Take 2 Giggles & Lie Down

Whether it's Friends, Saturday Night Live or someone slipping on a banana skin, a good belly laugh lifts our spirits and can pull us out of a downer quick smart.

There's also some evidence that a positive outlook and regular side-splitters may heal us when we're ill.

Researchers Sherry Dunay Hilber, Margaret Stuber and Lonnie Zeltzer from the University of California are in the middle of a study into the effects of positive emotion on very sick children at the Mattel Children's Hospital.

Some of the kids have leukemia and other dreadful diseases and by showing them funny videos, the doctors hope to relieve their pain and help with recovery.

The project is called Rxlaughter and they're calling on comedians to lend a hand...or a couple of lines! They'd also love to hear from you too, so visit their site when you get a chance. A link follows this article.

Laughter therapy raised a lot of interest when author Norman Cousins laughed himself to wellness after being diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis, which is a degenerative tissue disease.

After watching Marx Brothers movies and episodes of Candid Camera, he made a full recovery!

Laughing releases a bunch of good chemicals like adrenaline, endorphins and encephalins, which are the body's painkillers. It also relieves tension and is like a mini exercise workout if you have a really big guffaw.

But according to Dr Kataria who conducts laughter tours in India, people with hernias, hemorrhoids, and heart disease with chest pain should not laugh too hard until they get better. Some hearty smiles should do the trick!

Dr Patch Adams from the Gesundheidt Institute told CNN that he wants us to be a society that is celebrating: 'I find just walking around in colorful clothes, people smile...if I see people fighting in public, if I change into my clown character, I can stop the fight, so far, 100 percent of the time.' No wonder they made a movie about him.

Comedian, cancer survivor and author of the book A Life In The Balance Scott Burton said of his disease: 'In facing cancer, life is different, but not any less present. So, just as there was humor in life before cancer, there can be humor in life during cancer.'

Hopefully none of us will suffer a life-threatening illness, but it's hard not be miserable when we have our own problems.

Try the laughter approach. What have you got to lose? Certainly not your sense of humor!

When things get a bit on top of you or you are sick, hire a couple of comedy films and have a great big chuckle. Look up some joke sites on the web.

A good way to deal with people who get you down or make you angry is to LAUGH. I'm serious! Don't let anybody get under your skin. Laugh it off. Develop a thick comedy skin and don't let 'em in!

I'll leave you with some advice from Aussie health gurus and BodyalkMagazine friends Kerry and Rowena McEvoy:

Detonate negative people out of your life and take a daily MEGADOSE of Vitamin H - humor!