife. At first the cartoons depicting the trials and tribulations to which all dialysis patients and staff can relate were done purely for his own amusement. But after one of Quaife’s nurses saw what he was doing, she urged him to let others in the dialysis world enjoy his unique take on the process. The nurse felt it would be beneficial not only to amuse them but also to help them better deal with their situation as well. Since the book’s release, Quaife regularly hears from other patients and professionals thanking him for his work. “It’s been just fantastic,” he says of the reaction. “People just love it. Patients, staff, family members—everyone!”
Quaife, 63 years old, has been sharing his artistic talents with the world for a long time. Although he is not necessarily a household name, you have likely heard his work before. When he was 19 years old, he and three friends from a suburb in North London, England, formed the rock and roll group known as the Kinks. Surpassed only by the Beatles and The Rolling Stones in popularity, the Kinks scored a string of top 10 hits in the 1960s, including “You Really Got Me,” “All Day and All of the Night,” “Sunny Afternoon,” and “Lola.”
The Lighter Side of Dialysis has been a huge hit with the dialysis community in Canada where Quaife now resides and has recently started to generate some reaction in the United States and other countries as well. “I like to look on the bright side of things,” he says of his cartoons. “You take the hand you’re dealt and you make the best of it. It’s really up to you. Humor has always helped me deal with my situation, and if my book is now helping others with theirs, then it’s just a double blessing, isn’t it?”
The Lighter Side of Dialysis Volume 1 can be purchased online by visiting www.lightersideofdialysis.com or by calling 1-866-239-3279.
David Jackson is a freelance writer based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
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