Watching Funny Shows Helps Children Tolerate Pain for Longer Periods.
Newswise, October 19, 2007
Watching comedy shows helped children tolerate pain for longer periods of time, suggesting that humorous distraction could be used in clinical settings to help children and adolescents better handle painful procedures, according to a study which teamed UCLA’s Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center with the nonprofit organization Rx Laughter.
www.newswise.com
Therapeutic Humor: Value of Humor to Health Care Professionals and Patients.
www.suite101.com August 13, 2007
How humor affects health care surroundings.
http://generalmedicine.suite101.com/article.cfm/therapeutic_humor
Managing Your Moods Can Benefit Your Health
March 27, 2007
Humor/laughter: Release of tension; lowered blood pressure, heart rate and respiration rate; elevated immune response; improved pain tolerance; increased levels of endorphins resulting in improved mood.
www.newswise.com
Sense of humor and survival among a county cohort of patients with end-stage renal failure: a two-year prospective study
CONCLUSIONS: Sense of humor appeared to mediate better coping and, therefore, protected against detrimental effects of disease-related stressors upon survival. Svebak S, Kristoffersen B, Aasard K, Int J Psychiatry Med 2006, 36:269-81
Humor and Laughter may Influence Health. I. History and Background.
By Mary Payne Bennett and Cecile A. Lengacher, originally published online on January 16, 2006 Oxford Journals
Current research indicates that using humor is well accepted by the public and is frequently used as a coping mechanism. However, the scientific evidence of the benefits of using humor on various health related outcomes still leaves many questions unanswered.
http://ecam.oxfordjournals.org
Humor and Laughter may Influence Health: Laughter and Health Outcomes.
By Mary Payne Bennett and Cecile Lengaucher.
Given these limitations, we have outlined what is known about the physiological effects of laughter.
eCam 2007; Page 1-4, doi:10,1093/ecam/nem041
http://ecam.oxfordjournals.org
Laughter improves breast milk's health effect
June 18, 2007 NewScientist.com
Breastfed babies with eczema experienced milder symptoms if their mothers laughed hours before feeding them, according to a study by Hajime Kimata at the Moriguchi-Keijinkai Hospital in Osaka, Japan.
www.newscientist.com
It's no laughing matter why we laugh
By John Tierney, International Herald Tribune. March 14, 2007
Researchers have scanned brains and tickled babies, chimpanzees and rats. They've traced the evolution of laughter back to what looks like the primal joke.
www.iht.com
What's So Funny? Well, Maybe Nothing
By John Tierney, The New York Times. March 13, 2007
Primal laughter evolved as a signaling device to highlight readiness for friendly interaction, Professor Panksepp says. Sophisticated social animals such as mammals need an emotionally positive mechanism to help create social brains and to weave organisms effectively into the social fabric.
www.nytimes.com
Your Health: Hefty Doses Of Humor And Hearty Laughter Offer Measureable Health Benefits
By Rallile McAllilster, M.D., M.P.H., June 16, 2007 Health & Fitness
Scientists aren't entirely sure why a sense of humor seems to benefit cardiovascular health, but some speculate that it could be because laughter stimulates the production of nitric oxide. In the body, nitric oxide helps dilate arteries and lower blood pressure, improving blood flow in and around the heart.
www.arcamax.com
A Good Sense of Humor Is Healthy
By Michael Byrd, June 21, 2007 Healthhacker
In a study of over 1,000 heart patients, Dr. Jiang discovered patients with mild depression had nearly twice the risk of death by heart failure than those with a more cheerful disposition.
www.healthacker.com/ |