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Health Benefits of Laughter

Benefits to the Heart

A study presented at the American Heart Association’s 73rd Scientific Sessions in New Orleans by cardiologists at the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore revealed, for the first time, that laughter and having a sense of humor might help protect you against a heart attack.

In the study, scientists compared the humor responses of 300 individuals, with half the group having either experienced a heart attack or coronary artery bypass surgery and the other half being healthy, age-matched volunteers who did not have heart disease. The participants filled out two questionnaires, one being a set of multiple-choice answers to determine what degree the subject laughed in certain situations. The second one contained 50 true or false questions to gauge anger and hostility. 

The scientists discovered that people with heart disease were 40 percent less likely to laugh in a variety of situations compared to those individuals of the same age without heart disease. Subjects with heart disease were less prone to recognize humor in situations or to use humor to get out of uncomfortable circumstances. Overall, they laughed less, even in positive situations and they displayed more anger and hostility.

In evaluating their findings, Michael Miller, M.D (associate professor of medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine) commented, “The ability to laugh – either naturally or as learned behavior may have important implications in societies such as the U.S. where heart disease remains the number one killer. We don’t know yet why laughing protects the heart, but we know that mental stress is associated with impairment of the endothelium, the protective barrier lining our blood vessels. This can cause a series of inflammatory reactions that lead to fat and cholesterol build-up in the coronary arteries and ultimately to a heart attack. The recommendation for a healthy heart may one day be -- exercise, eat right and laugh a few times a day.”

Laughter and Blood Vessels

Once again, the same group of researchers, cardiologists at the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore, has presented a second study at the Scientific Session of the American College of Cardiology in Orlando, Florida, which reveals that laughter is connected to the healthy function of blood vessels.

In the study, volunteers were shown both funny and distressing movies to calculate the effect of emotions on blood vessels. The group of 20 volunteers contained healthy, non-smoking men and women with an average age of 33. Each person was initially screened for normal blood pressure, cholesterol and blood glucose levels. The two movies shown were from opposite ends of the spectrum – a funny comedy for laughter and another that would cause mental stress, like opening scene of “Saving Private Ryan.”

The night before seeing a movie, the volunteers fasted overnight and were given a baseline blood vessel reactivity test to measure “flow-mediated vasodilation.” For this test, blood flow in the brachial artery in the arm is restricted by a blood pressure cuff, and then released. An ultrasound device then measures how well the blood vessel responds to the sudden increase in flow.

The subjects watched a 15-minute segment of the movie while lying down in a temperature-controlled room. After the movie was shown, the brachial artery was constricted for five minutes and subsequently released, while as before, ultrasound images were acquired. Changes in blood vessel reactivity after the volunteers watched a movie lasted for at least 30 to 45 minutes. A total of 160 blood vessel measurements were performed before and after the laughter and mental stress phases of the study.

Striking contrasts were recorded after the movies were seen. Brachial artery flow was reduced in 14 of the 20 volunteers following the movie clips that caused mental stress. In contrast, beneficial vasodilation (blood vessel relaxation) was increased in 19 of the 20 volunteers after they watched the movie segments that generated laughter. Overall, average blood flow increased 22 percent during laughter, and decreased 35 percent during mental stress.

With such positive effects on the endothelium, doctors were validated with the results. (The endothelium has a powerful effect on blood vessel tone and regulates blood flow, adjusts coagulation and blood thickening, and secretes chemicals and other substances in response to wounds, infections or irritation. It also plays an important role in the development of cardiovascular disease.) The lead researcher, Dr. Miller (associate professor of medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine), commented, “The magnitude of change we saw in the endothelium is similar to the benefit we might see with aerobic activity. Thirty minutes of exercise three times a week, and 15 minutes of laughter on a daily basis is probably good for the vascular system.”

The Sound of Laughter Lights Up the Brain

Researchers at University College London's Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience have used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to prove how the brain responds to the sound of laughter.

The British scientists played sounds of laughter through headphones to 20 healthy people, averaging 32 years of age, with good hearing. Professor Sophie Scott, PhD, summed up the results by commenting that when people hear the sound of laughter, the brain areas that control smiling and laughing (the premotor cortical region) become active – meaning the sound of laughter triggered the orofacial motor cortical fields of the brain to stimulate laughing and smiling. The response was greater for positive sounds, which explains why we respond to laughter or cheering with an involuntary smile – because laughter truly is contagious.

Laughter and Natural Elixirs

In a study at Loma Linda University, 16 healthy volunteers who had been fasting and hadn't exercised for at least a day, and asked each to pick a video they which would make them laugh out loud. The scientists took blood samples before, during and after the experiment. The results showed that in all subjects who watch funny comedies had 27% more beta-endorphins and 87% more human growth hormone in their blood.

Additional Benefits of Laughter

• Laughter reduces the level of stress hormones like cortisol, epinephrine, adrenaline and dopamine, while it increases the level of health-enhancing hormones like endorphins and neurotransmitters.

• Laughter increases the number of antibody-producing cells and enhances the effectiveness of
  T-cells. All this means a stronger immune system, as well as fewer physical effects of stress.

• A good belly laugh exercises the diaphragm, contracts the abs and even works out the shoulders, leaving muscles more relaxed afterward.

• Humor can give us a more lighthearted perspective and help us view events as less threatening and more positive.

• A recent study showed that pre-school-aged children laugh up to 400 times a day, but by the time we reach adulthood, we laugh a mere 17 times per day on average!

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Sources: Laughter is the "Best Medicine" for Your Heart University of Maryland Medical Center (www.umm.edu) The Health Benefits of Laughter Diabetes Care May 2003 (www.umm.edu) More On the Humor-Health Connection: New Study Finds Anticipating A Laugh Reduces Stress Hormones The American Physiological Society (www.the-aps.org/press/journal/08/14.htm) Positive Emotions Preferentially Engage an Auditory–Motor "Mirror" System The Journal of Neuroscience December 13, 2006 26(50):13067-13075 Amygdala Responses to Nonlinguistic Emotional Vocalizations NeuroImage 2007 Jun;36(2):480-7

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