The Readers' Digest was right.
Laughter is the best medicine.
Indeed a regular chuckle, chortle and guffaw might cure a range of things that ail you. According to AAP, the Australian Rheumatology Association, meeting in Adelaide this week, was told how laughter helped ease the pain of a group of arthritis sufferers. Health worker Heather Donaldson told of a pilot program involving 12 Tasmanian women who attended a regular session where the price of entry was a joke, a funny story or a cartoon. Because they had to come back to each session with a joke, they asked people in the broader community for funny stories and looked for hilarious things to show to the group. Ms Donaldson said each participant had reported feelings of increased well-being and optimism.