''Laughing turns to crying.''
That's what my grandmother used to say when kids got too excited. I guess the idea was if you had too much fun, something bad would happen. Run around the house and you'll fall down. Get giddy on a trampoline, someone will end up in a cast.
This was in line with her other pronouncements. Go out with wet hair you'll get pneumonia. Don't wear rubbers on your shoes, you'll get rheumatic fever. Have too much fun, and someone will get irritated and say, ''Laughing turns to crying.''
It just occurred to me in the last day or so that maybe she was wrong. I'm quite late on this because I've had to overcome my distaste for happiness studies.
It happened when I was reading a study that's being published today in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. It's called ''Positive affect and health-related neuroendocrine, cardiovascular and inflammatory processes.''(2005)