Want to be healthier and dispel harmful emotions? Laugh more!

In Chinese, there’s a saying that goes yiye baitou (一夜白頭), meaning “one’s hair turns white overnight.”

This expression is widely believed to derive from a story about Wu Zixu, a Chinese military general and politician who lived during the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 BC).

In 522 BC, Wu’s father and brother were framed by a corrupt official and then killed by King Ping of Chu. The king also wanted to capture Wu and execute him, so Wu tried desperately to flee to the neighboring safe State of Wu.

The king ordered tight border controls in hopes of catching Wu, who finally hid in a house near a pass. But he was so afraid of being caught by soldiers guarding the pass that his hair turned completely white overnight.

This incident so greatly changed the escapee’s appearance that he slipped across the border the next day without any problem.

According to legend, the same transformation happened to Marie Antoinette (1755-1793). It was said the French queen’s natural hair turned white the night before her execution by guillotine, when she was only 38.

People usually attribute such a dramatic change in hair color to extreme shock, grief or distress, indicating that one’s mood and emotions can greatly affect physical health.

There’s another common Chinese idiom to the same effect. The expression, xiaoyixiao, shinian shao; chouyichou, bailiao tou (笑一笑，十年少；愁一愁，白了頭), which literally means “l(fā)aughter makes you 10 years younger and worry turns your hair gray.”

In the 1950s, John A. Schindler (1903-1957), an American physician and author of the best-seller “How to Live 365 Days a Year,” introduced the concept of “emotionally induced illness” — long before prevailing Western medicine had made the connection between emotions and physical health.

However, tradition Chinese medicine has acknowledged the concept for more than 2,300 years.

The “Yellow Emperor’s Inner Canon,” the first text expounding the basic concepts and theories of traditional Chinese medicine, puts significant emphasis on emotional health. It explains in detail how disturbed or unpleasant emotional states can damage human organs and cause all types of adverse symptoms.

For instance, the “Canon” says excessive anger can damage the liver, excessive joy can damage the heart, excessive overthinking can damage the spleen, excessive grief can damage the lungs, and excessive fear can damage the kidneys.

In Chapter 39 of its first volume, the book further explains that rage and persistent anger cause a disorderly rise in qi (the vital life energy), joy causes qi to relax, sadness causes qi to dissipate, fear causes qi to abate, fright pushes qi into disorder, and pensiveness leads to stagnation of qi.

The “Canon” also points out that human mental and emotional activities are most closely related to the heart, which is called the “monarch organ” (君主之官) because it is not only the center for generating mental power but also the host of mental activities.

So, when traditional Chinese medicine practitioners say bing you xin sheng (病由心生), which literally translates as “all diseases come from the heart,” they are not only talking about the heart as an organ but also referring to its pivotal role in the emotions that preserve health and treat disease.

Traditional Chinese medicine’s emphasis on the role of emotions is also explained in remarks contained in the first chapter of the book’s first volume. It says that by keeping a quiet mood and eliminating delusional thoughts, true qi will flow smoothly. It also states that if inner spiritual tranquility is well protected, pathogenic factors cannot invade the body.

So, as an effective way to preserve your health and well-being, keep smiling.