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Why Laughter Is The Best Medicine

John writes "We know that laughter can be helpful in stressful situations, but researchers are discovering that laughter can do a lot more. When we laugh, we not only create an overall feeling of well-being for ourselves, but also release cells such as Gamma-interferon, T-cells and B-cells - all of which make disease-destroying antibodies. Not only are we releasing more of them, we are also making these crucial cells more active. Organisations such as Camp Quality have acknowledged this -- naturally, their slogan affirms that 'laughter is the best medicine.' Click here to read more."

20 of 49 comments (clear)

  1. Heh heh... by tunah · · Score: 4, Funny
    Hee hee... Gamma-interferon, T-cells and B-cells - all of which make disease-destroying antibodies.

    Okay, I don't get it.

    --
    Free Java games for your phone: Tontie, Sokoban
  2. Autoimmune Problems by DustMagnet · · Score: 3, Funny
    So, since I have an over active immune system (allergies and asthma), I should avoid laughing?

    Ha! I don't think so. LOL

    --
    'SBEMAIL!' is better than a goat!!
    1. Re:Autoimmune Problems by dpilot · · Score: 3, Funny

      Perhaps it's not that you should avoid laughing, but that you are laughing at the wrong things. Maybe if you laughed at the right things, your immune system would quit attacking the wrong things.

      --
      The living have better things to do than to continue hating the dead.
    2. Re:Autoimmune Problems by Lars+T. · · Score: 3, Funny

      Mod the parent "+1, Healthy".

      --

      Lars T.

      To the guy who modded me down from perfect to terrible Karma - Apple haters still suck

    3. Re:Autoimmune Problems by tid242 · · Score: 4, Interesting
      So, since I have an over active immune system (allergies and asthma), I should avoid laughing?

      Asthma and allergies are a result of type I hypersensitivity reactions which mean they primarily are mediated via IgE, mast cells, and basophils (and therefore histamine), which is very different than plasma cells pumping out antibodies (IgG not IgE), and don't have a whole lot to do with gamma-IFN...

      -tid242

      --

      With a few exceptions, secrecy is deeply incompatible with democracy and with science. --Carl Sagan

  3. Laughter the best medicine? by tunah · · Score: 2

    As a doctor, I find that funny.

    --
    Free Java games for your phone: Tontie, Sokoban
  4. Disease-destroying antibodies by fluor2 · · Score: 4, Interesting
    "When we laugh, we not only create an overall feeling of well-being for ourselves, but also release cells such as Gamma-interferon, T-cells and B-cells - all of which make disease-destroying antibodies."

    Well you can say what you want, but this might not be because the body is "healing itself". I believe it's more like a function to prevent from being infected by some diseases. We all know that we mostly laugh when other people are present, rite? So the probability of being infected are greater when you are laughing.

  5. Re:Plagarised Article by joebp · · Score: 2

    The kuro5hin article is by techangel, as is the /. story. The same person submitted the same story to each site.

  6. Re:f-cells released by tunah · · Score: 2
    The cycle is at its worst when the initial laughter is provoked by the release of SBD-cells.

    Because SBD causes dying ;)

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    Free Java games for your phone: Tontie, Sokoban
  7. Every time I hear "laughter is the best medicine". by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    I think of this quote:

    "Dad always thought laughter was the best medicine, which I guess was
    why several of us died of tuberculosis." --Jack Handey

  8. This is well-known in hebrew culture by Trogre · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Proverbs 17:22:
    A merry heart does good like medicine.

    --
    "Nine times out of ten, starting a fire is not the best way to solve the problem." - my wife
  9. Current available medications by TimMD909 · · Score: 2, Funny

    I like to think of myself as a doctor, that's why I self medicate. I find inhaling copius amounts of nitrious oxide can help induce laughing.

    Then of course, what's better than making one laugh uncontrollably than pot? Hehehe

  10. Re:-1 when it goes into voting. by PD · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The same person posted the same story to both sites. Bad form, possibly, but not plagarism.

    Oh, and moderators, GET A CLUE. Offtopic is NOT the right moderation for this. Seriously folks, if you can't select the right item from a very short list, I don't know you ever were potty trained.

