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Laughter is a great thing -- that's why we've all heard the saying, "Laughter is the best medicine." There is strong evidence that laughter can actually improve health and help fight disease. Our brains can make us healthier and happier through laughter

Diss-claimer,,,There are straight and not so straight jokes and videos here... To be honest we dont give a damm if your offended, if you are, its possible that a narrow minded outlook has caused you problems, if you are easily offended please go here

Sit back let go and laugh at life,its been Scientifically proven to help

Not Suitable for children,although its all available on youtube

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Patients, doctors and health-care professionals are all finding that laughter may indeed be the best medicine.

Laughing is found to lower blood pressure, reduce stress hormones, increase muscle flexion, and boost immune function by raising levels of infection-fighting T-cells, disease-fighting proteins called Gamma-interferon and B-cells, which produce disease-destroying antibodies. Laughter also triggers the release of endorphins, the body's natural painkillers, and produces a general sense of well-being.

The emotions and moods we experience directly effect our immune system. A sense of humor allows us to perceive and appreciate the incongruities of life and provides moments of joy and delight. These positive emotions can create neurochemical changes that will buffer the immunosuppressive effects of diseases and stress.

WASHINGTON - Laughter may be the best medicine, but even looking forward to having a good laugh can boost your immune system and reduce stress, according to US researchers at the University of California-Irvine.

"This stuff is real,” said Lee Berk, an assistant professor of family medicine and researcher in complementary and alternative medicine, who led the study.

Berk went on to say...

"This study shows that even knowing you will be involved in a positive humorous event days in advance reduces levels of stress hormones in the blood and increases levels of chemicals known to aid relaxation."

His team tested 16 men who all agreed they thought a certain videotape was funny. Half of them were told 3 days in advance they would watch it.

Anticipation is half, or two-thirds, the fun...

Just anticipating a happy, funny event can raise levels of endorphins and other pleasure and relaxation-inducing hormones, and lower production of stress hormones. Those who knew in advance they would see the video started experiencing biological changes right away. These findings were reported by Berk at a meeting of the Society for Neuroscience in Orlando, Florida.

The Prostate

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Pretty Incredible Findings...

When the men watched the video, levels of cortisol, a stress hormone, fell 39%. Epinephrine, also known as adrenaline, fell 70%, while levels of the feel-good hormone endorphin rose 27% and growth hormone levels climbed 87%.

"Growth hormone is very beneficial to the immune system,” Berk said. This all suggests that anticipation of a funny event can lower stress and stimulate the immune system, Berk further explained.

Watching a funny video, or just laughing at a joke, could make healthful changes in the levels of hormones involved in stress and lower blood pressure. In 2000, a team at the University of Maryland reported that people who stated that they used humor more often were less likely to have had heart attacks.

from Looking forward to a laugh? Good for you... by MAGGIE FOX, Reuters, Nov. 06, 2002

At some point following their diagnosis of cancer, many cancer patients find themselves thinking, "How will I deal with the pain?" The last coping resource they consider is their sense of humor. And yet there are many stories , along with a growing body of scientific research, showing that humor and laughter can play a significant role in reducing pain.

The idea that laughter has analgesic properties is not new. Dr. James Walsh, an American physician, noted in his 1928 book, Laughter and Health, that laughter appeared to reduce the level of pain experienced following surgery. This observation then disappeared from the medical literature until the publication of Norman Cousins' 1979 book, Anatomy of an Illness.

Cousins was suffering from ankylosing spondylitis, a degenerative spinal disease which left him in almost constant pain. With the consent of his doctors, he checked himself out of the hospital and into a hotel across the street. He invited friends over and watched a lot of comedy films--and laughed a lot! He discovered that as little as 10 minutes of laughter would give him 2 hours of pain-free sleep.

In a study of 35 patients in a rehabilitation hospital, 74% agreed with the statement, "Sometimes laughing works as well as a pain pill." These patients had a broad range of conditions, such as spinal cord injury, traumatic brain injury, arthritis, limb amputations, and other neurological or musculoskeletal disorders.

Structures in the brain's limbic system, which controls many
essential human behaviors, also contribute to the production of laughter.

There are few sources of stress in life greater than the words, "You have cancer." And we have known for decades that any kind of stress--especially chronic stress that's there day after day--has a suppressive effect on the immune system. You are more vulnerable to becoming ill when constantly stressed precisely because your immune system is not operating as well is it normally would--if you were under less stress or were coping with it more effectively.

Your sense of humor provides a powerful antidote to immunosuppressive effects of stress in two ways: through 1) direct effects of humor and laughter upon the immune system, and 2) indirect effects resulting from humor's ability to help you cope on the tough days.

