Hassed C
Department of Community Medicine and General Practice, Monash University, Victoria.
Australian Family Physician [2001, 30(1):25-28]

BACKGROUND: The beneficial effect of humour on health has long been recognised anecdotally and intuitively but studying and quantifying that effect is difficult. 'Studying humour is like dissecting a frog--you may know a lot but you end up with a dead frog.' (Mark Twain)

OBJECTIVE: To describe some of the psychological and physiological effects of laughter and the health benefits of humour.