There is a famous example of humor as medicine:
Norman Cousins was recovering from what was diagnosed as an incurable disease. He was bedridden & the doctors gave him no hope at all. So he decided on his own treatment. His family got a movie projector & rented all the Charlie Chaplin & Abbott & Costello movies that they could find - movies where you just sit back & laugh because they are genuinely funny. He ran one movie after another, & the more he watched the more he laughed. The more he laughed, the better he felt. First thing you know, the doctors could find no evidence of the incurable disease.
Norman Cousins went on to be on the staff of the UCLA School of Medicine to help pioneer a new medical discipline: "pyschoneuro-immunology."
An article read by Paul Harvey some time back stated, "Carefully controlled experiments conducted by Cousins & his associates demonstrate that you - just by controlling your mind set - can alter your temperature, your blood pressure & your blood chemistry in a matter of minutes."
It goes on to say, "There is now evidence that cancer patients - liberated from depression - can actually activate the anti-cancer capability of the immune system. 'The human body,' contends Cousins, 'is far more robust than people have been led to believe. A strong will to live, along with the other positive emotions - faith, love, purpose, determination, humor - boosts disease-fighting immune cells.'"
So the proverb is true. If you're joyful in your heart, then that is good medicine. But if you're not joyful, if your spirit is broken, then it dries up your bones. You become old, tired, and grumpy.
