The National Indian and Inuit Community Health Representatives Organization was honored to have received ‘Platinum’ sponsorship by Donna Cona, one of Canada’s leading Aboriginal information technology firms. In addition to sponsorship of the luncheon on the first day of the conference,
representatives of their firm provided information and
answered inquiries about their organization at their display booth in the exhibit hall.

The delegates were also treated to a humorous 20-minute
luncheon presentation given by Audrey Lawrence, Director of Management Consulting at Donna Cona. “Keeping Light When The Work Gets Heavy!” proved to be an apt title for an audience made up predominantly of Community Health Representatives, widely known for their ability to manage demanding workloads. The following question posed to the audience gives the gist of her presentation: “Why has humour become a recognized asset in the workplace?” The answer lies within the following facts: humour reduces stress, makes us feel good and a person cannot feel good and feel stressed at the same time! It also activates the body’s physiological systems, including muscular, respiratory and cardiovascular. Ms. Lawrence emphasized these points with the memorable adage: Blessed are the flexible for they shall not be bent out of shape!

Ha ha ha!!

Laughter can be healing to all persons regardless of age and health status. According to Dr. Annette Goodheart, “Healthy, non-ridiculing and connecting laughter provides physiological, psychological and spiritual benefits.” She adds that we are born with laughter and it is being serious that we learn.

One notable example of the healing power of laughter is the case of the late Norman Cousins, who is known as the man who laughed his way to health and tells his story in the book “Anatomy of an Illness.” Mr. Cousins was diagnosed with a rare, crippling, arthritis-like disease called ‘ankylosing spondylitis’ which causes the breakdown of collagen, the fibrous tissue that binds together the body’s cells. Paralyzed and given a few months to live, he checked himself out of the hospital and moved into a hotel where he discarded the traditional method of treatment and began a self-designed regimen of extremely high doses of vitamin C and laughter. This continuous dose of laughter was induced by watching movies such as Marx Brothers comedies and episodes of the popular 1960s television show, ‘Candid Camera’. Throughout this
treatment, he worked with his doctor, who helped him use his own powers of laughter, courage and determination to successfully mobilize his body’s own natural healing resources. It is a remarkable story that demonstrates what the mind and body, working together, can do to overcome illness.

Hee HEE hee!!

Since the 1979 account of the healing powers of laughter put forth by Norman Cousins, there has been an upsurge of
researchers who are busy assessing humour’s impact on health. One such researcher is Lee S. Berk, PhD, who has studied the effect of depression, stress and other negative emotions on the immune system. On the other side of the coin, he has studied the effect of positive emotional states on physical well-being. According to the article, “Researchers Harness the Power of Humor” by Rebecca A. Clay, located at www.artsci.gmcc.ab.ca on the Internet, Berk and his colleagues have found that joyful laughter enhances immune functioning in several key ways:

-Levels of cortisol (which suppresses the immune system) drop significantly.
-Levels of infection-fighting immunoglobulins, which serve as the body’s most important defense mechanisms, increase.
-The activity of natural killer cells, which seek out and destroy abnormal cells, increases significantly.
-Levels of plasma cytokine gamma interferon, which enhances immune system functioning, more than double.

Laughter has also been called “inner jogging,” an aerobic workout of sorts in which laughing 100 times is roughly equivalent to spending 10 minutes on a rowing machine or 15 minutes on a stationary bicycle, according to W.F. Frye, MD and clinical professor of psychiatry at Stanford University Medical School. Berk sums up the essence of the research findings on laughter and illness when he states, “Laughter is hazardous to your illness.”

The following adages in Ms. Audrey Lawrence’s presentation provide mirthful truths to the presence of laughter in our lives:

If you are too busy to laugh, you are too busy!
Seven days without laughter makes one weak.
Some days you are the dog and some days, the hydrant!