If both art and laughter are good for your health, why aren't we encouraging more humor in museums and hospitals? We are taught to approach art with awe and respect-and to treat medicine as deadly serious business. It follows, then, that overt displays of humor, such as laughing or joking in a museum, doctor's office, or hospital, are probably in bad taste. But if viewing and making art can lower rates of anxiety and depression and help soothe chronic pain-and if laughter helps blood vessels function better and improves the flow of oxygen to the heart and brain-then perhaps we unwittingly deprive our patrons and patients of an important tool in the health and wellness toolbox. © 2020 American Medical Association. All Rights Reserved.
Fawn Ring. Should We Be Laughing More in Art Museums and Hospitals? AMA journal of ethics. 2020 Jul 01;22(7):E624-627
PMID: 32744233
View Full Text