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Brain Health
Published in Carolyn Torkelson, Catherine Marienau, Beyond Menopause, 2023
Carolyn Torkelson, Catherine Marienau
Believe it or not, exercise can be a laughing matter. Laughter yoga is an exercise program usually done in groups, with participants practicing voluntary, intentional laughter—that often becomes real and contagious laughter. Scientifically, laughter enhances your intake of oxygen-rich air; stimulates your heart, lungs, and muscles; increases the release of endorphins in your brain; and decreases stress. There is much truth in the saying “laughter is the best medicine,” believed to have been coined almost ten centuries ago! In Anatomy of an Illness as Perceived by the Patient, Norman Cousins recounts how, against all odds, he recovered from a chronic illness by belly laughing for 10 minutes every day and maintaining a positive attitude.14
Laughter Is the Best Therapy for Happiness and Healthy Life Expectancy
Published in Goh Cheng Soon, Gerard Bodeker, Kishan Kariippanon, Healthy Ageing in Asia, 2022
Tetsuya Ohira, Masahiko Ichiki
Laughter is defined as a behavior that occurs after we perceive an event or communication with a person as hilarious. In other words, it is not yet laughter when we think it is funny, but laughter is an action comprising two behaviors: a characteristic voice saying “hahahaha” and a change in facial expression, which is known as a laughing face. Additionally, many muscles such as facial, abdominal, pectoral, and limb muscles move when we laugh, which may have some element of exercise and affect our health. Moreover, laughing itself improves physical and psychological health and enriches sociality, which may help prevent lifestyle-related diseases. In this article, we report on the factors related to laughter and health at different stages of life, especially on the relationship between laughter and stress and lifestyle-related diseases, and discuss the possibility that laughter can contribute to health promotion, happiness, and healthy life expectancy.
Taking Care of the Caregiver
Published in Lisa Zammit, Georgeanne Schopp, Relational Care, 2022
Lisa Zammit, Georgeanne Schopp
Humor provides a mental and emotional break. Laughter is a form of communication that relieves stress and establishes camaraderie. Humor does not decrease stress. Rather, it increases the ability to cope (Thorson & Powell, 2006).
The influence of laughter yoga on pregnancy symptoms, mental well-being, and prenatal attachment: A randomized controlled study
Published in Health Care for Women International, 2023
Safiye Ağapınar Şahin, Mine Bekar
Laughter yoga is a unique complementary practice (Takeda et al., 2010). The effects of laughter are physical (Beckman et al., 2007). Researchers have reported that laughter helps release endorphins, known as natural painkillers, in our body and creates a feeling of happiness, and the effects of stress are reduced with the eye contact of laughing people (Jackson, 2007; Kataria, 2011; 2012). In laughter yoga, there is the idea that everyone can laugh for no reason, independently of humor, jokes, or comedy (Kataria, 2011). Laughter is explained by three main theories: superiority, incompatibility, and relaxation theories (Kuru & Kublay, 2017). In the superiority theory, there is the idea that laughter is associated with a sense of pleasure resulting from the misfortune of others. We can come across this theory in the studies by Plato, Aristotle, and Hobbes (McDonald, 2012; Mulder & Nijholt, 2002). Plato asserts that humor is a kind of evil toward people who are considered relatively powerless. Hobbes sees laughter as an abrupt expression of realizing that we are better than others (Mulder & Nijholt, 2002). In the relaxation theory, there is the tendency that laughter originates from dilemmas and the idea that laughter is a way of releasing an individual’s repressed energy (McDonald, 2012). The advocates of the incompatibility theory suggest that laughter is an expression of the pleasure we receive from the incompatible (Kulka, 2007). In this theory, laughter is based on nonsense, unexpected events, or irrelevant events (Kuru & Kublay, 2017).
Laughter yoga reduces the cortisol response to acute stress in healthy individuals
Published in Stress, 2021
Maria Meier, Lisa Wirz, Philip Dickinson, Jens C. Pruessner
Laughter is a universal phenomenon characterized by strong exhalations and inhalations, with resulting increases in respiratory rate and breathing volume (Ruch & Ekman, 2001). Gelotology – the research field investigating physiological, and psychological effects of laughter (Miller & Fry, 2009) – is still in its infancy. An overarching idea is that laughter has positive effects on health (Martin, 2001; Savage et al., 2017; Yim, 2016), perhaps mediated by the capacity of laughter to modulate the relationship between stressful events and negative affect (Kuiper & Martin, 1998). In an extreme example, individuals suffering from non-epileptic seizures often experience major stressors before, and feelings of calmness after seizures (Dickinson et al., 2011), showing the notable similarity in paroxysmal nature of pathological seizures and laughter.
Laughter Yoga as a Social Work Intervention
Published in Smith College Studies in Social Work, 2020
In practice, laughter yoga can be as simple as a smile, a few laughs, or a step-by-step routine. The most common steps are: warm-up; self-laughing; group laughing; and closure. In warm-up, the clients follow freedom laughs (e.g., hee-hee-ha-ha or ho-ho-hee-hee) and make repeated sounds a few times. In self simulated laughter, clients are encouraged to try meditation laughs (sitting down and closing eyes to laugh a few times). In group settings, they laugh with the social worker in an individual session, or with other people in a group session. The forms of laugh can include deep breathing with laughter, unintentional laughs, and intentional laughs with body movements. In closure, a thank-you gesture with a smile can make the clients feel relaxed and empowered.