Dying of Laughter

The Capital Times has a cure for what\’s ailing you:

Start an imaginary lawn mower and follow it around the room. When the mower runs out of gas, try another laughter exercise. Put a straw in your mouth and smile — it\’s especially funny when everyone in the circle does it, too. Dance the Hokey Pokey, and let yourself chuckle loud and often. Soon it will be spontaneous, and the laughter becomes contagious.

They go on to report all the health benefits of laughter as medicine. Seems perfectly reasonable to me. But let me go on record: If someone tried to save my life by pushing an imaginary lawn mower around the room, I would end up dying a painful death.

The article discuss laughter as it relates to terminal patients:

So it\’s not surprising that when people are near death and given a choice, 84 percent chose humor over seriousness, says hospice researcher Doug Smith.

Another study published in the American Journal of Hospice Care found that 85 percent of terminally ill patients felt that humor would be helpful in their care, but only 14 percent experienced humor from caregivers.

Really, 84% choose humor over \”seriousness?\” Seems like a pretty limited survey. If I conducted my own poll, I would bet 100% would choose \”lap dances\” over \”humor.\”

And you mean Hospice Care isn\’t a field that\’s drawing our top humorous talent? It would seem that caring for the dying is a gold mine for jokes.

\”Gertrude, as soon as you feel like taking a 15 minute break from dying, I\’m going to make lawn mower noises.\”

Actually, the last really good laugh I got was when I saw the Cap Times\’ circulation numbers. That extended my life by at least 5 minutes.