He Who Laughs Lasts - Dr. B M Hegde

‘He who laughs lasts’ is undeniably a very good adage. Recent scientific data indicate that a good hearty laugh induces secretion of the much-needed endorphins (i.e., neurotransmitters in the brain) for relieving pain and suffering. Laughter also induces secretion of good catecholamines (these are hormones produced by the adrenal gland; they can be both beneficial and harmful: In anger, they are harmful but in laughter they are beneficial). In short a hearty laughter proves to be a great boon in healthy living.

Interestingly, only those with a clean heart filled with compassion can enjoy beneficial hearty laughter. There are those who enjoy laughing at others’ misery. This type of derisive laughter does not induce the secretion of endorphins. The best example of the second variety of laughter has been highlighted by some African tribals who laugh at those members of their tribe who are caught by crocodiles. They enjoy the spectacle of the crocodiles devouring their brethren. Some of us, even in civilized societies, are capable of laughing at others suffering. This kind of laughter is resorted to by people who are possessed by malice, hatred, pride and jealousy all the features detrimental to good health. Such negative emotions constitute the risk factors for heart attacks and other degenerative diseases.

Of late, hospitals in the west have set humor clubs and conduct humor sessions for patients in agony and those who are depressed. Those modalities of treatment have become quite popular. Unfortunately, modes of treatment have not gained popularity in our medical world because they are not associated with larger incomes for either the hospitals or the doctors. Whereas only a 3.4% reduction in heart attack death rates was due to bypass surgeries and angioplasties in the USA, around 40% reduction was due to changes in the mode of living, the latter includes the incorporation of humor as well. Our hospitals (and even media) only highlight bypasses and do not decry our blindly aping the Western way of life.

Norman Cousins, a reputed American journalist, was admitted to Harvard Medical School in 1964 with severe ankylosing spondylitis when the disease had reached an advanced stage and he could not even move his little finger. The best American doctors predicted only a few more months of agonizing life for him. Large numbers of his admirers used to visit him during his ‘fatal’ illness. During one such visit a hilarious joke narrated to him triggered off hearty laughter in Norman. As a consequence, he was able to move his fingers. Then, all the humorous videos in the USA were brought to the hospital. Within a couple of weeks he was discharged, totally fit to go back to his trade. His book, Anatomy of an Illness, serves as an eye-opener to all of us. He was invited to join the faculty of the University of California medical school as a Professor, which he did. Since then humor has entered medicine in a big way.

Classical literature had realized the importance of humor even in tragedies. Cleopatra and King Lear did try to alleviate their moments of sorrow with the help of jesters. Our own legends, like Ramayana and Mahabharata, have their share of humor.

On the medical front it was Charles Bell, professor of anatomy in Edinburgh in A.D. 1806 who, for the first time, provided the details of the muscles of the face, mouth lips and eyes which help us to laugh. He held the firm belief that only human beings, among all animals, have the capacity to laugh. No other animal can produce the facial expression of laughter, although dogs can show all signs of happiness and so do chimpanzees. However, their large snout prevents the movement of the lip and eye muscles necessary in order to laugh. Charles Darwin, on the contrary, was of the view that dogs can also laugh but the latter only can be described as a grin.

The French philosopher, Henri Burgus, in 1900 wrote a treatise on laughter. His thesis was that laughter is a habit a human-being acquires only to mock others. The Oxford scientist, William Mac Dougal, in 1923, disputed this thesis and went on to prove that laughter is a trait which is inherited and later refined by our cultural and educational upbringing. He also hypothesized that laughter is a necessary characteristic of human beings to help them tide over calamities in life. He quotes Lord Byron in Don Juan to support his thesis:

And if I laugh at any moral thing,

‘Tis that I may not weep

The philosopher Nietsche, in his book on laughter, argues that man is the only animal who undergoes maximum suffering in this world and hence God in His generosity, came to man’s help and endowed him with the capacity to laugh.

If one laughs heartily one may get tears in the eyes. This phenomenon occurs due to the stimulation of the tear glands by contracting eye muscles.

There have been very funny and hilarious characters who have provided joy to millions by inducing laughter with their humor but some of them suffered from severe depression themselves and were not capable of laughing heartily. For instance, Tony Hencker and Reginal Periu were two of the best clowns who committed suicide eventually. Strange are the ways of the world! For a good overview of laughter the book recommended by the editor of the RCPE journal is the Act of Creation written by Arthur Kostler in 1964.

Good laughter can be rightly placed among the most powerful medicines in this world. It certainly has saved more lives than all the high-tech methods of treatment available in the medical world! To do that one must have a pure heart filled with universal compassion:

You laugh and the world laughs with you,

You weep and you weep alone!

© "Yoga and Total Health" (July, 2003) published by The Yoga Institute, Shri Yogendra Marg, Prabhat Colony, Santacruz East, Mumbai 400 055. Reprinted with permission.

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