Laugh till you burst
Healthy humour:
by Dr. N. Ramkrishnan and K.V. Srinivasan
Humour and laughter have a good effect on your immune system. When
was the last time you laughed really hard - a hearty, side splitting
belly laugh that suddenly grabbed you and sent you reeling out of
control?
 Modern science is beginning to confirm that this kind of laughter is
not only enjoyable but also health promoting. Laughter is an
invigorating tonic that heightens and brightens the mood, gently
releasing us from tensions and social constraints.
Best antidote
Laughter is an affirmation of our humaneness, a face saving way to
express our anxieties, fears and other hidden emotions to others. It
breaks the ice, builds trust and draws us together into a common state
of well-being.
Humour may be one of our best antidotes to stressful situations. When
confronted with a threatening situation, animals have two situations
either they flee or they fight. We humans have a second alternative: to
laugh. By seeing the humour in stressful situations we may be able to
change our responses to the threat. When we laugh, we simply cannot be
worrying deeply at the same time.
What research shows?
If you hate to do a regular workout, laughter may be the exercise
programme you've been looking for! Laughter is called "inner jogging". A
robust laugh gives the muscles of your face, shoulders, diaphragm and
abdomen a good workout.
Heart rate and blood pressure temporarily rise, breathing becomes
faster and deeper and oxygen surges through your bloodstream. Sometimes
your muscles go limp and your blood pressure temporarily may fall,
leaving you in a mellow euphoria. A good laugh can burn up as many
calories per hour as brisk walking.
During a good hearty laugh, your brain orchestrates hormonal rushes
that rouse you to a high-level alertness and numb pain. Researchers
speculate that laughter triggers the release of endomorphines, the
brains opiates. This may account for the pain relief that accompanies
laughter.
It has been long recognised that stress weakens the immune system,
thereby increasing the vulnerability to illnesses. Only in the mid
1980s, however, did researchers study the impact of humour and laughter
on the immune system. Research showing that individuals with a better
sense of humour have stronger immune systems is important since it shows
the importance of making the effort to improve your sense of humour.
How to use humour
Babies start to laugh when they are 10 weeks old: six weeks later
they are laughing about once every hour. Four-year-olds laugh once every
four minutes. The average grown up is said to laugh only about 15 times
per day.
Sadly, our culture seems to inhibit humour. We learn to associate
growing up with "getting serious" and being serious is somehow
associated with being solemn and humourless. Sometimes we repress our
good humour, because we are afraid that others will think we are
frivolous or foolish. Here are some suggestions for repairing your sense
of humour and regaining healthy laughter.
Expose yourself to humour: There is a lot of funny material around.
Actively seek out things that make you laugh.
Keep a humour journal: Get into the habit of listening to the
unintentionally amusing remark. Watch for the wonderfully funny young
children spontaneously say or write. Listen for the amusing slips of
tongue or the amusing error or the clever pun.
Tell a joke: Having a good sense of humour doesn't mean you have to
have a store of jokes or tell them perfectly. Do not worry about how
well you are telling it.
Sometimes screwing up the delivery can create something that's even
funnier than the original joke.Laugh at yourself: Focus on yourself
rather than others.
If you expect to do everything right all of the time, then you can't
afford to have a sense of humour. But if you can allow yourself the
inevitable mistakes and stupidities then you can laugh at yourself.
Those who can laugh at themselves have a much stronger sense of self
worth and higher esteem than those who can't. The real test of seeing
whether or not you can laugh at yourself is if you can take a bit of
teasing. We all need a few things that we are willing to be teased about
by our nearest and dearest. But they really do have to be things you can
see the funny side of too.
Try humour instead of anxiety or anger: A stressful situation can
sometimes be transformed into a bit of fun if you can see the humour in
it. Next time you are livid about something try to make your point with
humour instead of anger.
Humour can also help reduce anxiety. If you are terrified of speaking
in public or of making a presentation, for example, imagine your
audience wearing funny hats. Practise by imagining a stressful
situation. Then invent a humorous response to it and rehearse it.
Hang out with happy people: Make sure that people around you are fun
to be with. Certain people make you feel relaxed and happy. Others are
too depressing, or relentlessly serious.
Try to avoid getting bogged down by them. Spend more time with people
who boost your mood.Put on a happy face: Research has shown that just
changing your facial muscles can set off different physiological
changes.
It can also trigger different thoughts that affect moods of sadness,
happiness and anger. So when we put on a happy face in times of
adversity, we are actually changing our neurohormone levels and they
change our moods. So if you can't laugh, smile. And if you can't smile,
fake it.
Avoid negative humour: Not all humour is positive and healthy. Watch
out for scorn, sarcasm, ridicule and contempt and inappropriate humour.
And don't joke about people's names. They have to live with them. It is
important to be sensitive to each occasion and know what humour really
helps.
Humour therapy
"The art of medicine consists of keeping the patient amused while
nature heals the disease." Chances are that you have never been in a
hospital with a humour programme. If ever there are two things that
don't go together, it is humour and hospitals.
