Elizabeth Spivey
January 27, 2009
Short Answer Response
English 102

The point that stuck out the most from our last couple readings had to be the health benefits of laughter. I have heard that ever since I was a little girl and I really enjoyed reading about other peoples’ thoughts on that topic. I especially liked reading about Norman Cousins who was nearly paralyzed in the mid-1960s. He told his doctors that he believed that laughing would cure him and so he refused conventional treatment. Later in his life, Norman suffered a major heart attack and recovered, yet again, by laughing.
In Laughing Matters there are quite a few pages that discuss the neuroscience behind laughter and why it is connected to pleasure zones in the brain. I think it makes total sense that laughing and pleasure go hand-in-hand. I think it is important to discuss the benefits of laughing because it is probably the easiest way to de-stress your life. All you have to do in pop in a funny movie or go to youtube where there are infinite laughs to be found.
The article I found about the physical benefits of laughter reiterates all the points in Laughing Matters and Comedy Writing Secrets. The article describes how and where to find humor. I strongly agree with all the points the article makes.




http://stress.about.com/od/stresshealth/a/laughter.htm