e-Health 2022 closing keynote: Laughter is the best medicine
The annual e-Health Conference & Tradeshow took place virtually on June 1st and 2nd, 2022.
Over 400 digital health professionals came together to showcase their projects, learn, and network.
The event concluded with a motivational and humorous closing keynote from Dr. Brad Nieder, The Healthy Humorist, with Zach Wells. The closing keynote was sponsored by Orion Health.
From jokes about washing our hands to the song “Happy Birthday,” to the interactive poll “What is the best song to use as a punchline for Dr.Brad’s handwashing joke,” attendees observed and participated in lighthearted entertainment.
All jokes aside, Dr. Nieder mentioned a study conducted by Michael Roizen about the concept of RealAge — calculating your age based on your social determinants of health. Dr. Nieder said, “He [Roizen] determined that laughter can help us feel up to eight years younger and, consequently, live up to eight years longer.”
In addition, the audience learned that the average preschooler laughs as much as 400 times a day, while an adult only laughs an average of 10 times a day.
The benefits of laughter
- Laughter helps with pain management. Hospitalized patients who laughed and were shown comedy videos had a higher pain tolerance and required lower doses of pain medication.
- Laughter helps with stress management. Stress hormones like cortisol are reduced when we laugh.
- Laughter boosts our immune system, IgA and T-cells of the body.
- Laughter creates stronger social bonds. Social interactions are healthy; isolated people may take longer to recover from illness or surgery.
- Laughter gives us a facial muscle workout.
- Laughter is an aerobic workout. When we laugh, our hearts pump harder, our lungs breathe deeper, and oxygen surges through the bloodstream.
Dr. Nieder shared some great quotes on laughter, aging, and happiness:
“The secret of genius is to carry the spirit of child into old age.”
— Aldous Huxley
“You don’t stop laughing because you grow old. You grow old because you stop laughing.”
— George Burns
“We shall never know all the good that a simple smile can do.”
— Mother Teresa
Dr.Nieder left attendees with a prescription for living a happy and healthy life and a few words as a tribute to his favourite author, Theodor Geisel (Dr. Seuss), who wrote that the key to living happily ever after is to have a sense of humor.
The best medicine is laughter.
Marvelyn Oni, MSc eHealth, is an event correspondent
