HA HA HA. Yep, feels good. For this blog, I was originally researching the increasing amount of mental illnesses in college students, but then I got really sad about the fact that there is a large number of us that are really struggling with mental illnesses. So I did a complete 180 and decided to do some research on the benefits of laughter, because who doesn’t like laughing? First, I found that the word laughter in Greek is gelos, and the root of that word is Hele, which means health (Yim 2016). This is accurate, as laughter has many positive health benefits. Through my research, I found that there is a type of therapy called Laughter Therapy that is used to combat depression, anxiety and other mental illnesses. I knew laughter had benefits, but I didn’t think that there would be actual clinical results from the act of laughter.
Laughter therapy consists of physical exercise, relaxation techniques and simulated vigorous laughter (Tremayne et al. 2019). This simulated laughter gradually becomes more and more effective at releasing the necessary hormones needed to destress and relax. It was found in one study that forced laughter can offset one of the effects of depression, which is the reduced secretion of dopamine and serotonin (Yim 2016). Even if laughter is forced, it still boosts and stabilizes the amount of dopamine produced in your brain.
Outside of a clinical setting, the effects of laughter, spontaneous or forced, are also considered to be positive (which is something I think most of us could have guessed). In general, there are many short term and long term benefits to laughing spontaneously. Some of the most notable short term benefits are: The stimulation of many organs (as you laugh, your increased oxygen intake stimulates your heart, lungs and muscles). This can increase the production and release of endorphins in your brain, as well as improve brain function over all (Martin 2004). Laughing stimulates your SNS, which increases your heart rate and blood pressure; however, your PNS then kicks in and decreases your heart rate and blood pressure. As a result, you are left feeling more relaxed and at ease. Finally, laughing also stimulates blood circulation and aids in muscle relaxation. This helps you relax and reduce the physical effects of stress on your body (Mayo Clinic Staff 2021).
The long term benefits of laughing are as follows: It can relieve pain, as when you laugh the body releases its own natural pain killers; it can help you connect with people and help you deal more easily with stressful situations, and it can improve your mood (Mayo Clinic Staff 2021). Finally, there is some evidence that laughing can even have positive effects on your immune system (Bennett et al. 2009).
In conclusion, I encourage all of us, myself included, to take life less seriously and laugh more. It can only make things better (as long as you are doing it at an appropriate time). Laughing spontaneously is great, and as research shows, even forced laughter is beneficial. Lord Byron once said, “Always laugh when you can. It is cheap medicine.” While laughter cannot solve all of life’s problems, or cure illnesses, mental or physical, it can help.
Resources:
Bennett, M. P., & Lengacher, C. (2009). Humor and Laughter May Influence Health IV. Humor
and Immune Function. Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM,
6(2), 159–164. https://doi.org/10.1093/ecam/nem149
Martin, R.A. & Lefcourt, H.M. (2004) Sense of humor and physical health: theoretical issues,
recent findings, and future directions. Humor, 17, 1-20.
Mayo Clinic Staff (2021). Stress relief from laughter? It's no joke. Mayo Clinic
https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/stress-management
/in-depth/stress-relief/art-20044456 .
Tremayne, P & Sharma, K. (2019) Implementing laughter therapy to enhance the well-being of
patients and nurses. Nursing Standard, 34:3, 28-33.
Yim, J. (2016). Therapeutic Benefits of Laughter in Mental Health: A Theoretical Review. The
Tohoku Journal of Experimental Medicine, 239:3 243-249.
https://doi.org/10.1620/tjem.239.243.
Hi Molly,
ReplyDeleteThis is a super interesting topic that I'd never heard about. It seems like laughter therapy is generally applied as a complimentary treatment alongside other interventions for mental health issues (Demir Doğan M, 2021). The research overall seems very positive about this treatment, although,unfortunately, there does not seem to be many studies of the treatment, and those that do exist have a small sample size. I am also somewhat skeptical of the extent to which laughter (especially forced)outside of a clinical context is effective as a treatment, since the therapies involve long periods (30min-1hr) of laughter that seem unlikely to occur outside of a therapy. This treatment definitely seems interesting, and, of course, seems to have few negative side effects, and we will likely see more research on it as it becomes more common.
Demir Doğan M. The Effect of Laughter Therapy on Anxiety: A Meta-analysis. Holist Nurs Pract. 2020 Jan/Feb;34(1):35-39. doi: 10.1097/HNP.0000000000000363. PMID: 31725098.
Hi Molly,
ReplyDeleteThis was a great topic to cover! I found it interesting how your research focuses on laughter in the positive aspect, and was curious about how laughter is considered positive by almost every individual and how it can be a signal of stress relief.
I found a study in which laughter was defined to be, at its base, a way to communicate. From the journal “Humor,” laughter and smiles have 4 aspects that are universally understood: laughter is used to convey information, the communication form is invariable but the content is highly variable, and that the variability is intrinsically associated with variability. Laughter would be a meaningless form of communication if it had not evolved with social context, if the form varied too greatly between individuals, then it would not be understood to have a positive context (Nikopoulos, 2018).
With the physiological benefits, it is interesting how laughter also developed as a social cue through enough context anthropologically!
Nikopoulos, James. “The Stability of Laughter.” 2018, https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429028908.
Hi Molly,
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing a great post. I loved that you researched laugher and how it’s a way to combat depression. So many college students deal with depression and anxiety but there are many ways to help without medication. It’s interesting the even forced laugher has a positive effect on dopamine production. I going to have to try it. Where there any studies that showed what would happen is you didn’t laugh enough?