Laughter clubs are no joke. (Chicago Tribune, 6/14/2011)
Excerpt: She and other members of the Elgin Hysterical Society, one of more than a dozen such groups in the Chicago area, meet to do nothing more than laugh. They don't tell jokes. They don't watch funny movies. There are no standup comics among them. They just … laugh.
Len Lempa, a social worker at Provena St. Joseph Hospital, started the club in January with the help of Norma Copes, adult services librarian at Gail Borden Public Library. Both are certified group leaders for the club that typically draws about a dozen people each week to the library.
Laughter, Lempa said, helps with pain management by increasing endorphins, and it helps relieve stress.
"If you laugh on a regular basis, your body actually, I think, becomes inhospitable to illness or stress," he said. "It's a bad host."
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