What’s the latest health craze which lowers blood pressure, stress and boosts the immune system? It’s as simple as a good laugh!
Researchers from the Loma Linda University in California have discovered that laughing is like internal jogging and can have the same effect on our body as moderate exercise the UK’s Daily Telegraph reported.
The study, which required volunteers to watch 20 minutes of comedies and stand-up routines, found a dramatic drop in stress hormones, blood pressure and cholesterol following their laughter session.
It also found that like exercise, laughter can stimulate appetite and may also help those with diabetes and heart disease.
These findings are especially welcomed by the elderly who are less mobile and unable to undertake any strenuous activity.
Dr Lee Berk, who led the study, said that a person’s emotions certainly had an effect on their body.
He pointed to the biblical wisdom found in Proverbs 17:22, which states “A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.”
Fourteen volunteers were asked to watch either a stressful 20-minute clip of the war film Saving Private Ryan or an extract from a comedy or stand- up routine.
Blood tests taken afterwards found a reduction in stress hormones and an increase in immune-boosting T cells for those who watched the comedy.
Dr Berk, who has been studying the effects of laughter for two decades, conducted a study during the 1990s which found that laughter also increases the number of natural killer cells in cancer patients. Natural killer cells are the body’s way of fighting tumours, the UK’s Daily Telegraph reported.
The research was announced at the annual Experimental Biology conference in California yesterday.
Your say: How does laughter make you feel?
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