SOME of the old sayings carry great wisdom within and one of the best known of these old sayings is ‘laughter is the best medicine’.

The reason these sayings are so wise is that they carry a great deal of truth in them, so I think it is worth examining in a little more detail the truth of this old saying.

They say that over ninety per cent of illnesses are in one way or other related to stress in the body.

Remember in a previous article I wrote that disease is a state which happens when the body is under stress for whatever reason, thus the name dis-ease. The body isn’t functioning properly when we are in a state of stress.

If we examine the lives of prehistoric man, the time he was most fearful was when he was in danger of being attacked by a wild animal, this would put the body in a state of ‘fight or flight’, which would raise the adrenaline levels and thus put the body in a short term stress situation which was absolutely necessary for our survival.

However modern living puts the body in stress situations on a much more regular basis which is ultimately harmful.

Fear paralyses and thus the organs of the body don’t function to their best potential.

When we laugh we are sending subliminal messages to the body that all is well in our world.

If you were being attacked by a wild animal and in imminent danger of your life being eliminated you would not be laughing.

The corollary is also true – if laughter is present the body takes this information and thus draws the conclusion that all is well and as a result releases what are known as ‘happy endorphins’.

These chemicals when released are telling the body to relax and also that there is no immediate danger thus putting the body in a state of ease.

We often hear of people in a state of anxiety or depression speak of feeling a sensation of fear when there is no reason to feel fear (i.e. no real fear is present).

Whether the fear is real or not the body doesn’t differentiate and will react in the same way i.e. stress.

This also holds true for the opposite – if we laugh the body doesn’t differentiate whether the reason for the laughter is ‘real’ or not and it will release the laughter happy endorphins anyway putting the body at ease. So we can ‘Fake it to Make it’.

In the world we are living in now, there are so many reasons for stress and worry, the economic depression that has every one in a tizzy, the amount of violence, rape and crime that is now predominant, and all the wrongs that we see on a daily basis such as people starving and we feel so helpless to do anything about it.

Furthermore we read about it incessantly in our newspapers and on television (also cyber world!) My main point is that all this ‘negativity’ will ultimately take its toll on our body and thus our health.

We cannot change what is happening in our world but we can always change how we react.

It is important to emphasise here that under no circumstances am I suggesting that it is correct to laugh at any of the above unfortunate circumstances, but that it is good for our bodies that we treat it to a regular dose of laughter and humour.

It is good for our health and thus we will be in a better position (i.e. healthier) to deal with those unfortunate circumstances.

There is a whole science around this such as laughter therapy and there are even communes of laughing monks in Tibet.

The bottom line is that is good for our health. As the great Tommy Cooper says,  “ Nothing succeeds like a toothless parrot!!!”   Get it – Suck Seeds!

Smile and the word smiles with you, weep and you weep alone.

I think it is appropriate to finish by leaving you with one of my favourite Tommy Cooper clips (click here). Pay attention to his facial expressions…

Next week I am going to write about ‘ The energy chakras of the body’

• Roger Harty is a life coach and can be contacted on 087-6128336, on twitter at @Innerjoyz1 or by email rogharty@gmail.com