The popular belief is that humor and humor may have a significant effect on our physical health is gaining popularity and scientists have been trying to web together theories that try to explain this. Some advocators of these theories have been trying to advocate for the use of therapeutic humor in the treatment of illnesses which includes the use of clowns and comedians to make patients laugh. Studies have also shown that it takes more muscles to frown than to smile then meaning people who frown all the time get more wrinkles on their face earlier than those who smile more. Stress which also compromises our health is also associated more with people who do not laugh occasionally. Support for the stress-moderating hypothesis is also increasing (Martin & Dobbin, 1988): individuals with higher scores on a sense of humor test were less likely than individuals with a lower score to show stress-related decrease in immunoglobulin over 1 ½ months.
A case study relating stress to immunity (Barthrop, 1977) involved a group of men who had lost their wives in a two month period who were not necessarily of the same age, race or same economic class. This was particularly important because the economic class can determine the happiness in a person even if it takes an indirect route. This means that a supervisor is likely to be happier than his juniors and the directors happier than the supervisors since they do not take commands all the time. It was then clinically observed that these men had a lower count of lymphocytes than the normal population of men. it also showed that sadness increased the chances of suffering from psychomatic diseases by lowering the body defense mechanisms. Psychomatic diseases are caused by psychological problems but are manifested organically. These diseases vary from muscular, dermatological, respiratory, genital, endocrinal, and nervous to ophthalmic diseases for example conjunctivitis. Almost all organs are then prone to be affected by our mood or emotions positively, negatively and both directly or indirectly.
There are several aspects suggesting the implication of humor to well being. First laughter can produce psychological changes in the various systems of our bodies. Vigorous laughter improves respiration, increase the production of endorphins that help in reducing pain in our bodies, decreases the production of stress related hormones, relaxes muscles and most importantly enhances immunity. The theoretical model shows that hearty laughter is important in the humor health connection while humorous perception and amusement with fundamental mechanisms can be correctly noted and useful interventions devised to offset their effects.
Humor immunity has shown that humor, laughter and stress are interlinked and determine the count of lymphocytes which provide protection against bacteria by neutralizing toxins produced b them and protecting viral infection. Humor immunity is mediated by B lymphocytes which give us immunity by the production of antibodies. When B cells are activated they differentiate in two types: mature, antibody, secreting plasma cells and (ii) resting non-dividing memory B cells which differentiate into antigen-specific plasma cells only re-exposed to the same antigens. The plasma cells then proceed to create antibodies or immunoglobulins which are the basis of the antigen-specific reaction.
Experiments to relate humor to health have been carried out involving various components of the immune system particularly blood and saliva. Many of these researches have examined only the salivary immunoglobulin A (S-IgA), a component in saliva involved in defense against upper respiratory infections. Studies involving blood on the other hand have shown a wide variety if hormones, several kinds of white blood cells, and other components of the immune system.
Some studies have however objected the pain tolerance idea as a result to laughter their studies have examined potential analgesic/ numbing effects of laughter by test-tional states, which may potentially be beneficial to health by increasing pain tolerance, enhancing immunity and undoing the cardiovascular consequences of negative emotions (Fredrickson, 2000). His theory shows that laughter and humor play a less unique role in health improvement and only help in increasing positive emotions along with love, joy optimism e.t.c. He continues that overt laughter is not necessarily important as humor and amusement can create a good mood without any laughter. Humor can also benefit health indirectly by reducing the likelihood and effects of stress. It is on the other side hard to directly link the effects of stress to stress as a solo cause unless in several situations, stress sometimes then acts as the contributing factor. Stress can then be the aggravating force causing disease in a person who has propensity towards it. Confusing?
Besides the critics other theories suggest that happy people might be less likely to get infected with disease since they are less concerned about health risks than less cheerful individuals were, and taking less care of themselves. Laughter has positively been identified with increases in blood pressure and increased heart rate in the short term especially in men though differences might be as a result of difference in ways that women and men express humor and hence parents suffering in low blood pressure can find ways of being happy as a recipe to quicker recovery.
It is however important to note that health benefits of humor are increased by social support hence cultures that support community living are less likely to suffer from stress related complexities as individualistic communities would. In conclusion the following are some of activities we can be involved in to keep a smile in our faces: physical exercise, good sleep, a balanced diet rich in color variation to increase appetite, drinking a lot of water, socializing, drinking alcohol responsibly, planning your time carefully to avoid rushing going to church among and anything that is fun and especially legal since police are less likely to be fun
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