But some experts would have you believe that I will have done more than that and actually helped to stimulate their immune system to fight its own battles. There's plenty of research going on to study the link between humour and health. For example, it's been shown that people who survive a heart attack are less likely to have a second attack, need less medication and have lower blood pressure if they experience 30 minutes of humour a day. Humour is a vital coping mechanism, enabling people to defuse stress, deal with humiliation, deflate embarrassment and mentally cope with pain and suffering. At the right time and in the right context, most people are able to find laughter helpful in examining their plight, even in the face of terrible adversity.
Laughter can be therapeutic for medical staff too.
It helps put problems into perspective, acts as a cathartic and relaxes, relieving the tensions and stresses of suffering, as well as the pressured job that is the lot of the doctor or nurse. So laughing helps patients cope with illness, doctors cope with their patients, and everyone in the hospital rub along with the failings of the rest of the team. Despite questions about how or why humour makes us better, it's rapidly grown as a medical speciality all of its own. In the USA there are humour therapists and clowns working in many hospitals, and the idea is catching on here. Hear about the work of Shobi Dobi , an American Hospital Clown.