THE LATEST NEWS IN LAUGHTER

"It doesn't matter why you laugh. Even in small doses, it improves our overall quality of life. You can condition people to feel more positive."  Jodi Deluca, Ph.D., Neuroscientist, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Daytona Beach, Florida.

Dose yourself with laughter daily by sharing jokes with friends or co-workers, having fun, watching funny videos or TV, or reading humorous cartoons or satire. Seek out opportunities to share a laugh.

Laughter cuts health costs

New research in Japan has shown that laughter therapy is an efficient low-cost medical treatment that cuts health costs. Geneticist Kazuo Murakami considers that laughter is a stimulant, which can trigger energy inside a person's DNA potentially helping cure disease. "A laughing therapy has no side-effect, meaning it is an epoch-making treatment for clinical medicine," he said. "If we prove people can switch genes on and off by an emotion like laughter, it may be the finding of the century which should be worth the Nobel Prize or even go beyond that."

His research is published in the January 2006 edition of Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, a US academic journal. The ministry of economy, trade and industry believes that laughter therapy could be used as preventive medical care. With the ministry's financial support, Osaka Sangyo University in western Japan formed a joint venture with researchers, firms and doctors in 2004 to provide elderly people with a complete medical care program combining physical training and laughter therapy.

According to project officials, the 92 participants polled said their combined annual medicare costs fell 23 per cent after they joined the program.

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2006/01/12/1136956307785.html

Laugh away the kilojoules

Having a laugh can be a kilojoule burner, scientists reported at the European Congress on Obesity. Researchers from Vanderbilt University in Tennessee monitored the heart rate, breathing information and laughter of 90 people locked in a room watching comedy clips on TV. Those laughing burned 20 per cent more kilojoules. Laughing 10-15 minutes a day would burn 2.2 kilograms a year the researchers reported.

Laughing helps arteries and boosts blood flow

New research suggests that laughter helps the linings of the arteries  stay healthy and thus reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease. Michael Miller of The University of Maryland Medical Centre presented results of a study in March 2005 showing that laughter relaxes arteries and boosts blood flow. “15 minutes of hearty laughter should be part of a healthy lifestyle.”  Miller says. 

Before and after showing comedy clips to 20 volunteers he and his team made ultrasound measurement of blood flow and dilation. Arteries relaxed and blood flowed more freely for 30 to 45 minutes afterwards for 19 of the 20 volunteers. When scenes from a harrowing video were watched, the artery wall constricted reducing blood flow in 14 volunteers. For more information: www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn7103

Laughter Therapy in Brazil

A Brazilian health centre is treating patients suffering from depression, stress and diabetes with 'laughter therapy'. Patients who attend the weekly sessions, at Fortaleza, north-eastern Brazil, are encouraged to all laugh out loud together.  To help put patients in the mood, staff organise activities, such as paper fights and karaoke sessions, to make them laugh. Pensioner Aldira Rodrigues told Jornal Hoje: "I have been to many doctors and have never seen anything like that before. I found it weird at first." Dr Jaqueline Sales said: "Laugh can help in the treatment of various conditions, especially those connected to depression, anxiety, hypertension and diabetes." Story filed: 15:05 Thursday 15th May 2003

http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_781897.html

Laughter on the menu

if you have diabetes, makes sure you put laughter on the menu when planning your meals. Positive emotions such as laughter may help to control spikes in blood sugar levels after a meal. People in a study who watched a funny video during dinner had lower blood sugar levels after the meal compared to the people who watched a lecture video during dinner. Keeping blood sugar levels stable will help to ward off diabetic complications. Laughter lowered the increase in postprandial blood glucose.

Hayashi K, Hayashi T, Iwanaga S, Kawai K, Ishii H, Shoji S, Murakami K.

http://www.care.diabetesjournals.org/cgi/content/full/26/5/165

Laughing aloud

Laughter is contagious. But to really share the benefits you may have to laugh out loud. A recent study revealed that voiced, songlike laughter elicits a more positive response from listeners than an unvoiced laugh. Laughing out loud may help your friends and family members to share in the stress-reducing benefits of a belly laugh. Not all laughs are alike: voiced but not unvoiced laughter readily elicits positive affects.

Bachorowski JA, Owren MJ.

We tested whether listeners are differentially responsive to the presence or absence of voicing, a salient, distinguishing acoustic feature, in laughter. Each of 128 participants rated 50 voiced and 20 unvoiced laughs twice according to one of five different rating strategies. Results were highly consistent regardless of whether participants rated their own emotional responses, likely responses of other people, or one of three perceived attributes concerning the laughers, thus indicating that participants were experiencing similarly differentiated affective responses in all these cases. Specifically, voiced, songlike laughs were significantly more likely to elicit positive responses than were variants such as unvoiced grunts, pants, and snort like sounds. Participants were also highly consistent in their relative dislike of these other sounds, especially those produced by females. Based on these results, we argue that laughers use the acoustic features of their vocalizations to shape listener affect.

Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37203, USA. j.a.bachorowski@vanderbilt.edu

Hearty laughs

A recent study indicated that people with a good sense of humour and a propensity to laugh may be less likely to develop heart disease compared to people who possess antisocial, type A personalities. Meeting stressful situations with a sense of humour may be particularly relevant to heart health. Doses of laughter may help relieve hay-fever symptoms

According to a recent study, fostering a happy frame of mind may bring allergy symptom relief. In the study, the allergic responses of study participants were significantly lower after viewing a humorous videotape than they were after viewing a non-humorous tape. Researchers are not sure why laughter may alleviate allergic symptoms. However, laughter does reduce stress, tension, and anxiety, which may help strengthen the immune system. Effect of humour on allergen-induced wheat reactions. Kimata, H., Journal of the American Medical Association 2001 Feb 14; 285(6):738.

http://www.humourfoundation.com.au/index.php?page=222