laughter is the best medicine

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laughter is the best medicine affirmation of the traditional belief in the beneficial effects of laughter upon health (compare the best doctors are Dr Diet, Dr Quiet, and Dr Merryman). The saying is recorded in this form from the late 20th century, but earlier related expressions are laugh and be fat and laugh and be well. The same idea is found in Proverbs 17:22, ‘A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.’