Gelotology - the study of laughter's effects on the body - confirms the Biblical proverb about laughter being good medicine.
Regular laughter lowers blood pressure, improves vascular blood flow and blood oxygenation. It exercises the diaphragm and abdominal muscles (among others), reduces stress hormones, increases tumour and disease killing cells. It also protects against respiratory infections, improves alertness, creativity, and memory.
I've always counted laughter one of the best of God's gifts - particularly the humour found in ordinary life. Children provide me with that often - and not only my own grandbeans.
A tiny stranger wandered over to me in a local business as her mother dawdled in conversation nearby. "What's your name?" she asked. I told her. "What's your last name?" she asked. I told her that too. She reciprocated with her own name, her mother's name, and finally her father's.
"What's his last name?" I asked.
Five syllables rattled off her tongue, quick as a chickadee trill. "That's his last name," she said. "Least, that's what my mommy calls him."
I wanted to laugh, but I had to be sure. "Can you say that again, honey? It came out too fast for me!"
She stretched the syllables long this time. "His last name is You-sure-eat-a-lot," she said. "Yep. Jeremy* Yousureeatalot. It's what my mommy always calls him."
When she left, I laughed until I cried.
The seeds planted by good humour spread and keep growing. The ongoing chuckles that tot provided are still lowering my blood pressure - I'm positive.
Stressed? Ill? Look in God's medicine chest, and dust off your laugh.
*name changed to protect the father!
