Ha-Ha

The force of laughing can dislocate jaws,
prompt asthma attacks,
cause headaches, make hernias protrude.

It can provoke cardiac arrhythmia, syncope
or even emphysema (this last,
according to a clinical lecturer in 1892).

Laughter can trigger the rare but possibly grievous
Pilgaard-Dahl and Boerhaave�s syndromes.

There are choking hazards,
such as ingesting food during belly laughs.

We don�t know how much laughter is safe.

There�s probably a U-shaped curve:
laughter is good for you,
but enormous amounts are bad, perhaps.



Taken from Who Says Laughter�s the Best Medicine? in The New York Times, 20 December 2013. Submitted by Howie Good.