Laugh for the Health of It 笑能治百病

Patients and medical practitioners alike have long believed in the healing power of humor. It is claimed that humor not only affects patients' moods, but can actually help them recover faster.

Several studies, as well as a lot of anecdotal evidence, seem to support this. Patients in better spirits are known to have higher immune cell counts. Some have even claimed to have healed themselves of serious illnesses by reading comics and watching comedies.

Despite all this, many researchers are not convinced. They point to the fact that many afflictions have been known to disappear spontaneously, with or without a daily dose of laughter. They also say that while optimism in general does seem to be related to better health, it is hard to tell which comes first.

Humor in times of stress, however, clearly makes us feel better. On one level, it takes our minds off our troubles and relaxes us. On another, it releases powerful endorphins in the brain that act to alleviate pain.

There are cases where the appreciation of a good joke is indeed directly related to a person's health. It can show, for example, whether a person has suffered damage to one particular area of the brain: the right frontal lobe.

Scientists confirmed this by having people read jokes and asking them to choose the funniest endings from a list. Subjects with normal brains usually chose endings that were based on a relatively complex synthesis of ideas. Subjects with specifically located brain damage, however, responded only to slapstick endings, which did not depend on a particular context. When pressed , the brain-damaged subjects saw the logic in the correct endings. They simply did not find them funny.

Of course, humor is largely an individual matter. The next time your friend does not get one of your jokes, there is no need to accuse him of being a lamebrain. However, you might suggest that he lighten up—for the health of it.

長期以來，病人和醫生都相信幽默能治病。有人宣稱，幽默不僅能影響病人的情緒，還能使他們早日康復。

好幾項研究和很多奇聞軼事的證據似乎都能證明這一點。情緒比較好的病人，免疫細胞比較多。有一些人甚至宣稱通過看漫畫和喜劇治好了自己的重病。

盡管如此，許多研究人員并沒有被說服。他們指出，事實上不論病人是否接受一日劑量的笑療，很多苦惱都會自動消失。他們也表示，雖然一般看來樂觀的心態確實與健康有聯系，但是很難確定哪個更重要。

在受到壓力時保持幽默，無疑會使我們心情舒暢。從某個方面而言，笑能使我們遠離煩惱，身心放松。就另一個方面來說，幽默的時候腦部會釋放能量強大的腦啡肽來減輕疼痛。

有一些案例表明，能欣賞好笑的笑話，的確和健康情形有關。舉例來說，它能說明一個人腦部某個特定的部位──右腦額葉是否受到損傷。

科學家通過實驗證實這一點。實驗的方法是叫一些人閱讀笑話，然后請他們從一份目錄中挑出最好笑笑話的結尾。腦部情況正常的受測試者選出的結尾，往往是經過相對復雜綜合思維之后才能得出的。腦子某個特別部位受到損傷的人，只對鬧劇式的笑話結尾有反應，這種笑話并不需要依賴特定的上下文。對腦部受損傷的測試者施加一定壓力之后，他們才會看出正確結尾的邏輯，但不覺得好笑。

當然，笑話是否好笑是因人而異的。下次你的朋友聽不懂你講的笑話時，沒有必要笑人家笨。但是，你可以建議為了健康，讓他放輕松點兒。