  11. Thanks. by iankerickson · · Score: 2

    That was a really funny article. I feel better already.

    --
    Democracy. Whiskey. Sexy. Pick any two.
  12. Re:Terribly off-topic, or is it...? by dimator · · Score: 2

    Glad to know I'm not the only psycho that thought of that quote immediately.

    Is there any situation that a Simpson's quote would *not* fit?

    --
    python -c "x='python -c %sx=%s; print x%%(chr(34),repr(x),chr(34))%s'; print x%(chr(34),repr(x),chr(34))"
  13. World's best medicine discovered? by Tidan · · Score: 4, Informative

    The world's funniest joke has just been discovered by a group of british scientists. The story is all over the web, here's the link to the CNN article.

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    free ipod? yeah.
    1. Re:World's best medicine discovered? by phorm · · Score: 2

      Many European countries, such as France, Denmark and Belgium, displayed a penchant for off-beat surreal humour, while Americans and Canadians preferred jokes where there was a strong sense of superiority -- either because a character looks stupid or is made to look stupid by someone else.

      Americans: Laugh at everyone else
      Canadians: Laugh at ourselves
      Everyone but Americans: Laugh at Americans when they fail to upstage somebody else, ending up looking like asses

      No, this is not a troll. If you consider how many various Anti-American regard an American trying to upstage somebody else and ending up looking rather foolish...

      Did you hear the one about the slashdot post, the somewhat anti-American comment, and the flames that followed? - phorm

  14. Re: Cooked Protein, Wheat, and Dairy are the cause by benzapp · · Score: 2, Interesting

    This is not entirely accurate.

    Allergies are the result of two things:

    1)When cooked protein is cooked, new substances originated. Many of the resulting amino acids are not completely decomposed, and their foreign structure cannot be decomposed by digestive enzymes. These free amino acids are still somewhat chemically similar to their natural counterparts and are incorporated into the body. The human immune system targets these foreign proteins and attempts to destroy them. Auto-immune allergies are the result. An example of allergic inflammation such as this would be arthritis and acne.

    2) The immune system works just like vaccines do obviously. Raising a child in a sterile environment will diminish immune response in time.

    As far as asthma, asthma is POSITIVELY not at all related to allergies. Asthma is caused by one thing, and one thing alone, kappa-opiod receptor agonists. The great lie is only the poppy contains opiod peptides. Wheat contains glutomorphine molecules 100x as powerful as those found in the poppy. Further, milk contains opiod peptides to create an addictive bond between mother and child and to calm the child. MSG, monosodium glutamate, also influences glutamate receptors in the brain, which seem to affect opiod receptors.

    Junk food, and many processed foods, contain Whey, Glutan, and MSG. Whey and Glutan are chemically protected against digestion, so that they decompose into opiod peptides during the digestive process. Heat induces these chemical reactions. When milk and wheat glutan are treated and heated in a special way, very pure opiod peptides result. These substances are added to junk food to induce an addictive craving, and to make you eat more. The reason so many people are fat is due to these substances.

    These opiods have the same physiological effects as morphine. They induce respiratory suppression, constipation, and apathy. Naltrexone, a narcotic antagonist, will eliminate constipation and asthma in 99% of people who suffer from those disorders.

    These substances are allowed by governments because they induce apathy, and make people easier to control. The roman emperors weren't stupid when the only food they gave away was bread. That was the only way they could keep control of the people.

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    I don't read or respond to AC posts
  15. Re:Plagarised Article by namespan · · Score: 2

    Slashdot and Kuro5hin (and MetaFilter, and NewsForge, and a dozen other sites) probably have a pretty decent sized audience overlap. They're all different in some fairly significant ways, but they've got enough in common that many readers who like one will like another.

    Given said audience overlap, discussion topic and/or weblogged sites will inevitable have some overlap. No "stealing" necessary.

    --
    Libertarianism is rich wolves and poor sheep playing gambler's ruin for dinner.
  16. It looks like the AUTHOR posted the story by jcrb · · Score: 2

    to both sites.... at kuro5hin.org the author is listed as 'techangel' and in the original post the story is hosted off of techangel.com. Probably there is some connection here? maybe?

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    -jon