When Norman Cousins, the long-term editor-in-chief of the Saturday Review, was diagnosed with a severe collagen disorder-ankylosing spondylitis-at the age of 49, only about 0.2% of the disease's victims saw their condition brought under control.

Told he had little chance of survival, Cousins thought long and hard about what he could do to slow the progress of the disease. Realizing that the many medications he was taking had left him seriously deficient in Vitamin C, he discussed the matter with his doctors, and began supplementing his diet with large amounts of the vitamin. Next, he checked himself out of the hospital. Seeing such facilities as repositories of pathogens and anxious people, he argued that they were "no place for a seriously ill person." He also bought a film projector, which he put to use screening comedies that made him laugh.

On the first day of his new regimen, he discovered that it triggered chemical changes. "I made the joyous discovery that ten minutes of genuine belly laughter had an anesthetic effect and would give me at least two hours of pain-free sleep." He described his treatment program in a book entitled Anatomy of an Illness as Perceived by the Patient.

He also tested his erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR). ESR serves as an indicator of levels of inflammation and infection, with falling levels marking a rise in immune activity. Cousins' testing revealed that his ESR fell when he laughed. After a few weeks of his new regimen, he was able to resume his work. Though never completely eliminating his pain, the Vitamin C and belly laughs coupled with his positive outlook enabled him to live to 75. To his doctors, this was a medical miracle.

Cousins' case inspired Western research into the medical efficacy of laughter, which soon became a new field of psychological research.

On one study, Michael Miller, a professor with the University of Maryland School of Medicine, measured the physiological responses of subjects who had laughed for 20 minutes while watching a comedy and discovered that their blood vessels had dilated by an average of 30%. Miller concluded that laughter caused the brain to release endorphins, which in turn raised levels of nitrogen and oxygen in the blood, causing blood vessels to dilate and increasing blood flow.

In early 2005, Time magazine ran an article entitled "The New Science of Happiness." Psychology has traditionally studied the troubles of the human mind-anxiety, depression, paranoia, panic, delusions, etc. The article discussed the shift in focus of some psychologists, who turned from the darker parts of the human psyche to research into its "sunnier side" about a decade ago. These scholars argue that a positive outlook is the key to health, longevity, and happiness.

Unfortunately, Western experimental research into laughter has yet to convince everyone that it is indeed the best medicine or that it has curative effects. Some scholars have noted that the physiological response to laughter is similar to that of screaming, and doubt whether there is any significant difference. Another issue is the difficulty of determining causality in laughter research. It may be that people who like to laugh are simply less prone to illness. It could also be the case that people who are healthy are not in pain and are therefore more readily able to laugh. There just isn't enough evidence yet.

In Taiwan, scientific research into laughter is just getting underway. A literature review by Chang Chueh, an associate professor with National Taiwan University's Institute of Health Policy and Management, reveals that Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) has long discouraged laughter.

TCM attributes illness to what it calls the Seven Emotions: joy, anger, anxiety, pensiveness, grief, fear, and alarm. While these are all normal adaptive responses to the external environment, TCM holds that powerful emotional stimuli can create imbalances in yin-yang energy.

"Nonetheless, the ideas that 'a smile dissolves enmity,' and that one can dismiss unjustified criticism with a laugh, exist in our traditional culture," says Chang. "The important point is that we have the ability to exercise control over our emotions." Chang believes that it is necessary for our physical and psychological health to appropriately express the laughter and tears that we were taught to hold back. She has personally observed how neurotic patients benefit from laughing, and says that it takes an average of at least three practice sessions before people with repressed personalities are really ready to let loose. She is currently working with the Catholic Sanipax Socio-Medical Service & Education Foundation to recruit 30 diabetics for a study into whether a laughter regimen lowers blood sugar levels.

While we await further evidence from the scientific community, there's certainly no harm in treating laughter as another variety of alternative therapy.