The last decade has seen a revolution in healthcare as more and more
hospitals become convinced of the therapeutic power of humour. Patients
increasingly demand more personalised relationships with caregivers and
humour helps establish it.
The best-known approach to bringing humour and laughter to the
hospital settings is the use of clowns. Another common approach is to
create a humour cart. This can be wheeled into the patient's rooms and
has funny audio and videotapes, books of cartoons, games and funny
props.
A few hospitals have entire rooms devoted to fun and humour for
ambulatory patients. One of the first humour rooms was established at
St. Joseph's hospital in Houston, the U.S.
Humour can be a powerful medicine and laughter can be contagious.
It's reassuring in these days of deadly epidemics and sometimes painful,
expensive medical treatments that laughter is cheap and effective. And
the only side effect is pleasure.
The Hindu
Scans of pregnant women on the rise
 Should you get scanned when you are pregnant? Pregnant women are
exposed to twice the amount of radiation from medical scans as they were
a decade ago, a new study has found.
Although the total amount of radiation exposure to pregnant women is
still relatively low, the doubling effect in just a decade is the latest
indicator that medical scans are exposing patients to record amounts of
ionizing radiation, a type of radiation that can alter cells and lead to
health risks, including cancer.
Researchers from Brown University's Warren Alpert Medical School
looked at the use of several imaging techniques that can expose a
patient to ionizing radiation, including nuclear medicine exams, CT
scans and plain-film X-rays.
They studied more than 3,200 patients who had received scans from
1997 to 2006, some of whom were pregnant. The investigators found that
during this time, the number of imaging studies that would expose
pregnant women to radiation increased by 121 percent. The findings are
being presented today at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society
of North America.
The greatest increases were in the number of CT scans performed,
although such scans aren't routinely done during pregnancy. The most
common scan performed during pregnancy, an abdominal ultrasound, does
not expose the patient or fetus to ionizing radiation. The data showed
that the use of scanning tests is increasing far more rapidly than the
number of deliveries, which rose only 7 percent during the period.
Earlier this year, a government study found that the per-capita dose
of potentially hazardous ionizing radiation from clinical imaging exams
in the United States increased almost 600 percent in the last 25 years.
The use of CT scans in particular is on the rise, jumping to 62 million
in 2006, from 3 million in 1980. CT scans expose patients to far more
radiation than standard X-rays.
The notion that pregnant women are also being scanned at an
increasing rate is even more troubling, given that exposure to excess
radiation can severely damage a developing fetus.
Some of the rise is due to the fact that better technology is now
available to diagnose abnormalities, said Dr. Elizabeth Lazarus,
assistant professor of diagnostic imaging at Brown. She added that
hospitals and insurers also want to make fast diagnoses to shorten
hospital stays and improve care, which may prompt doctors to order scans
more often.
In some cases the benefits of a scan to both mother and baby far
outweigh the risks, but the latest data suggest doctors are not always
being circumspect before ordering scans of pregnant women.
"I want to assure patients that CT can be a safe, effective test for
pregnant patients," said Dr. Lazarus. However, there are alternatives
that should at least be explored. Pregnant patients should ask their
doctors about other imaging or diagnostic tests that may not expose the
fetus to radiation.
The New York Times
Simple measures 'may thwart flu'
Simple physical measures, such as handwashing and wearing masks,
could play a key role in blocking the spread of a flu pandemic, say
researchers.
The UK government is doubling its stockpile of antiviral medicines in
preparation for any future pandemic.
But researchers believe simple, low- cost physical measures should be
given higher priority.
The study, led by Australia's Bond University, features online in the
British Medical Journal.
Scientists believe a flu pandemic is inevitable at some point in the
future. There are also concerns about the spread of potentially fatal
respiratory diseases such as Sars. There is mounting evidence to suggest
the use of vaccines and antiviral drugs will be insufficient to
interrupt the spread of flu.
The latest research examined 51 studies on the effect of simple
physical measures on preventing respiratory infections. Several of the
studies focused specifically on the Sars outbreak in South-East Asia in
2003.
The researchers found handwashing and wearing masks, and gloves and
gowns all had a positive effect - and were even more effective when
combined. The researchers concluded that, in combination with measures
such as isolation of infected patients, they could potentially provide
an important defence against a pandemic.
They argue that national governments should carry out more research
into their use. Researcher Dr. Tom Jefferson said: "Worried about the
flu? Then we have some good news for you.
"Wash your hands, and if it is a really bad epidemic avoid contact
with people and keep your distance. You may even consider wearing paper
masks and disposable gloves. They work.
"Soap and water is cheap and if you come from a poor country it could
save your life or your baby's life."
He said: "Because pandemic flu is such a potentially catastrophic
event, governments worldwide should have commissioned such a review many
years ago and not have left it to the academic community to take the
lead."
The Catch It, Bin It, Kill It campaign emphasises the need to cover
your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough and sneeze, dispose of
the tissue as soon as possible after use, and clean your hands at the
first available opportunity.
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