How To Use "Laughter Is The Best Medicine" For Your Joints

Experts in mind-body connections have long recommended laughter as a supplemental therapy for chronic health problems, especially pain. Why? Having a chuckle relaxes muscles, boosts circulation, and dissolves stress. You can't help but feel better, even if only temporarily.

But can a good guffaw really ease painful joints and help arthritis? Recently, Japanese experts decided to find out.

Researchers at the Nippon Medical School in Tokyo invited 57 people (average age mid-50s) to spend an hour listening to rakugo - traditional Japanese comic stories - told by an expert. Twenty-six of the guests had rheumatoid arthritis. Before and after the laugh sessions, their mood and pain levels were assessed, and various blood tests were done.

The good news: The arthritis group not only was in a remarkably better mood afterward (no surprise) but also reported dramatic decreases in pain. And their blood tests showed their good feelings weren't all in their heads. They had significant drops in blood levels of cortisol, interleukin-6, and interferon gamma - key indicators of inflammation and other rheumatoid activity.

Even better, the effects weren't fleeting. Measurable improvements lasted for about a month after the hour of funny stories, according to the researchers.

So if you're in pain, rent a funny video, read a humorous book, buy a collection cartoon strips, treat yourself to an evening at a comedy club, go to the circus - do anything that will keep you grinning for an hour or so. Laughing and smiling sends "happy messages" to your brain. You may find they affect your overall body chemistry - and your inflammation levels - in a positive way.

Note: Here are some comedies that offer chortles for a few hours - available for rental at most video rental stores and online rental services. So rent-a-laugh, sit back and grin, and then slide comfortably off to sleep with a smile on your face.

- Some Like It Hot

- A Fish Called Wanda

- Bringing Up Baby

- It Happened One Night

- Annie Hall

- A Night at the Opera

- City Lights

-The Awful Truth

- A Shot in the Dark

- Monty Python and the Holy Grail

- This is Spinal Tap

- Sleeper

- His Girl Friday

- Singin' in the Rain

- The Producers

- The Twelve Chairs

- Blazing Saddles

- Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery

- The Life of Brian

- Tootsie

- Duck Soup

- The Graduate

- Airplane!

- There's Something About Mary

- Raising Arizona