Thank Goodness It's Monday #351

HEAR THE RIGHT MESSAGE 

Here's a cheerful little story that should make you smile after a week of Supreme Court palavering and campaign trail politicking about Healthcare Law: 

Groucho Marx (as Detective Sam Grunion)
and aspiring actress
Marilyn Monroe (as Grunion's client)
in the last Marx Brothers movie
Love Happy (1950)

A few days after examining his oldest patient, a doctor encounters the elderly man walking down the street. His arm is wrapped around a beautiful woman who is clearly generations younger. And the very senior citizen is grinning from ear to ear. 

“Well," says the doctor greeting the man, “You're really doing great, aren't you?”


“Just doing what you said, Doc,” the man agrees. “You said, get a hot mamma and be cheerful.” 

"I didn't say that," the physician replies.

"I said, ‘You've got a heart murmur. Be careful.’” 

Cute, right?

But also insightful. 

While health and fitness certainly play a role in our well being and success, our outlook plays a vital role as well. A mounting body of scientific evidence tells us that cultivating a "positive mental attitude" is as important to our well being as watching our diet and getting adequate exercise and rest. 

Equally exciting evidence comes from a study of people who have already had a heart attack.  They were randomly assigned to two groups before going through a standard cardiac rehab program for an entire year. 

·         Some patients just went through the regular rehab program, going to the hospital three times a week.

·         Others also watched a comedy video while they were there for their rehab procedure.  Each patient got to choose the video watched, so they presumably selected one that was funny to them. 

At the end of one year: The comedy-watching group had suffered significantly fewer additional heart attacks during the 12-month period, along with fewer episodes of cardiac arrhythmia.  The patients who watched comedy videos also had significantly lower blood pressure (there were no blood pressure differences between the groups at the beginning of the study).  

So, even if you’ve heard the old Hot Mamma joke before – 

I hope you smiled. Humor plays an important role in promoting cardiac health even if you’ve already had a heart attack. 

TGIM Takeaway: We should take both versions of the doctor's advice to heart (so to speak) -- what he actually said and what the elder patient chose to hear.  

TGIM IDEA IN ACTION: No doubt we should be careful of the habits we incorporate into our lives. But perhaps the "habit" we should be most careful to cultivate is a cheerful attitude.  

It's good for the mind, body and spirit. 

Cheers, 

Geoff Steck
Chief Catalyst
Alexander Publishing & Marketing

8 Depot Square

Englewood, NJ 07631
201-569-5373
tgimguy@gmail.com 

P.S. So, realizing his patient was hearing impaired, our doctor was able to have his patient fitted for a set of nearly invisible hearing aids that allowed the elderly man’s hearing to be restored to 100%.  

After a period of adjustment, the senior citizen went back to the doctor for a final evaluation. The doctor was quickly able to confirm, “Your hearing is perfect.” 

And the physician added, “Your family must be really pleased that you can hear again.”  

The gentleman replied, “Oh, I haven’t told my family yet. I just sit around and listen to their conversations. I’ve changed my will three times!”