We all know the cycle. As the year ends, it’s a last hurrah, when all rules are broken in the health department. Eat, drink and be merry. The diet starts tomorrow. As the New Year begins, we all know the standard buzz of New Year’s resolutions made and then soon broken.

Each year I vow that I will try to get healthier. I will eat right and get my life in balance. I take this stuff seriously in thought, but in action, well, let’s just say the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. In fact, my improved health efforts are really one big joke.

Vitamins, my most recent effort to get healthy, had stacked up on the kitchen counter (among other things that seem to build there). I thought that perhaps a monthly customized supply, geared toward my specific needs, complete with actually having my name on it, would motivate me to take them each day. But it’s a discipline thing and I kept forgetting. As the third box arrived a few weeks ago, the pile towered on the counter. Cleaning the counter was the holiday order. The vitamins had to go – another costly and failed attempt at getting healthy.

Surely, there must be a fun way to get healthy. I dug down on the kitchen counter clutter, found my laptop computer and checked on e-mail. It had been a few days. I clicked the in-box and there it was: An announcement from my friend, Barney Martin, of the Dec. 29 performance at Winslow Homer Auditorium by Maine’s best variety comedy act, the Maine Hysterical Society. About now, I thought, I could use a good laugh. I bought tickets for the family, and went to the show.

Appropriately named, these guys are truly hysterical. Using a mixture of juggling, original songs and parodies, the talented trio of Martin, Randy Judkins and Steve Underwood blend Maine humor and poke fun at everyday life in an entertaining way that has the crowd laughing. They had me wondering why take life so seriously? Maybe it’s time to lighten up and laugh at the things we do, the situations we encounter and the way we live our lives.

The laughter had staying power into the next day. I began to ponder a new twist to my get-healthy resolution. Past attempts had fallen short of their measured mark. What would happen if laughter became the new prescription for getting healthy? Sure, I could laugh at my many failed attempts, but how about a conscious effort to seek out the humor in everyday life? Could more of those full-blown belly laughs actually be the ticket to improved health?

According to www.helpguide.org, it is: “The sound of roaring laughter is far more contagious than any cough, sniffle or sneeze.” Laugher evokes a joy-activating chemistry that relaxes the body, thus reducing problems associated with high blood pressure, strokes, arthritis and ulcers. Laughter also possibly reduces the risk of heart disease, which is typically brought on by anger, depression, anxiety and stress.

Looking for a new workout regime? The Web site suggests that laughter is a great, full-body workout, helping muscles in the diaphragm, abdomen, face, legs and back. And there are still more benefits. Laughter helps the absorption and digestive function, burning calories at a rate equivalent to several minutes on the rowing machine or exercise bike.

Perhaps it is time I replace my specialized box of vitamins with a more general prescription – laughter.

So for this year’s get-healthy resolution, I say, bring on laughter. Happy New Year.