Is Laughter Good for Our Health?

Photo Credit:http://www.ucmh.org

'In 1964, editor Norman Cousins was diagnosed with the degenerative disease ankylosing spondylitis, which was associated with constant pain and poor prognosis. Since Cousins believed that stress had contributed to his illness, he reasoned that positive emotions could improve it. 

He began watching funny television shows or movies, and asserted that 10 minutes of belly laughter resulted in 2 hours of pain free sleep that was not achievable with morphine. His subsequent recovery was chronicled in his popular book, Anatomy of an Illness as Perceived by the Patient, which became a made-for-TV movie in 1984 that starred Ed Asner.'

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