“Funny or die” has a whole new meaning, thanks to a large study published in April in Psychosomatic Medicine. Women with a strong sense of humor were found to live longer in spite of illness, especially cardiovascular disease and infection. Mirthful men seem to be protected against infection. Norwegian researchers reported findings from a 15-year study on the link between sense of humor and mortality among 53,556 women and men in their country. The team assessed the cognitive, social and affective components of humor using a validated questionnaire, and examined death from specific conditions: heart disease, infection, cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
