Laughter is a very good stress reliever
If you have been reading my writings the past few years you know I have spent a lot of time going to doctors, doing medical tests, MRI’s, Catscan, X-rays, plus three surgeries and many times to rehab.
The best way I have found to cope with it is through humor. In Proverbs 17:22 (New Living Testament) we read, “A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit saps a person’s strength.”
Some research I have read concluded that a good hearty laugh has the same benefit as 10 minutes of exercise. Exercise and laughter both produce endorphins — a type of hormone produced in the body that reduces pain and uplifts a person’s mood.
Researchers are discovering the many health benefits of laughter. It is an excellent way to relieve stress. Laughing frequently:
• Enhances blood flow and improves cardiovascular function
• Releases endorphins and other natural pain-killing and mood-elevating chemicals
• Improves the transfer of nutrients and oxygen to internal organs
• Enhances the immune system
• Takes your mind off of your problems
• Puts you in a more positive state of mind
When I left the doctor’s office Monday, I had the receptionist, nurse and doctor laughing. I find that people like to be around people that laugh, especially the medical profession, which hardly dare laugh around sick patients and their family fearing the patient or family may think they don’t care or aren’t sympathetic to their condition.
Here are a few of my humorous things I did to put a smile on the office help. Every time you visit the doctor for the first time they want you to fill out your personal and medical history. Depending on what they are going to do, you have to read what side effects it may cause. Then you have to sign off that they are not liable should something bad happen.
The last one I read had to do with possible side effects of the shot they were going to give me. There must of have been a dozen possibilities but not very likely. One was temporary paralysis. The last one was — “it may even cause death.” Wow!
Right below it read, “In case of emergency notify….” I think in case of death, the emergency is over. Just leave me dead, I am on my way to heaven.
Outside the door of the exam room, there was a bronze plaque with big letters on top — “if you are pregnant” followed by small print below. It captured my curiosity. I started to read it when the nurse looked at my stomach and asked me, “Are you pregnant?”
“No, it just looks that way,” I replied. We both got a laugh from that.
Inside the exam room, the nurse was looking over my chart and commented what good health I have — normal blood pressure, good vitals, takes no prescription medicine, etc. All I take daily is glucosamine-chondroitin for my knee joints and a multi-vitamin for old people.
But I really got her attention when I began to tell her about my latest heart problem. I told her ever since I am semi-retired, I go out and do a little work in the shop or garden then come in the house, grab something to drink and sit down in my recliner, my heart (now her ears are perked straight up), I just don’t have the heart to get back up. When she caught on I was joking, she laughed, slapped me on the arm and said I am nothing but trouble. I find that most health care workers love a patient with a sense of humor.
A few years back I was having a procedure done to test for pancreatic cancer (which they thought could maybe be my problem). I was in the holding pen waiting to go in to have the procedure done. The atmosphere in there was what I imagine it to be in a morgue. The six others in there were all somber, fearing they are going to get a death sentence if their test comes back positive. Me, I was joking with the nurses.
The volunteer lady, who was the liaison between doctor and waiting family members, came over to me and asked, “Mr. Yutzy, do you have any idea how serious the outcome of the test they are going to do could be?”
“Lady,” I said, “Do you think I would feel better if I started crying instead of laughing?” She just walked away. I did not realize she knew me but I did not recognize her. She was my girlfriend’s neighbor when we were dating and was invited to our wedding.
I have found laughter to be the second best stress reliever I have. The best stress reliever I have is my inability to remember things. My memory is so bad anymore I can’t remember anything to worry about.
They put me through a series of tests to try and find the problem. They ruled out Alzheimer’s and dementia. They concluded it stems from sleep deprivation. I only sleep from four to five hours a night — last night I only slept two hours.
The sleep doctor told me I need a minimum of six hours of sleep or it will affect my memory. The only way I can sleep six hours is if I work hard enough to get physically tired. The doctor had the nerve to suggest to me I should get a manual labor job to make me tired enough so I could sleep six hours or longer.
I told him — right now I have the most stress free life I ever had and if he thinks I am going back to working hard so I can get more sleep so I can remember more things to worry about, he is crazy. He told me to get out of his office, there is nothing he can do for me.
Remember, May 1, 6 p.m. at Maranatha. What does the Bible have to say about the middle east in the last days?
May you have blessed, laughter filled, worry free week, unless you have other plans.
Maranatha. (Maranatha means, “Our Lord Cometh.”)
The Rev. Elton Yutzy is the associate pastor of the Maranatha Community Fellowship Church in Plain City. He can be reached by e-mail at revelton@gmail.com.
