Only 15 Days ‘Til Christmas
Ho!Ho! Ho! Santa may know something that would help many Americans. Something that the Good Book mentioned thousands of years ago, “A merry heart doeth good like a medicine…”
Americans love to have fun. We play baseball, soccer, basketball; go to ballets, concerts, comedy shows, et cetera, et cetera, all to be entertained. We may be entertained but still be depressed. Two questions we really need to ask ourselves are, “Did I actually laugh?” and “How hard did I laugh?”
We tend to think laughter is a by-product of having fun, an enjoyable, nice thing to do. The truth of the matter is that laughter is not a luxury, it is an essential.
Norman Cousins, the former editor of The Saturday Review, and author of Anatomy of An Illness, brought the attention of the world to the essential truth of the mind-body connection.
In 1964, Cousins returned from a trip abroad in much pain. He was diagnosed with a degenerative disease of the connective tissue. Cousins tried medication, to which he suffered adverse reactions. He then remembered things that he had heard about Vitamin C and the power of positive emotions. So he decided to take things into his own hands. Cousins checked out of the hospital and into a hotel. He discontinued his medications except for an intravenous injection of vitamin C, arranged to watch movies conducive to laughter, such as Laurel and Hardy, and read funny books. Eventually, his symptoms went away. His findings revolutionized the way the medical community perceived humanity.
The Herald Newspapers are dedicated to the betterment of our community. The staff here was asked to name a few things that had caused them to “belly-laugh”. Some of them were James Herriot’s animal books, such as All Creatures Great and Small; old movies such as A Shot In the Dark with the Pink Panther, and The Party have made us roll on the floor holding our sides.
Whatever the event that makes you laugh, laughter helps us with our health and happiness throughout life.

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