The Best Medicine

Although we’ve all heard the adage “Laughter is the best medicine,” I believe that maybe it’s the second-best medicine — after Vitamin C.

In the 1970’s, writer Norman Cousins made healthcare history by treating his “incurable” auto-immune illness, not with mainstream medicine, but with laughter. Ankylosing spondylitis is extremely painful and discouraging. Cousins made a good recovery, famously by checking into a hotel, renting a movie projector (this was before the internet), and playing comedy TV shows and movies in order to laugh himself into pain relief and blessed sleep.

When his story was published in the New England Journal of Medicine, it launched a new branch of medicine now known as psychoneroimmunology. Later, Cousins published his own book, “Anatomy of an Illness as Perceived by the Patient.” It had a huge cultural effect then and now.

Today, with millions of folks impacted by seemingly “incurable” chronic illnesses (Lyme, mold, Long Covid, Hashimoto’s, and so much more), I wish that I could say that cultivating laughter is a cure-all. Turns out it’s helpful, but it’s only part of the picture of Norman Cousins’ famous recovery.

The other part of Cousin’s recovery from “incurable” auto-immune disease was … Vitamin C. Large doses administered intravenously (IVC). He got well! In recent years, we witnessed high-dose IVC was equally successful curing Covid, even though its use was very strongly discouraged in favor of the mRNA shots that were rushed into production and administered to millions while still experimental & unproven. But that’s another story for another day.

For today, let’s take another look at The Laughter Cure:

I love to laugh — who doesn’t? And I really love the way I feel after a good long hearty laugh; there’s a special sense of well-being that lingers after laughter. The other night I fell asleep still giggling after watching a comedy video; what a weird way to fall asleep, I said to myself, chuckling even more at my own foolishness. The next morning I woke up feeling much more cheery than usual, and my week-long nausea was gone, too. This was not just my imagination or wishful thinking; belly laughs have profound and measurable health benefits.

Laughter induces a wonderful set of hormones called endorphins, our own natural painkillers, some of them ten times stronger than morphine, and all of them able to modulate the immune system. Endorphins not only relieve pain (both emotional and physical), they also wake up our own natural defenses against infections, cancer, even auto-immune disease (modulation means bringing levels to the optimal mid-range). What a gift! I want more of this, for myself and for my dear patients!

That’s why I searched so hard to find a laughter yoga class nearby. I wanted to feel that good, and I wanted that boost of healing energy, as often as possible. But laughter yoga is not easy to find these days, so in the end I had to create the class myself. I recruited the finest Certified Laughter Yoga Teacher in Beaverton, Ms. Kelly Hobson, a petite lady with a contagious, booming belly laugh. Together we offered a monthly series of participatory workshops. Goodness knows it wasn’t profitable, just a labor of love. But oh, the joy we all felt during our 60 minutes of giggles, silliness, ho-ho-ho’s, and yoga-style breathing exercises.

And then there’s the goofy grin that was still stuck on my face when I woke up the next morning. I wished I could always feel this good!

Our local newspaper, the Southwest Community Connection, got wind of our workshops, and featured us in the Oct. 2011 issue, here: Providing ‘the best medicine.’

So now we’re in 2025, post pandemic, and my beloved Laughter Yoga class is in the rear view mirror. If you know of a Laughter Yoga series in the Portland area, please let me know. I would dearly love to be able to send my patients to something so healing and uplifting. Meanwhile, as almost all my current patients can attest, I cultivate humor and offer encouragement (from the French word couer, heart) to all who are in my care.

Wishing you well! Many blessings. -Dr.Deb