A dose of humor does the body good

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- The chaplain with a pig snout visiting patients in Jefferson City's St. Marys Health Center personifies what many medical professionals and researchers are prescribing for their patients -- a good dose of humor.

Medical professionals agree patients' health is no laughing matter, but they are increasingly looking to a growing body of evidence indicating humor's benefits for physical and mental health, as well as patient-caregiver relationships.

After getting to know them, Chaplain Jim Gearhart intentionally uses humor to relate to patients, their families and hospital staff.

But lightening the mood need not mean silly costumes or telling a joke, Gearhart said. For him, it's about being able to be comfortable with somebody and making himself accessible to them.

"Humor allows you to take a little control over your situation," Gearhart said. "If we take things too seriously, emotionally we get weighed down, and that doesn't help physically."

Peggy Van Gundy, St. Marys director of mission effectiveness, said humor in the medical workplace is needed to release some tension.

"It's a way of venting all the emotion inside when dealing with life and death situations," she said.

Like many medical professionals, Linda Schultz, licensed psychologist department supervisor at Capital Region Medical Center in Jefferson City, selectively incorporates humor in her patients' treatment.

Schultz identified some of the physical and emotional benefits of taking a lighter look at life.

"We know that when people laugh they actually change the molecular substances in their body," Schultz said. "Laughing releases serotonin, increases T cells, increases endorphins and improves the immune system."

Some T cells, a type of white blood cell, can increase immune response. Serotonin, a neurotransmitter, is key to mood regulation. Endorphins, "the body's natural painkiller," are made in response to pain or extreme physical exertion.

Stress causes these responses to go in the opposite direction, causing negative thoughts and paranoia, while observing things from a different angle using humor can give people greater problem-solving ability, Schultz said.

Not only can it cause poor mental health, stress can also have adverse physiological outcomes.

Dr. Greg Markway, a St. Marys psychologist, cited several studies demonstrating the adverse effects of stress and depression upon heart health.

A Duke University study focused on patients with heart disease, and revealed the group that received 16 weeks of stress management training to have a 74 percent reduction in recurring "cardiac events" such as heart attack, surgery, angioplasty and death.

He said cortisol, a stress hormone, affects heart rate, blood pressure, the formation of plaque in the arteries among other things, so anything a person can do to reduce stress and feel more optimistic will have a positive influence.

But people need not wait until a health crisis, Markway said. Humor as a component of stress management may prevent a variety of problems from occurring.

Markway said he uses humor to relate to some patients because it makes them feel like he's treating them as a person if he can joke with them.

In his treatment, Markway said he would sometimes recommend patients watch a TV show or movie that relates to their condition to help them put a different spin on it.

He said improving patients' outlooks isn't confined to humorous interactions. He encourages patients to get involved in a positive activity or spend time with family.

"I think so many of us are so busy that pleasure comes if we have time left over and we have to realize that being involved in some sort of pleasurable activity needs to be a priority because it's actually health-promoting."

Wilfred Toebben, 80, has taken this advice in his own life. He has been offering communion to patients and their families at St. Marys on Friday mornings since 1997. On Wednesdays, he visits nursing home residents and offers communion.

That's not bad for someone who said he "started falling apart in 1996," and since then has had eight heart bypasses and nine stents.

Toebben said he makes his visits with a smile on his face, and will sometimes joke about himself to make patients smile.

"I just feel like I bring a little joy to those people, and they're younger than I am," Toebben said.

Toebben attributes the fact that he's "still going" to his faith, his outlook and doing things he enjoys.

"There's no sense in walking around and worrying about it," Toebben said. "When you've got it (an illness) you've got it."

Undoubtedly, humor has its benefits, but like anything, can be overdone.

Van Gundy said sometimes humor is used as an escape mechanism.

"Sometimes we meet someone with a serious illness who only jokes about it ... and it's a way of them avoiding their own feelings or not going to the depths of it," she said.

Schultz also recognized the balance. She said she uses humor selectively in dealing with her patients because sometimes there are a variety of other emotions they need to experience.