European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - April 19, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                To your health laugh your ills away Byjah Debrody new York to mama merry heart Doole Good like a Medicine in says in proverbs 1722. Similarly. Reader s digest reminds us monthly laughter is the Best  can these popular sources of Wisdom be wrong not Al All say a growing number o physicians _ nurses psychologists and Palionis who have used Ihra uniquely human expression at mirth to reduce stress Case pain Rosier recovery and generally brighten one s Outlook on we regardless of How grim the reality. Then interest in the therapeutic potential of laughter was largely triggered by the Well publicized recovery of the editor Norman cousins from a usually progressive cup pig spinal disease called ankylosing spondylitis. His return to health was facilitated he said by sell prescribed daily doses of humor. Several hospitals and nursing Homes around the country have recently begun to Send around laughter wagons locked with Ofee books humorous tapes Loys games and other gimmicks Likely to amuse patients. A few hospitals have set up humor rooms where patients and their families can join staff members Lor a nearly laugh stimulated by sunny videos joke telling and live performances sometimes by the patients themselves the nuns at St. Joseph s Hospital in Houston Are required to Letl each patient a funny Story every Day. At Oregon health sciences University members of a local group known As nurses for laughter Wear buttons that read warning humor May be hazardous to your  and growing numbers of cancer patients Are participating in laughter therapy groups thai help ease the Burden of the disease and possibly Foster Foco very. While it is had to find health professionals who Are against laughter Al least As an adjunct to Modem Modica Caie. In is also hard to find scientific evidence Lor its Ihei Apeuli value anecdotes abound along the lines of cousins remarkable recovery alter doses of Laurel and Haidy. The Mam Brothers and old candid camera clips. As cousins reported in his Besl Seiling Book Anatomy Otan illness just 20 minutes of Hearty laughing bought him iwo hours of painless sleep with no unwanted Sida effects. Medical tests showed that alter each laugh session his crippling inflammation subsided a mile More he likened laughing s physiological and psychological elects to internal  a kind of sedentary aerobic exorcise. Indeed or. William f. Fry a psychiatrist affiliated with Stanford University who has Beena student of laughter for three decades said that laughing a Hundred times a Day is equivalent to about 10 minutes of rowing. He reports that laughter stimulates the production of alertness hormones rated  hormones in Lurn trigger the release of endorphins in the brain endorphins which have been likened to nature s valium Losera sense of relaxation and Well being and Duff the perception of pain. Caleco amines also enhance blood How and Ihus May Speed Healing reduce inflammation end stimulate alertness. There is also some preliminary evidence that laughter enhances the immune response by reducing hormones that suppress immunity. As of. Marvin e. Herring b family practitioner at new Jersey s school of Osle Opalic Mercine Puls in the diaphragm. Thorax Abdomen heart lungs and even the liver Are Given b Massage during a Hearty laugh Moil obvious however Are laughter s Ell Els on cardiovascular and respiratory functions. When you laugh hard your Normal breathing rhythm is disrupted. Inhalation and expiration become More spasmodic As Well As deeper. Your heart rate blood pressure and muscular tension increase but when your laughter subsides these Levels often drop temporarily id below Normal leaving you very relaxed. Hence the expression weak with laughter to describe someone who has Juat laughed hard and Long. This sense of deep relaxation generally lasts Lor about 45 minutes alter the last laugh and May be beneficial in countering heart disease High blood pressure and depression. Given these benefits proponents of laughter therapy jokingly Call it hoho holistic Medicine few students of laughter would suggest relying on in to the exclusion of traditional Medicine. Similarly Lew traditional therapists would spurn the contribution of laughter. How Hen can laughter be put to work As a healer instead of Flowers consider sending the patient a funny novel a Book of jokes a silly toy a humorous audio tape and portable recorder or if a video recorder is available a Lunny movie. Brighten the sick room with mobiles homemade silly sculptures comical photos and get Well cards. Place a poster of a Scenic View on the window or Wall and change it often. Keep on the Lookout for humorous happenings and statements that you can Ted the patient about. Arrive at the bedside with a funny Story instead of a complaint about the terrible traffic or the parking problem. Seek out caretakers with a sense of humor. Dianne to Moore writing in Ai Plua. A Magazine Lor the arthritis foundation tells of her 69-year-old Mother s prep Cralise experience. When the orderly arrived to us  Ward take me tense anxious woman to the operating room he announced Wilh a nod Loward the Stretcher i have my limousine just outside your door and i m Here to give you curbside  her Molher s tension indeed the whole family a dissolved in the warmth of his humor. Consider organizing a local scout group school or senior citizens group to prepare riddles of Okes that can be placed on patients breakfast trays. Or Challenge patients to come up with humorous captions Lor Cattown drawings. Help yourself from choking United press International or. Henry j. He much reminds the Public that choking victims can perform Hla famous Man Euver on themselves. Heimlich was prompted to Point this out in a letter in the new England journal of Medicine after an article in tha publication stated the Heimlich Man Euver was unavailable to a choking victim who a unattended or  i lint described the self application of.,. Abdominal pressure in 1975, Afler receiving Case reports of persons having saved themselves from choking by pressing their fills Inlo their own Abdomens or bending Over a chair or sink wrote Heimlich. Heimlich noted that in 1986 the american heart association issued guidelines on sell administration of the Heimlich Man Euver and suggested in that did t work the victim should press the upper Abdomen quickly Over any firm surface such As the Backol a chair Side of a table or porch  As further evidence Heimlich quoted a statement irom . Surgeon general c. Everett Koop who said the Heimlich Man Euver it Sale Ell Clive and easily mastered a the average person. It can be performed on standing or sealed victims and on Pisons who have fallen on the floor. It can be performed on children and even on  to apply the Heimlich Man Euver la on sell make a list Wilh one hand place the thumb \ Side on the Abdomen above the Navel grasp the fat with the other hand ant press inward and upward toward the diaphragm with a Quick motion. Parse 16 the stars and stripes tuesday. April 19,19b8