Quick, run for the video camera—the baby is laughing for the first time! It's a heart-melting, mesmerizing, tumble of giggles. Laughter is a primal expression, easily triggered in youngsters by something ordinary to us oldsters, like the flipping of a cat's tail or the zzzzzzz sound of a zipper.

Jump ahead a few decades. Scene: the airport. People are stressed, stoic, bored, tired, tranced-out, pissed off, or otherwise disconnected from enjoyment. Those few who smile, and fewer who laugh, usually are interacting with a child, a lover, or an alcoholic beverage. To be fair, the airport is just not fun for most people. But it's the same at the grocery store, mall, bank, post office, video store, or (insert basically any public place here). Check it out: Evidence of joy is scarce.

What's happened? Enjoyment is being bullied out of existence by ARS (Adult Responsibilities Syndrome) and Fear of Public Foolhardiness (FPF). These epidemics strike middle-agers especially hard, whose decades of responsibilities and disappointments hang heavily about their personhoods. Understandably so: monthly bills, credit card debt, dissolved relationships, and unfulfilled dreams may make good stand-up comedy routines, but they rarely amuse in real life.

We need help. Laughter and play and plain old leisure are really good for us. Hopefully you will find herein some inspiration to slip more of them into your schedule, and "permission" to do so.

We don't need science to convince us that laughter and leisure are pleasurable and reviving; people surely discovered that around the Cro-Magnon campfire. But it's interesting to note that modern medicine and scientific studies confirm that humor benefits patients. In his 1928 book Laughter and Health, physician James Walsh discussed the evidence, for instance, that humor is a good prescription for pain relief that can even replace or delay medication—something reemphasized in recent decades by Norman Cousins in his works Head First: The Biology of Hope and Anatomy of an Illness. Candace Pert (Molecules of Emotion) and Bernie Siegel (Prescriptions for Living: Inspirational Lessons for a Joyful, Loving Life and Love, Medicine, and Miracles, and others) recount, too, how enjoyment enhances physical health and recovery from illness. People who are happier, less stressed, and more sociable are healthier, live longer, and recover from illnesses faster than their emotionally beleaguered counterparts.

For example, doctors Clark, Seidler, and Miller reported in the International Journal of Cardiology in 2001 that patients diagnosed with coronary heart disease had been significantly less jovial in life than had healthy control subjects, as determined by a questionnaire probing their tendencies to laugh during daily activities, surprise situations, and social interactions. A proposed mechanism to explain these findings is that laughter, a decidedly different biochemical and neurological event from stress or anger, releases natural chemicals that are protective to cardiovascular damage. Laughter may thwart other diseases and illnesses, and speed recovery from them, through scientifically demonstrated improvements in several parameters of immune function. Antibody levels and immune cell activation are improved, at least temporarily, among patients who watch humorous movies. Plus, psychological benefits of enjoyment and play are well established.

Developmental psychologist Paul E. McGhee, who has studied humor and health for nearly two decades, has written dozens of articles and 13 books on the subject (e.g., Health, Healing, and the Amuse System: Humor as Survival Training and Understanding and Promoting the Development of Children's Humor) and gives humor training workshops and presentations all over the world. His website (which opens with a contagious laugh, signifying he's serious about this humor thing) offers online articles that promote the whys and hows of upping the humor amps in one's world. A series on humor in the workplace, for instance, affirms that it reduces stress and improves employees' creativity, communication, energy, productivity, and morale—and he suggests how to stir up laughs on the job (with the boss' permission).