Love, laughter vital for good health

LOVE is a vital ingredient in maintaining good health.

This is coming from Professor Senator Henry Fraser, who was the special guest speaker at the Rotary Club of Barbados South 31st Installation of Officers held at the Accra Beach Hotel and Spa recently.

“There’s ample evidence of the overwhelming impact of love in changing lives and renewing the spirit, increasing happiness and health.

“There are four kinds of love: romantic love, brotherly love, love between parent and child, and love between man and God. How little time is given to brotherly love for people – friends and neighbours, for parents or children or brothers, for beauty and goodness and truth, and love for God.”

He said that it is the only thing where you get more than you put in. “Love is the only thing in the world that the more you give it away, the more you get.”

Quoting from Mother Theresa, he continued, “Spread love everywhere you go – first at home. Give love to your neighbour. Let no one come to you without leaving better and happier. Be the living expression of God’s kindness in your face, in your eyes, in your smile, in your greeting.”

Fraser also advised the Rotarians not to spend all of that time watching television, as this only increases one’s hunger for material possessions, and when they do watch television, limit it to shows where they can gain knowledge or have a laugh, because the old cliché of laughter being the best medicine holds true.

“It’s now shown that watching too much TV can triple our hunger for more possessions, but reduces our contentment by five per cent for every hour a day we watch. So set yourself a limit of one hour a day – news, discovery channel, or a comedy – because laughter is the best medicine, and let the soaps go where they belong – down the drain.”

Fraser said that serving others is another important ingredient to maintaining good health.

“But Love’s great allies are service, kindness and generosity. In fact, giving and serving and sharing make the giver feel so good, the cynic suggests that giving is selfish because the reward to the giver is so great!”

The Professor said that persons must also remember the spiritual element. “The fourth part of my definition of health –  the spiritual – has somehow become taboo in medicine and difficult to talk about. And yet, the power of faith in God is in constant evidence, and when subjected to scientific scrutiny, it’s clear that prayer is a powerful tool in promoting healing.”