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JANUARY 5th 2006
ADVENTIST LAUGHTER EXPERT:
STOP BEING SO SERIOUS -- YOUR LIFE DEPENDS ON
IT
Silver Spring, Maryland, United States ....
[Wendi Rogers/ANN]
Nearly 85 percent of people who visit their
primary healthcare physicians do so because
of a stress-related disease. More people are
on anti-depressants than at any other time in
the history of medicine. And it's probably no
surprise that stress has proven to be deadly
to the immune system. This according to Dr.
Lee Berk, associate professor in the Schools
of Public Health and Medicine at Loma Linda
University in California.
In an increasingly stressful world, what is
one to do? Laugh, apparently. That's funny,
you say? Well, studies have shown that it's
no laughing matter -- or perhaps it actually
is. Laughing is at the heart of a serious issue
about bio-translation -- how your biology translates
the good stuff in life, says Dr. Berk.
In his studies, Dr. Berk was able to assess
mood states. Do they change when people are
enjoying laughter and happiness? he asked. "Yes,
they did. There was less depression, less anxiety,
more vigor." The studies showed that laughter
can lower detrimental stress hormones such as
epinephrine (adrenaline) and cortisol. Laughter
also enhances endorphins, which can elevate
your mood, and optimizes various immune system
components.
"One of the components of the immune system
that is benefited greatly is NK cells -- Natural
Killer Cells. During laughter, the NK cell activity
is increased. NK cells go after and kill virally-infected
cells and some types of tumor cells," the
doctor explains.
These realizations caused him to stumble into
the anticipation issue.
Looking forward to a day of rest, or going out
and eating with a good friend or spouse, causes
you to start experiencing and enjoying a positive
experience even before it happens, Dr. Berk
explains. "That anticipation or expectation
really translates at a biological level.
"There are chemical mechanisms of communication
between the brain, central nervous system, hormone
system, and immune system, and how they all
talk to each other," he says. If you go
for a root canal, you experience sweaty palms
and nervousness. "But the reciprocal for
positive emotions is very true also," he
says. "When we experience the anticipation
of positive events, we benefit from that."
Stress hormones, he says, are lowered by anticipating
a positive event. And, ironically, he says the
words "anticipation" and "expectation"
are synonyms for the word "hope,"
which has significant meaning for Adventists
who have the hope of Christ's soon return to
the earth.
So bad translates into bad, but good translates
into good. What we focus on perhaps should be
a laughing matter. It's "bio-translating
for better health and happiness."
In a Jan. 3 devotional talk for employees at
the Seventh-day Adventist Church's world headquarters,
Pastor Jan Paulsen, world church president,
spoke on the importance of laughter. Reflecting
on 2005, a year with many natural disasters
and civil unrest around the globe, Paulsen said,
"Some serious, sober, even somber reflections
would be in order. I thought, however, I would
say a word or two about laughter.
"After all, a wise man says 'Just as it
is time to mourn and weep, let's not forget
that it's good to laugh also.'"
Laughing is important to health, he said, but
more importantly, perhaps, is to "reach
out to people in need. Be an instrument of healing."
How? "Be good to others," he suggested,
and this "will ultimately make you and
me kinder and happier."
Pastor Paulsen added, "May God bless each
of us as we go into a new year and resolve that
we will not only express our own happiness [but]
allow it to bubble, even if it needs to be noisy
at times. You can do that -- it's alright. A
good way to live life is to care about people
and be an instrument of somebody else's happiness."
Nearly 150 years ago, one of the Seventh-day
Adventist Church's founders, Ellen G. White,
wrote in a book, Ministry of Healing, "The
relation that exists between the mind and the
body is very intimate. When one is affected,
the other sympathizes. The condition of the
mind affects the health to a far greater degree
than many realize. Many of the diseases from
which men suffer are the result of mental depression.
Grief, anxiety, discontent, remorse, guilt,
distrust, all tend to break down the life forces
and to invite decay and death."
Dr. Berk says he was "blown away"
when he read this. His conclusion? "We
have to stop being so serious about the negative
things in life."
The passage continues: "Disease is sometimes
produced, and is often greatly aggravated, by
the imagination. Many are lifelong invalids
who might be well if they only thought so. Many
imagine that every slight exposure will cause
illness, and the evil effect is produced because
it is expected. Many die from disease the cause
of which is wholly imaginary.
"Courage, hope, faith, sympathy, love,
promote health and prolong life. A contented
mind, a cheerful spirit, is health to the body
and strength to the soul. 'A merry [rejoicing]
heart doeth good like a medicine.' Proverbs
17:22.
"In the treatment of the sick the effect
of mental influence should not be overlooked.
Rightly used, this influence affords one of
the most effective agencies for combating disease,"
White concludes.
It's not just about laughter, of course. Dr.
Berk lists five things that begin the process
of producing a stress-resistant brain: a belief
system (belief in a higher being), social interaction,
humor, exercise, and intimacy. But laughter
has a lot to do with it. In the Dec. 30 International
Herald Tribune, Dr. Berk said, "If you
could encapsulate laughter in a pill form, it
would not only require FDA approval but would
be in every medicine cabinet in America."
Perhaps this could be translated globally, because
laughter is a universal language. Dr. Berk says,
"We jog for no reason other than the health
benefits, so why not laugh for no reason because
there are health benefits?"
So, go ahead: You have the doctor's permission
to laugh. And if you must be serious about something,
be serious about laughter. .
Source:
Adventist News Network |
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