LAUGHTER, M.D.

Mataura Ensign, 10 September 1907, Page 2 (Supplement)

LAUGHTER, M.D.

3IKHRIMKXT HKTTKIt TITAX DOCTORS.

(Hy I)r. Klizalieth Sloan C'hcsser.) To tho observer of human nature a man's or a woman's sense of liunior is an excelent index of eliaraeter. What sort of a joke appeals to a man!'' What given set of circumstances will tickle the risihle faculties of a particular individual? Tho answer to that <juestion tells a great deal, because diiterent tyiM'S of people have different ideas nf what, is funny, and different standards of humor. There is the man who laughs most, heartily at the discomfiture of a friend, the humorist to whom a change of hats is the signal for shrieks of merriment, and the type who sees wit in horseplay and humor 111 teasing the weak and defenceless. MARRIAGE WITH LOT HUMOR. Sense of humor differs as much as taste in dress; the people who appreciato the same sort of jokes, who laugh at the same things, have at least one strong incentive to friendship. Ma ny marriages an- failures because husband and wife are unsympathetic in their sense of humor; they can never enjoy a mutual joke, or elear away the cobwebs with a hearty laugh. Men dearly love to assert that women are deficient in humor, and there is certainly an essential difference lietween a man's and a woman's joke. Woman's wit is more subtle; a man's jokes leave j less to the imagination. Man is, perhaps, more humorous in that be can appreciate a joke against himself. He stands chaff better, because chaff is a form of "humor' more prevalent among men. LIFK MADK EASY.

There is no doubt that a keen sense of humor makes all the difference to one's outlook upon life. Life is never so hard to the individual who can laugh at his own misfortunes. The man who knows how to laugh halves his difficulties and doubles his amusements. The effect of laughter upon mind and matter is very great. We all have had practical experience of the tonic and stimulative influence of a good hearty laugh; irritation melts, anger flies liefore a hurst of laughter. The anj;ry man who can be induced to laugh is immediately disarmed. The merry heart cannot harbor ill thoughts and unkind intentions towards other people. GOOD FOIt THE HKAKT.

Tho effect of laughter upon the body is also marked. Laughter increases the heart's action, stimulates the circulation, and improves the whole vitality. It is a cure for dyspepsia, a remedy for more than oik 1 of tho ills that tlesh is lieir to. The man who is merry at table, w ho likes to laugh at his dinner, escapes dyspepsia, because mirth and laughter aid digestion and stimulate the secretions of the liody like appetising odors and pleasant music. Ati after dinner laugh is cheaper and more efficacious than an after dinner pill, and indigestion is the inevitable result of fiftnily Squabbles alid conjugal bickering at table. The meal that is eaten to the accompaniment of amusing conversation and jest and joke and repartee is more easily digested, more easily assimilated in consequence. Worry, annoyance, or bad temper spoil the appetite: the dinner demolished under a fire of argument and quarrelling is neither palatable nor profitable. The blood flows more easily through the liver and other organs after a good laugh: the circulation is accelerated and the brain is rendered active and keen as a result; and we look at things from an entirely different point of view when digestion is normal and the circulation of the blood is as it ought to lie.

THK WAY OF HEALTH. A sluugish liver is more often responsible for malicious thoughts and evil acts than we realise. Is not tlie villain of the play invariably of a brooding, melancholy tyi>e, mirthless, landless, and of an innocent sense oj wit ami merriment r A sense of humor, the capacity to lati<;li to themselves and the world, would emm-ret most villains into harmless, inoffensive individuals enough. Laughing inHuences for good even system in the body. Hearty laughtci brings into play a complicated system of muscles, it increases the capacity nt the chest, and encourages the health ful expansion of the lungs. When m Jaugli the diaphragm descends, the rii» are raised, fresh air rushes into the lungs, and the body is supplied with blood rich in oxygen, with the reMill that the tissues are better nourished, and the nervous and muscular system of the Ikklv corrcsi>omlingly developed. Tile mirthless, melancholy mall, the worrying woman, without a laugh to face the world with, assuredly .suffer in health for the lack of laughter. NKC'ItKT OK VOI'TH.

They certainly age more quickly; the leadiness to laugh characterises youth and good humor. :i happy disposition, and a childlike mind. Just as the humorist is horn, not made, mi ne are blest or cursed at birth with a happy disposition or a lugubrious soul: but the facilty ol laughter can Ik- cultivated or discouraged. We can make a habit of looking at the bright side of tilings if we like, and it is worth while to do so from the health point of tilings alone.

We tend to take lilt' too seriously nowadays. The young people, even tin- children, are stiad and elderly liefore lift.- has well begun. Hypcrrivilisation discourages natural merriment: fashionable wit is epigrammatic and rewarded with a smile. Jtut everybody is the better for an occasional laugh, and if we habitually discourage laughter and make a habit or pose of immobility, our risible faculties become gradually dulled and extinguished from disuse, and we suffer in ennMi)Ueuce. Our very expressions lack something, because laughter develops tlie muscles of the face, and the lack of it brings a harvest of premature wrinkles and the look of age to the face. The old saying """Laugh and grow fat," illustrates the fact that the habit of latlghtcr helps the nutrition of tlxskill and the underlying tissue.-, and favors the deposit of fat in the body. The worrying, mirthless individual is habitnully lean and lined: an casv. placid, lmppy uiiud tends to health and longevity. Children should lie encouraged to laugh as loudly and heartily as thev wish. Repeated hearty outbursts of laughter are better than, physical exercises or gymnastic training in ensuring bodily development and teaching a child to practice deep breathing and expand the chest. " TO FK;HT COXSOII'TIOX. Laughter counteracts consumption, because of its action upon the lung tissues: when we laugh heartily we breathe deeply, find it is only in deep breathing that the apices of the lungs (which extend upwards above tin- collarlmncs anil where unsuspected tubercle may lurk) are pro|>erly inflated with air. The child who is always laughing thrives and grows fat and

develops ;t reserve of strength mid vitality which will prove valuable ill years later. He will get more happiness anil satisfaction out of life, too. Hecanse there is 110 doubt thai laughter and a genuine sense of humor makes for popularity. XOTHIX(i COM MOX I'I.AC It. often makes life bearable ami saves many a man from abject misery, many a woman from herself. Life is never sordid or commonplace to the people who are. blessed with tho saving sense of humor. They get a truer conception of life, a more kindly understanding of their fellow beings for its possession. Thev have the seeing eye and the understanding heart, the power to get at the real meaning of m> much that is incomprehensible to the man or woman devoid of the sense of humor.