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World Laughter Day is May 4th and people all over the world are going to be gathering for laughfests. Afterall, laughter has been proven to reduce stress, improve heart health and aid in weight loss. What could be a better reason to get your laugh on than that? How about helping people with cancer.

Harold H. Benjamin, PhD, is quoted as saying, "Laughter in and of itself cannot cure cancer nor prevent cancer, but laughter as part of the full range of positive emotions including hope, love, faith, strong will to live, determination and purpose, can be a significant and indispensable aspect of the total fight for recovery."

Chicago businessman, Bill Freed, did just that. "My sweetheart Beverly, age 55, was diagnosed last summer with Stage 4B Cancer of the Cervix," Freed said. "Without treatment, she was given six months to live. With external radiation, internal radiation and chemotherapy, she was given a 10-15% chance to survive for three years. We opted for the medical treatment and supplemented it with an hour of laughter each day. I've been known as a funny fellow for most of my life, so I took it upon myself to coax as many giggles and guffaws per day out of Beverly as was humanly possible. We also played Hey U.G.L.Y's Laughtercising CD of contagious laughter and found that it was near impossible to listen without laughing out loud. We exposed Beverly to healing circles in local churches and remote healing as well. Eight months after starting treatment, Beverly was tested and found to be cancer-free. Truly a miracle - and I believe that her positive attitude and commitment to laughter were in great part responsible for her recovery. I believe it is possible to laugh your way back to good health."

According to University of California, Irvine Professor Lee Berk, "If we took what we know about the medical benefits of laughter and bottled it up, it would require FDA approval. Laughter can lower blood pressure, trigger a flood of endorphins - the brain chemicals that can bring on euphoria and decrease pain, and enhances our immune systems. Gamma-interferon, a disease-fighting protein, rises with laughter. So do B-cells, which produce disease-destroying antibodies, and T-cells, which orchestrate our body's immune response. Laughter lowers the flow of stress hormones, which suppress the immune system, raise blood pressure, and increase the number of platelets, which cause clots and potentially fatal coronary artery blockages."

The late author Norman Cousins credited laughter with helping him beat a potentially fatal connective tissue disease. After his diagnosis, Cousins moved into a hotel room, watched funny videos and movies, read funny books and magazines--and staged a stunning recovery.

So on World Laughter Day, along with having a good laugh to make yourself feel good, if you have a friend who has cancer, visit them and help them get in touch with their inner laughter. Laughter really is the best medicine. No joke!