Your Mood and Your Immune System

A story circulates that scientists watched immune cells in a separated drop of blood "wake up" when the donor laughed in another room. We couldn't find that study, so don't rely on it. What is well documented is real and powerful: chronic stress suppresses the immune system. In one classic study, wounds healed about 24% slower in highly stressed caregivers than in matched controls (Kiecolt-Glaser et al., The Lancet, 1995). The field is called psychoneuroimmunology.

Norman Cousins described using laughter, along with medical care, during a serious illness in Anatomy of an Illness (1979). Laughter, connection, prayer and rest are not luxuries; they are part of the immune system's environment.