I just attended a “Laughter is Good Medicine” seminar put on
by a local hospital. The speaker pointed to evidence showing that laughing has
such good effects as:
·
Reduce blood pressure
·
Lower blood glucose
·
Dull pain
·
Alleviate stress and anxiety
·
Improve feeling of well being
and it even burns
substantial calories.
I suspect humor also
improves longevity, though I only have anecdotal and presumptive evidence for
that. But the evidence seems hard to dismiss. Think about how long so many classic
stand-up comedians of the
Most of these comedians were
actively performing right up to their last days. Here is a listing of comedians
most people in my generation will recognize and their age when they finally
died.
Bob
Hope, 100
George
Burns, 100
Phyllis
Diller, 95
Milton
Berle, 94
Henny
Youngman, 92
Victor
Borge, 91
Dick Van
Dyke, 88 (still alive)
Jimmy
Durante, 87
Jerry
Lewis, 87 (still performing)
Bea
Arthur, 87
Groucho
Marx, 87
Jonathan
Winters, 86
Jack
Paar, 86
Red
Skelton, 84
Bob
Newhart, 84 (still performing)
Soupy
Sales, 83
Rodney Dangerfield,
83
Mel
Blanc, 81
Johnny
Carson, 80
Jack
Benny, 80
These comedians obviously
had good memories, because even in their old age they could spout a steady
stream of jokes from memory without a teleprompter. To have a good memory, you
have to have a healthy brain, and a healthy brain often is healthy because the
body is healthy. Healthy bodies live longer.
Let’s also remember that
some of these people led a hard life, mostly on the road, in an era when people
in general did not live that long.
One thing is for sure.
Whether or not humor makes you live longer, it surely does make you live
happier.