Any Ex hippies still into Hendrix and pink floyd

The art of medicine consists of keeping the patient amused
while nature heals the disease."
-Voltaire

Joy, of course, is the emotion we experience during humor and laughter. So these findings are also consistent with the findings discussed in an earlier Humor Your Tumor article (see the April, 1998 column) showing that watching a humorous video increases the number of, and activity of, natural killer cells.

There have always been doctors who have emphasized the importance of a "will to live" in fighting serious diseases. Most recently, this banner has been carried nobly by Dr. Bernie Siegel. He emphasizes the importance of hope, determination, optimism and a "fighting spirit" among patients who are battling cancer
Evidence of the importance of a fighting spirit was obtained in another study of cancer survivors. Cancer patients with a fighting spirit were most likely to be long-term survivors, and have no relapses. Short-term survivors were more likely to show a "stoic, stiff upper lip attitude," and to continue their lives either as if nothing were different, or with a sense of helplessness or hopelessness.

Several studies have shown that a positive attitude or emotional state can boost your chances of surviving cancer. In one study, among patients with metastatic (spreading) cancers, those who expressed greater hope at the time of their diagnosis survived longer. In another study, over 400 reports of spontaneous remission of cancer were reviewed and analyzed. The patients themselves attributed their cure to a broad range of causes, but only one factor was common to all the cases--a shift toward greater hope and a positive attitude.

One clinician traced unexpected tumor shrinkage to favorable changes in the psychosocial situation of the patient. Examples of such changes include "a sudden fortunate marriage; the experience of having one's entire order of clergy engage in an intercessory prayer; sudden, lasting reconciliation with a long-hated mother; unexpected and enthusiastic praise and encouragement from an expert in one's field; and the fortunate death of a decompensated alcoholic and addicted husband who stood in the way of a satisfying career."

The late Norman Cousins described a national survey of oncologists (completed during his stay at the UCLA Medical School) in his last book, Head First: The Biology of Hope. Of the 649 who offered their opinions on the importance of various psychological factors in fighting cancer, "More than 90% of the physicians said they attached the highest value to the attitudes of hope and optimism."

If all the medicine in the world were thrown into the sea, it would be bad for the fish and good for humanity.
O.W. Holmes (Professor of Medicine, Harvard University)

Research has looked at both humoral (immunoglobulins) and cellular immunity. In the case of the former, most of the studies have focused on immunoglobulin A (IgA). IgA resides in the mucosal areas and helps protect you against upper respiratory infections. Seven studies have shown significant increases in concentrations of IgA in response to comedy programs designed to produce a lot of laughter.

While many different investigators have completed the IgA research, Lee Berk and his associates at the School of Medicine at Loma Linda University has obtained similar findings for many additional components of the immune system.

Mirthful laughter also increases levels of IgM and IgG. IgM antibodies are the first to arrive at a location within the body as a part of the humoral immune response. After IgM does its initial work, IgG takes over. It is IgG antibodies that are produced in the greatest amount in the body, and that are responsible for long-term immunity. When you are immunized, for example, it is the IgG antibodies that are tested to see if the procedure was successful.

Laughter also increases levels of Complement 3, a part of your immune system that helps antibodies pierce through defective or infected cells in order to destroy them.

With respect to cellular immunity, watching a one-hour comedy video has been found to produce 1) increased number of B cells, 2) increased number of, and activation of, T cells, 3) increased number of Helper T cells (the cells attacked by the AIDS virus), 4) increased ratio of Helper/Suppressor T cells, 5) increased number of, and activity of, Natural Killer (NK) cells, and 6) increased levels of Gamma Interferon.

The increased number of B cells is not surprising, given the increased levels of IgA, IgG, and IgM, since B cells are responsible for making all the immunoglobulins.

Incontinence Knickers

The findings for NK cells and Gamma Interferon are especially important for cancer patients. NK cells are designed to seek out and destroy tumor (cancer) cells (they also destroy virally infected cells, even with no prior exposure). Gamma Interferon plays an important role in the activation of NK cells. It also contributes to the growth of cytotoxic T cells and the maturation of B cells. It is best thought of as a kind of orchestra leader that regulates the level of cooperation between cells in the immune system, and tells different components of the immune system when to turn on and off.

There is something about humor and laughter, then, that causes the immune system to "turn on" metabolically and do more effectively what it is designed to do. This is one reason there is no so much interest in the therapeutic benefits of humor in oncology centers across the country. It's also responsible for the increased interest in having speakers on the health and coping benefits of humor for National Cancer Survivors Day Celebrations for those who are living with cancer.
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much love and healing
Barry and Lynne