MEDICALEXAMINER FREE T AKE-HO ME COP Y!
TM
HEALTH • MEDICINE • WELLNESS • HEALTH • MEDICINE • WELLNESS • HEALTH • MEDICINE • WELLNESS • HEALTH • MEDICINE • WELLNESS • HEALTH • MEDICINE • WELLNESS • HEALTH • MEDICINE • WELLNESS • HEALTH • MEDICINE • WELLNESS • HEALTH • MEDICINE • WELLNESS • HEALTH • MEDICINE • WELLNESS
MAY 16, 2025
AIKEN-AUGUSTA’S MOST SALUBRIOUS NEWSPAPER • FOUNDED IN 2006
INSTALLMENT #2 IN OUR NEW “WHAT THE?” SERIES
AUGUSTARX.COM
LAUGHTER
it’s complicated
ROFL R
olling on the floor laughing (ROFL) is hardly ever meant literally. But at a boarding school in Africa in 1962, that is exactly what it meant. The school was the epicenter of a noted and curious epidemic. It was just an ordinary Tuesday when three girls started to giggle about something, as kids often do. The old saying is that laughter is contagious, and the pupils at this school in Tanzania proved it. The girls’ laughter spread to another girl, then another, and pretty soon the entire school was affected. Of the total student body of 159, 95 girls were involved. Individually, the girls experienced uncontrollable fits of laughter from a few hours at a time to more than two weeks straight, with around 7 days being the average. No teachers or staff were directly affected, but the chaos made it impossible to conduct classes as the epidemic spread and continued. By mid-March the situation forced the school to close, but upon reopening a month later, the epidemic erupted all over again, this time affecting 57 students, forcing another closure at the end of June. And that wasn’t all. In April and May the epidemic spread from its epicenter in Kashasha to another village more than 50 miles away, triggering a laugh attack there which lasted over a month and affected 217 villagers. The school in Kashasha was actually sued for failing to control the epidemic. Before it was all over, 14 schools in a 100-mile radius from the first school were shut down and 1,000 people were affected. Locals viewed the shut-downs as key factors in the spread of the contagion, like a hospital sending people home with a highly contagious disease. Another part of the and-that-wasn’t-all component of these outbreaks was that the famous laughter epidemic involved a lot more than laughter. The laughter was often interrupted by bouts of uncontrollable sobbing, and many of the stuPlease see ROFL page 5
Laughing and hearing others laugh is a universal experience, but despite its common occurrence, laughing is an incredibly complex aspect of human nature. Everyone laughs in their own unique way, yet we have no trouble identifying laughter, no matter its form. The different forms laughter takes aren’t all based on the sounds we make. There are other variations, like the difference between laughing with someone and laughing at someone. Polite laughter suggests a forced response, not entirely on board with the other person. In some situations laughter is described as inappropriate. It’s easy enough to say ha-ha-ha, but most people cannot laugh on command, or convincingly disguise fake laughter As the article to the left shows, sometimes we just can’t stop laughing. Something tickles our funny bone and we laugh normally. But once in a while the laughter takes over and won’t let go. That’s like saying hello to someone as we usually do in greeting, but sometimes we just can’t stop, and the result is “hello-hello-hello-hello...” Laughter was used in a completely new way starting on Sept. 9, 1950 at 7:00 p.m. That was the first time a laugh track was used on a TV comedy, and laugh tracks have never disappeared since. Research has demonstrated that laugh tracks make people think situations are funnier and as a result they laugh more. TV or not, laughter is a social habit: researchers say people are 30 times more likely to laugh in social situations than when alone, yet less than 20 percent of social laughter is said to be a reaction to a direct, formal attempt at humor. + Yes indeed, laughter is complicated.
MEDICAL MYTHOLOGY
SUNSCREEN It’s bad enough that we’re about to enter the hottest, sunniest time of year, but to make matters even hotter and sunnier, we have about 12 zillion fewer trees in this neck of the former woods than we had this time last year. Downtown Augusta is positively barren, but closer to home, the yard you may have mowed in full shade last summer might be in full sun now. It’s like that all over. Clearly, sunscreen use is more important than ever. But let’s dispel some common myths to make its use even more effective. I put it on. I’m good to go. True. And false. You are good to go temporarily. Some sunscreens are labeled waterproof. There is no such thing! If that was true it would be impossible to wash off. Waterresistant is more like it, but even that designation still requires re-application at least every two hours. I bought SPF 1 million. It is a persistent myth that higher SPF (Sun Protection Factor) numbers permit less frePlease see SUNSCREEN page 16
ALREADY HAVE MEDICARE? I CAN HELP! • Personal, local answers and assistance • Review your current plan for optimum benefits • Call to see if there is an enrollment for you • All services provided at no cost to you
RENEA SOOS
Independent Medicare Broker Renea Soos Serving Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Michigan • Email: srsoos@yahoo.com
706-399-1989 • soosbenefitsgroup.com