Laughter really is the best medicine...so watch a good comedy

DOCTOR Phil Evans, specialist in humour-ology, here!

At your service 24/7.

Do step into my consulting room and take a seat.

No! Not that one! The cat was just sick over it.

What caused it to be sick? How do I know? I’m a doctor, not a vet.

It’s often been said that laughter is the best medicine.

Although if you’re diabetic, I wouldn’t advise you to chuck out your insulin and binge on a boxed-set of Dad’s

Army DVDs . . .

However, it’s on record that people with serious illnesses can be helped back to recovery by having laughter therapy.

In one American study, heart attack patients were divided into two groups: one half was placed under standard medical care while the other half watched comedy DVDs for 30 minutes each day. After one year, the ‘humour’ group had fewer arrhythmias, lower blood pressure, lower levels of stress hormones, and required lower doses of medication. The nonhumour group had two and a half times more recurrent heart attacks than the humour group.

Apparently, there’s also a type of therapy called ’laughter yoga’, but surely if you watch a Laurel and Hardy classic while standing on your head, the combination will cause hiccups and indigestion rather than giggles?

That’d be another fine mess . . . Medical studies also reveal that even if you have no real reason to laugh – like when you’re listening to any Radio Four comedy show – even if you force yourself to chortle, giggle or guffaw, it’ll release endorphins in your body that are excellent for your health.

This evidence strengthens something I’ve always believed: That in today’s world, the ability to make people laugh - and for people to be able to laugh as often as possible - is more important than ever.

We take life too seriously, in the main because of what we read in our newspapers and see on the TV news - or we are touched by something that affects us, our relatives or our friends on a more personal level.

From the brief evidence I’ve presented, it does seem laughter’s an important part of a healthy life, both mentally and physically.

We all feel depressed and visit dark places at times, but for many of us there is always someone close, who can lift our spirits and make us smile.

Why not make an effort to be that person who lifts people’s spirits when needed?

You could start by lending me your boxed set of Dad’s Army DVDs!