Common sense has always told us that laughter is the best medicine, and science is working to prove us all right. A study published by the American Physiological Society found that just the anticipation of laughter can reduce the level of three significant stress hormones, cortisol, epinephrine, and dopac, by 39, 70 and 38 percent.
Research at the University of Maryland Medical Center has found that actual laughter improves the lining of our blood vessels and that boosts blood flow, indicating that a few chuckles a day can improve and extend your life, improve brain functioning, and provide many of the same benefits that aerobic exercise does.Dr. Michael Miller, director of the Center for Preventive Cardiology there does not suggest people stop exercising, but maybe add in 15 minutes of laughter a day.
The AARP recently published an article on the health benefits of laughter and how it is being used in senior centers. Millie Mund, who attends a senior center in NYC, was skeptical about their new laughing program. “At the beginning, I felt silly, but then I forgot about my pain,” says Mund, 85, who has osteoporosis, arthritis, high blood pressure and circulatory problems. “You look around and see everybody laughing and smiling. It’s a lot of fun.”
A search of YouTube videos will find a variety of short clips from Laughter Clubs around the nation and around the world. The mere idea of a laughter club is funny, but the idea is catching on. Laughter is very contagious, as evident by the success of canned laughter on every sitcom produced, so creating clubs where people laugh and spread that laughter makes sense. Below is a CNN report and the second is a piece on a laughter club in Virginia. This is a short piece by Dr Sanjay Gupta of CNN Health about Laughter . Readers can also visit HelpGuide.org for an informative piece that provides an good overview of the many health benefits of laughter.