Research supports laughter being tied to longevity
Carl Reiner, 97, has been a comedic icon for more than 70 years, a perennial favorite of baby boomers who grew up with Sid Caesar and Dick Van Dyke. But even younger generations have come to appreciate his singular wit. He’s been an actor, screenwriter and director, as well as a legendary straight man for his old pal Mel Brooks. He believes humor has enriched his life and boosted his longevity.
“Laughter is my first priority,” he said. “I watch something every night that makes me laugh. I wake up and tickle myself while I’m still in bed.
“There is no greater pleasure than pointing at something, smiling and laughing about it. I don’t think there is anything more important than being able to laugh. When you can laugh, life is worth living. It keeps me going. It keeps me young.”
In 2017, Reiner hosted an HBO documentary “If You’re Not in the Obit, Eat Breakfast,” featuring a number of stillactive nonagenarians, including Brooks, who turned 93 in June; Van Dyke, also 93; TV producer Norman Lear, who will be 97 this month ; and actress Betty White, 97. He believes their good health — and his — is why they still enjoy humor and stay funny.
“You can’t laugh unless you’re feeling good enough to laugh,” Reiner said.
True — but experts who study the effects of humor say it works both ways. It’s easy to laugh when you are well, but studies suggest that laughter also can improve health and possibly stave off disease, thereby extending life. It also eases stress and helps the ill cope with their sickness and pain.
“When people are funny, they attract other people, and community connectedness is the social currency for longevity,” said Edward Creagan, professor of medical oncology at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science. “Nobody wants to be around negative, whiny people. It’s a drain. We’re attracted to funny people.”
That old cliche about laughter being the best medicine, as with many cliches, is probably grounded in truth. The psychological effects of laughter are obvious, but it might bring physiological benefits as well. Moreover, it’s free and has no bad side effects.
Laughter stimulates the body’s organs by increasing oxygen intake to the heart, lungs and muscles, and stimulates the brain to release more endorphins, according to the Mayo Clinic. It also helps people handle stress by easing tension, relaxing the muscles and lowering blood pressure. It relieves pain and improves mood. Laughter also strengthens the immune system.
“When we laugh, it decreases the level of the evil stress hormone cortisol,” Creagan said. “When we are stressed, it goes high, and this interferes with the parts of the brain that regulate emotions. When that happens, the immune system deteriorates and becomes washed in a sea of inflammation, which is a factor in heart disease, cancer and dementia. Cortisol interferes with the body’s immune system, putting us at risk for these three groups of diseases.”
For sick people, laughter can distract from pain and provide them with a sense of control when they otherwise might feel powerless, experts say. Moreover, it’s often the patients themselves who crack the jokes.
The results of a 15-year Norwegian study of 53,556 participants — conducted by Sven Svebak, professor emeritus at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology who has studied the health impact of humor for more than 50 years — and his colleagues indicate that humor can delay or prevent certain lifethreatening diseases. The scientists measured the subjects’ sense of humor with a health survey that included, among other things, a cognitive element “asking the participants to estimate their ability to find something funny in most situations,” Svebak said.
Women with high cognitive scores experienced a reduced risk of premature death from cardiovascular and infectious diseases. Men who scored high cognitively had a reduced risk of early death from infections. The study found no effects on cancer and other causes of death.
The benefits gradually faded with increasing age and disappeared after age 85.
“This means that a higherthan-average cognitive sense of humor is no vaccine to protect you against death in the end, although it will increase your probability of getting old,” Svebak said.
More than 60 years ago, Reiner and Brooks— who still visits Reiner at home several times a week— began performing an iconic comedy sketch at parties, which comedian Steve Allen persuaded them to record. “The 2000-Year-old Man” features Reiner, the interviewer, probing the memories of a character, improvised by Brooks with a Yiddish accent, who claims to have lived for 2,000 years. It was an instant hit, and now is considered a classic.
At one point, Reiner, the interviewer, asks Brooks, the ancient character, to reveal the secrets of his very long life.
“The major thing, the major thing, is that I never, ever eat fried food,” the old man says. “I don’t eat it, I wouldn’t look at it, and I don’t touch it. Never run for a bus, there’ll always be another.”
He also warns people to stay out of small Italian sports cars, especially Ferraris, and urges them to eat lots of fruit, particularly nectarines.
“Even a rotten one is good,” he says. “I’d rather eat a rotten nectarine than a fine plum. What do you think of that?”
Today, Reiner says he believes the old man should have added one more piece of advice to that list:
“Keep laughing,” Reiner says. “You’ll live forever.”