A NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) occupational health program called Enlightened Employee Health featured the following: Due to the involuntary simultaneous contraction of 15 facial muscles, the upper lip is raised, partially uncovering the teeth and effecting a downward curving of the furrows that extend from the wings of both nostrils to the corners of the mouth. This produces a puffing out of the cheeks on the outer side of the furrows. Creases also occur under the eyes and may become permanent at the side edges of the eye. The eyes undergo reflex lacrimation and vascualr engorgement. At the same time, an abrupt strong expiration of air is followed by spasmodic contractions of the chest and diaphragm resulting in a series of expiration-inspiration microcycles with interval pauses. The whole body may be thrown backward, shaken or convulsed due to other spasmodic skeletal muscle contractions. We call this condition laughter. Of all human expressive behaviors, laughter has proven a most fascinating enigma to philosophers and scientists alike. Its physiology, neurology and anthropological origins and purpose are only partially defined. But its effects and uses are becoming increasingly apparent to health care professionals. Laughter is considered to be an innate human response which develops during the first few weeks of life. Evidence of the innate quality of laughter is seen in its occurrence in deaf and blind infants and children who are completely without visual or auditory clues from their environment. Darwin propounded in his Principle of Antithesis that laughter develops as the infant’s powerful reward signal of comfort and well-being to the nurturing adult. In other words, a child’s laughter can let an adult know if the child is content. This signal is totally antithetical perceptually to the screams or cries of distress associated with discomfort. Laughter seems to play an important role in the promotion of social unity, production of a sense of well-being, communication of well-being, and as a mechanism for coping with stressful situations. Physiologically, both reflective (tickleresponse) and heart-felt (mental response) laughter effect changes to the human system which may be significant in the treatment and prevention of illness. These include laughter’s association with an increase in pulse rate, probably due to increased levels of circulatory catecholamines (blood catecholamine levels vary directly with the intensity of laughter). There is an increase in respiration. There is a decrease in blood CO2 levles. There is a possible increase in secretion of brain pituitary endorphins – the body’s natural anaesthetics which relieve pain, inhibit emotional response to pain, and thus reduce suffering. There is a decrease in red blood cell sedimentation rate (“sed rate” is associated with the body’s level of infection or inflammation). The possibility exists that laughter and other salutary emotions have a placebo effect upon the body. This in no way minimizes the therapeutic potential for these emotions. Hippocrates propounded that the mind and body are one. It may be possible that there is a physical chemistry associated with the will to live. Further investigation of the effects of positive emotions upon health and well being may give us the keys to unlocking the power of the life force. Immanuel Kant, in his Critique of Pure Reason, wrote that laughter is the physician of the body. Echoing Kant’s thesis nearly two centuries later, Norman Cousins, author, senior lecturer at the UCLA School of Medicine and editor of Saturday Review, has become the modern day patron saint of self-potentiation through the healing power of laughter.
A NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) occupational health program called Enlightened Employee Health featured the following:
Due to the involuntary simultaneous contraction of 15 facial muscles, the upper lip is raised, partially uncovering the teeth and effecting a downward curving of the furrows that extend from the wings of both nostrils to the corners of the mouth. This produces a puffing out of the cheeks on the outer side of the furrows. Creases also occur under the eyes and may become permanent at the side edges of the eye. The eyes undergo reflex lacrimation and vascualr engorgement. At the same time, an abrupt strong expiration of air is followed by spasmodic contractions of the chest and diaphragm resulting in a series of expiration-inspiration microcycles with interval pauses. The whole body may be thrown backward, shaken or convulsed due to other spasmodic skeletal muscle contractions. We call this condition laughter.
Of all human expressive behaviors, laughter has proven a most fascinating enigma to philosophers and scientists alike. Its physiology, neurology and anthropological origins and purpose are only partially defined. But its effects and uses are becoming increasingly apparent to health care professionals.
Laughter is considered to be an innate human response which develops during the first few weeks of life. Evidence of the innate quality of laughter is seen in its occurrence in deaf and blind infants and children who are completely without visual or auditory clues from their environment. Darwin propounded in his Principle of Antithesis that laughter develops as the infant’s powerful reward signal of comfort and well-being to the nurturing adult. In other words, a child’s laughter can let an adult know if the child is content. This signal is totally antithetical perceptually to the screams or cries of distress associated with discomfort. Laughter seems to play an important role in the promotion of social unity, production of a sense of well-being, communication of well-being, and as a mechanism for coping with stressful situations. Physiologically, both reflective (tickleresponse) and heart-felt (mental response) laughter effect changes to the human system which may be significant in the treatment and prevention of illness. These include laughter’s association with an increase in pulse rate, probably due to increased levels of circulatory catecholamines (blood catecholamine levels vary directly with the intensity of laughter). There is an increase in respiration. There is a decrease in blood CO2 levles.
There is a possible increase in secretion of brain pituitary endorphins – the body’s natural anaesthetics which relieve pain, inhibit emotional response to pain, and thus reduce suffering. There is a decrease in red blood cell sedimentation rate (“sed rate” is associated with the body’s level of infection or inflammation).
The possibility exists that laughter and other salutary emotions have a placebo effect upon the body. This in no way minimizes the therapeutic potential for these emotions. Hippocrates propounded that the mind and body are one. It may be possible that there is a physical chemistry associated with the will to live. Further investigation of the effects of positive emotions upon health and well being may give us the keys to unlocking the power of the life force.
Immanuel Kant, in his Critique of Pure Reason, wrote that laughter is the physician of the body. Echoing Kant’s thesis nearly two centuries later, Norman Cousins, author, senior lecturer at the UCLA School of Medicine and editor of Saturday Review, has become the modern day patron saint of self-potentiation through the healing power of laughter.
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