Laughter Really Is Good For Us

Submitted by tonyplant on May 5, 2006 - 15:03.

It's World Laughter Day on Sunday and I'm running an event in my local park. A study by Cambridge University recently reported on behavioural changes that add to our longevity:

 

• giving up smoking means an extra five years
• moderate exercise adds three years
• eating five portions of fruit and vegetables a day adds three years.

The study neglected to mention that there are studies that suggest that happiness (including the sense that life offers meaning and engagement as well as pleasure) adds up to nine extra years of life. This finding was reported by the study that researched Alzheimer's disease among 678 nuns: the findings of many papers indicate that positive emotions are correlated with survivor rates. The study began in 1986: researchers traced the nun population to the early 1900s. Of the least cheerful nuns, starting from age 30, only 34 percent lived to be 85, and 11 percent lived to age 94. Of the most cheerful, 90 percent lived to age 85, and 54 percent lived to 94, starting at age 30. In a paper examining Positive Emotions In Early Life And Longevity the researchers concluded that:

Positive emotions experienced early in life predicted longevity more than 60 years later.

At 9 years, the benefits of positive emotion outweigh the negative effects of obesity, smoking or alcoholism.

 

The Guardian recently carried a piece on Laughter really is the best medicine.

scientists have proved what everyone else takes for granted - that laughter really is good for you. It turns out that even the anticipation of watching a funny video can raise the levels of immune-boosting hormones in the blood and the benefits can last up to a day.

There are well established health benefits for laughter and for positive emotions associated with it. More technically, in this study, the researcher established that:

the anticipation of a laughter eustress [positive stress] event initiates changes in neuroendocrine response prior to the onset of the event itself...From our prior studies, this modulation appears to be concomitant with mood state changes, and taken together, these would appear to carry important, positive implications for wellness, disease-prevention and most certainly stress-reduction.

All of which is as maybe. However, doesn't scheduling time with laughter to improve the workings of our immune systems and overall well-being sound more enjoyable than most other interventions? Regular laughter sessions might be a lifestyle modification that most people are willing to adopt and practise regularly. We have nothing to give up but a sense of our seriousness and some perspectives that might stop us from enjoying our lives as much as we can, or accepting the wellbeing that is open to us. Or at a time when a lot of health news concentrates on drugs, technology and less enjoyable interventions, is accepting the health benefits of positive emotion still too much of a leap of faith?

Copyright 2006, Tony Plant Happystance Project

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wellbeing | positive emotion | laughter yoga | laughter