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Less television, more Marx brothers. It's one of the prescriptions that one doctor believes might help cancer patients cope.

"Cancer patients are going through such a major journey with so much stress, and often pain, that laughter, at times, has a positive function," says Moshe Frenkel, M.D., an associate professor in M. D. Anderson’s Department of Palliative Care and Rehabilitation Medicine and medical director of the Integrative Medicine Program.

"Try to laugh at least once a day," he says. "Use humor almost like medication and make it a regular part of your routine."

One way to build laughter into the day is to make an appointment to laugh every day by yourself, with a friend or family member.

Some tips for a good laugh:

• Read cartoons, joke books or funny novels
  
• Make a scrapbook of cartoons and jokes
  
• Watch a funny television show or movie
  
• Listen to comedy audiotapes in your car
  
• Learn to laugh at yourself
  
• Remember people laugh more in groups
  
• Play with kids
  
• Buy yourself a toy
  
• Keep a joke-a-day calendar in a visible place
  
• Make funny faces at yourself in the mirror

Most important, think about whom you laugh with, what you find funny, and where and when you feel most happy. Then, put yourself in those situations.