Hospitals will be participating in National Red Nose Day, a day where doctors and nurses will dress up as clowns to help show that laughter is the best medicine.

  • Doctor says that clowning around is the best medicine
  • Studies shows that humor helps lower blood pressure, fights infection, doctor says

Red Nose Day aims to end child poverty by raising money and awareness for kids in the U.S. and around the world. The day is also to make patients smile and laugh and Dr. David Weiland, of the Largo Medical Center who is also the co-founder of the hospital's Caring Clowns Humor2You program, explains how humor and clowning around have positive effects.

"Humor helps with the coping process," stated Weiland, who along with his wife, registered nurse Leslie Weiland, have conducted research that he says shows that humor helps to fight infection and reduce blood pressure.

"We see tangible results in both the patient and the performer. For depressed patients, the caring clowns are immediate mood lifters and they see a difference in their pain perception," Weiland explained, who also dresses up as the clown Flip Flop.

Weiland started down the clown path when he met his wife as Clown College, where she is a professor at. Leslie Weiland, who is also known as the clown Happe, is a co-founder of Humor2You program along with her husband.

The couple also stresses that National Red Nose Day not just helps patients, but also for their families and the clowns — doctors and nurses — themselves.

"We're all human, we trust laughter, and with clown humor we love that we are creating a better model of healthcare than ever." David Weiland stated. "With all of the negativity around us, humor creates just the reverse."