Studies on laughter indicate that a daily dose of laughter is good for your health and may even be the best medicine.

In a paper presented at a recent American College of Cardiology meeting in Orlando, Florida, Dr. Michael Miller of the University of Maryland, reported that he measured the blood flow of 20 healthy volunteers before and after they watched two different movies – Saving Private Ryan (Steven Spielberg’s graphic war movie) and Kingpin (a Woody Harrelson comedy).

The results were dramatically opposite. Dr. Miller found that blood flow decreased by an average of 35 percent during the war movie and increased by an average of 22 percent during the comedy. Dr. Miller concluded that laughter may be almost as healthful as exercise.

In another paper presented at the same meeting, Dr. Wei Jiang of Duke University studied over 1,000 heart failure patients and discovered that those with mild depression had a 44 percent higher risk of death. In other words, a joyful attitude is good for your heart and helps you live longer.

The study of the therapeutic benefits of laughter began about 20 years ago when Norman Cousins’ Anatomy of an Illness told his story of overcoming a fatal disease by watching old Charlie Chaplin silent comedies. Cousins didn’t claim any medical knowledge, but he did believe that “laughter is an antidote to apprehension and panic.”

Since then, Drs. Lee Berk and Stanley Tan of Loma Linda University Medical Center in California have been the leaders in research on laughter. Their studies show that laughter lowers blood pressure, reduces stress hormones, increases muscle relaxation and boosts the immune system. It also releases endorphins – the body’s natural painkillers – producing a sense of well-being.

However, the biggest benefit of laughter may be that it’s free and has no negative side effects, other than being contagious and incurable. That’s a lot of extra benefits for having fun.

Many hospitals today encourage patients to laugh. Some have comedy rooms with gag props and costumes, TV comedy channels and regular visits from clowns. As Groucho Marx said, “A clown is like an aspirin, only he works twice as fast.”

So the best prescription for a long, happy, healthy life is to eat a good diet, exercise on a regular basis and add in a few good belly laughs every day. Think about it. Maybe healthy people don’t laugh because they’re healthy. Maybe they’re healthy because they laugh!

Moss Greene makes it easy for you to look and feel better. Visit her site at http://nutrition.bellaonline.com to learn the simple things you can do for yourself right now. Be sure to subscribe to her free newsletter – you don’t want to miss a thing!