2019 was my 17th year making House Calls as The Healthy Humorist®, and this year’s highlight was being a healthcare keynote speaker on the other side of the world on Guam!
The TakeCare Insurance Company is a health insurance carrier for Micronesia that emphasizes four pillars of healthy living: physical fitness, nutrition, social connection and relaxation. For the past several years, TakeCare has hosted a health and wellness conference on Guam for its employer groups, providers (especially nurses, who receive continuing education units (CEUs) for the program) and the general island community. Previous years’ conference speakers focused on fitness and nutrition, so this year’s organizers wanted to concentrate on why laughter is the best medicine … for its social benefits and its ability to help people relax and unwind from life’s stressors.
I applaud TakeCare’s inclusion of social interaction as a component of a healthy, balanced lifestyle. Indeed, social interaction has been shown to be healthy (as long as people aren’t passing around the flu virus during their interactions!) People who are socially isolated tend to get sick more often and have worse mental health problems than people with good social networks. They take longer to recover from illness, too, and they die younger at a rate far greater than those who have strong social support.
And what is more social than laughter?!? After all, we don’t usually laugh when we’re by ourselves. Well, okay, maybe some of you crack yourselves up. That’s healthy, too … to a point. But we usually laugh when we’re with other people: our friends, relatives and colleagues. In fact, we laugh 30 times more often with others than when we’re alone. There’s eye contact and that delightful contagious sound to bond us together. We release oxytocin, the hormone for social connection (not to be confused with the narcotic, highly addictive painkiller oxycontin, which is no laughing matter! No, oxytocin is different, most widely known as the hormone of labor, effective for contracting the womb … and bonding with the newborn.)
Laughter is relaxing and calming, too. It reduces stress hormones like cortisol, which is part of the “fight or flight” response. Such hormones constrict our blood vessels, increase our blood pressure and suppress our immune system. So, laughter is a great way to combat stress.
Getting booked to be a funny motivational keynote speaker on Guam certainly caused me some stress. First of all, what would I wear for my farthest house call ever?!?! I always let my wife pick my outfit for every speaking engagement; if it were up to me each time, I’d undoubtedly clash and be too casual in some loud island shirt. Sara always knows what’s most appropriate for me to wear, whether it’s a suit, a sport coat, a tuxedo, an ascot or a dickie. But I was nervous as to whether she had an accurate sense of Micronesia fashion. To my amazement, she suggested I go casual with … an island shirt! The good people at TakeCare confirmed the appropriateness of such attire, so I pulled all my favorite shirts out of the closet and let my Facebook friends decide on my wardrobe.
With that hurdle out of the way, I had to figure out how to get to Guam, which was another stressful endeavor. With a commitment in Denver on Wednesday, and the conference keynote scheduled for three nights later (Saturday evening) on Guam, I could leave Denver on Thursday morning and arrive on Guam Friday evening. (It’s ~15 hours of flying, with a layover of ~90 minutes in either Honolulu or Tokyo, but there’s a day lost due to crossing the international date line.) Tokyo offers more connections to Guam, so I opted for that route … until a typhoon started approaching Japan.
So, a few days prior to leaving, I rerouted through Honolulu … only to have a snowstorm hit Denver on the morning of my departure. We took off two hours late, so—yup, you guessed it—I missed my connection. Fortunately, Hawaii—like laughter—is relaxing and calming, too. So, I made the most of being a “distressed traveler” in Honolulu for the night.
Still, the next flight would get me to Guam right when I was to be giving my keynote. There was no room for delays. TakeCare said they would entertain the audience with a cash bar and live music (both of which promote social connection and R&R!) while they whisked me from the airport to the stage. It was a whirlwind, but I made it! And the keynote went great!
During the rest of my time on Guam, I tried to practice what I preached: I socialized with the locals, dined with them on native Chamorro cuisine, visited their medical clinic and shopped at their fancy malls and their Kmart. (Yes, there’s still a Kmart on Guam … and it’s open 24 hours a day… and it’s constantly busy!) I relaxed. I laughed. I explored the bloody World War II history of the island, too, which only underscored the importance of healthy social connections and better mental health self-care through stress reduction, rest and relaxation!
Hindsight is 20/20, and as I look back on the past year I realize stressing out over proper attire and travel snafus just isn’t worth the energy. But foresight is 2020, too. (See what I did there?) So, make sure your 2020 is filled with social connections, relaxation and, of course, laughter! And don’t forget to eat right, be active, and TakeCare!
Happy New Year!
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The Healthy Humorist®—Brad Nieder, MD—is a funny doctor, keynote speaker and clean comedian who believes laughter is the best medicine ... unless you have giggle bladder incontinence. Dr. Brad dispenses healthcare humor with wellness advice and an uplifting message to audiences across the country. (HealthyHumorist.com, (303) 364-9061, facebook.com/healthyhumorist, linkedin.com/in/bradnieder/, @HealthyHumorist)