In terms of being a conduit or energy source for wellbeing few phenomena can compete with being a clown.
Clowns have longeivity on their side. The most ancient "clowns" have been found in the Fifth Dynasty of Egypt, around 2400 BC.
Unlike court jesters, clowns have traditionally served a socio-religious and psychological role, and traditionally the roles of priest and clown have been held by the same persons.
Confirming a view from Elizabeth MacKinlay Director of the Centre for Ageing and Pastoral Studies at St Mark's National Theological Centre, Canberra, that laughter, spirituality and ageing well are inexorably linked.
While some horror story writers have used clowns as central characters of mayhem and evil they’re better known as purveyors of unrestrained joy and laughter. One reason why clowns, the ‘specialists’ in delivering humour ‘therapy’, are at the cutting edge of making older people laugh. Their brand of medicine produces powerful outcomes indicating that laughter is one of the best anti-ageing secrets.
A number of studies on older people with dementia living in nursing homes hone in on the effects of humour therapy and quality of life. For example, it was found that agitation levels decreased significantly in nursing homes where medical clowns worked with humour therapy. In stark contrast to homes where no laughter activities took place.
Findings from other studies confirm that medical clowns had a beneficial and effective impact when working with persons with dementia, integrating skills such as drama, music and dance. Humour can stimulate social interactions in dementia care.
Positive emotions and laughter may enable people with dementia to cope better with their illness, improve immune defence, increase pain tolerance and decrease stress response.
Such results point to effects that resemble intervention studies involving psychosocial interventions where social activities reduce aggressive and depressive behaviour among older people with dementia.
Stress has been shown to accelerate ageing and disease, anything you can do to reduce stress has to be good. So how about laughing more?
Recent research has shown that laughter really does help us in managing stress. Adopting a humorous view of life’s difficulties can take the edge off every day stressful situations.
Laughter prevents tension building up and stops the release of damaging stress hormones into the body.
