First, the actual reason it's called the funny bone: turns out there's a nerve in the arm called the ulnar nerve. It runs near, you guessed it, the ulna. It's the largest unprotected nerve in the body, that is, unprotected by muscle or bone. There also happens to be a bone called the humerous. So, it is believed the moniker 'funny bone' came about as a pun...humerous ...humorous. Get it? (har har)
Okay. So there's where it came from. Still, it's not at all funny when you whack it, even if you know why they call it that. Of course, you could try thinking about all this the next time you do (whack your funny bone), and see if it makes a difference. But, that's not at the point of all this. (Yes. There is a point.)
I got to thinking about all this, (my mind does very strange dances sometimes) after I did whack my funny bone. I was hopping around, holding my elbow, hollering, "it is SO not funny!". Then, one thought led to another and I started laughing anyway. The moment I did, the pain just sort of went away. Just like that. It vanished. I was pretty surprised and equally pleased. But what had my little pea brain just discovered? What did laughing have to do with my pain? HUH?
Being the curious little imp that I am, my next step was, of course, to see what I could find out about the effects of laughter on the human body. What I found was that there've been thousands (or more!) studies on this very subject, especially in the last 50 years or so. Those studies have proven that laughter does, indeed, improve our health. In a lot of ways. It reduces stress hormones, lowers blood pressure, strengthens cardiovascular functions, improves circulation, increases muscle flexion, boosts immune function, oxygenates the body (by boosting the respiratory system) and, yes, triggers the release of endorphins, the body's natural pain-killers!
Who knew? Well, apparently lots of folks do. And more and more health practitioners are "prescribing" laughter in their treatment of patients, from those recovering from heart surgery to kids fighting cancer. The not-so-surprising news is that it works! Remember that old adage, "laughter is the best medicine"? (As I recall, Reader's Digest used to have a section with that title. My dad was a big fan.) Well, turns out whoever came up with that was absolutely right. When we are in pain, or feeling under the weather, or plain old bummed out, just one big chuckle can change your whole body....in an instant. AND if you choose to go with it, that is, keep laughing and keep feeding whatever it is that's making you laugh, your recovery time can be cut in half. IN HALF! Can you imagine???
Well, I can. I've been "playing" with this for a while now, as I've wandered along my own little physical adventure into the realms of dis-ease. And I can tell you first hand: the more I laugh, the better I feel. The better I feel, the faster I recover. Without drugs. Without any other treatments, without surgery or physical therapy. I've used laughter as my medicine and it has improved the quality of my life tenfold. It's made me more aware of just how much we're wired to enjoy ourselves. We're WIRED that way. Here's another very interesting little tidbit:
Laughter is a mechanism everyone has; laughter is part of universal human vocabulary. There are thousands of languages, hundreds of thousands of dialects, but everyone speaks laughter in pretty much the same way. Everyone can laugh. Babies have the ability to laugh before they ever speak. Children who are born blind and deaf still retain the ability to laugh.
And then there's Norman Cousins, who developed his own "recovery program". He states:
"I made the joyous discovery that ten minutes of genuine belly laughter had an anesthetic effect and would give me at least two hours of pain-free sleep. When the pain-killing effect of the laughter wore off, we would switch on the motion picture projector again and not infrequently, it would lead to another pain-free interval."
Pretty cool, huh? So...
When was the last time you rolled on the floor and held your belly from all that laughter tickling YOUR funny bone?
Camille Strate
Camille Strate is a blossoming Being who spends much of her time writing. She also spends an immense amount of time crafting magickal treasures out of wood. When she makes time for it, she rolls around in the grass with her dogs and cat, pretending to be 9 years old. More often than not, she's got a smile on her face & a whole boat-load of love in her heart. Visiting
her website is highly recommended.
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