Is Laughter The Best Medicine?
Lets take a look and find out.
This will be a comparison of Laughter to pharmacology.
Comparison #1 – The Health Benefits.
Here is a list of the benefits of laughter (from: http://www.helpguide.org/life/humor_laughter_health.htm).
Physical Health Benefits:
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Mental Health Benefits:
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Social Benefits:
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Show me a single drug that can do all of this. Sure if I swallowed a whole pharmacy worth of drugs I could achieve all of this, but I would probably be high as a kite with enough side effects to sink the Queen Mary 2 (we’ll talk more about side effects in comparison 3).
So as far as the benefits Laughter wins hands down.
Comparison #2 – The Cost
Laughter is free.
Drugs aren’t.
Laughter wins.
Comparison #3 – The Side Effects
First lets make something very clear, there is no such this as “side effects”. There is only “effects”, what something like laughter or drugs does do you. “Side Effects” is a term that was created by some one to play down the NEGATIVE effects of their creation.
Most drugs these days have a list of negative effects longer than their list of benefits and some of these negative effects are pretty darn scary to boot.
Laughter, as far as I know, has no negative effects, only benefits. Well I do suppose if you laugh at something at the wrong time, someone might think you were laughing at them and take offense, that might be a negative effect. This is however a complete circumstantial effect and probably pretty rare.
I think laughter wins here for have less potential negative effects.
Comparison #4 – The Dosage
No doctor in his right mind would prescribe a powerful drug to anyone who didn’t need it.
BUT laughter can be taken whenever and wherever and as often as you like. It is a preventative measure as well as a curative measure.
The more you laugh the better you feel, the healthier you are, the less you will get sick and need any sort of curative measure, be it laughter or drugs.
Also laughter is never hard to swallow.
Laughter wins.
Comparison #5 – Addiction
Sadly the phenomenon of addiction to prescription drugs seems like it is becoming more and more common.
I have never hear of anyone being addicted to laughter. Even if you were, I can’t imagine it would be all that bad or have any negative effects.
Laughter wins.
Conclusion:
So the answer is yes, laughter is the best medicine.
P.S. Please note that I am not saying ALL drugs are bad. Some, like penicillin, have revolutionized health care. However I do believe that there are a lot of drugs out there that are not really needed and actually do more harm than good, and I caution everyone to be very aware of what you put into your body.