Laugh Yourself into a Healthier Person: A Cross Cultural Analysis of the Effects of Varying Levels of Laughter on Health

Abstract

This cross-cultural study explored along with various personality factors the relationship between laughter and disease prevalence. Previous studies have only determined the effect of laughter on various health dimensions, whereas, this study quantified the level of laughter that was beneficial or detrimental to health. There were a total of 730 participants between the ages of eighteen and thirty-nine years. 366 participants were from Aurangabad, India (AUR), and 364 participants were from Mississauga, Canada (MISS). The participants were provided a survey assessing demographics, laughter, lifestyle, subjective well-being, life satisfaction, emotional well-being and health dimensions. In AUR, a beneficial effect of laughter was mediated through moderate levels (level two) of laughter, whereas both low (level one) and high (level three) levels had no effect. Similarly, in MISS, the beneficial effect was mediated through level two, but a negative effect was also seen at level three. This could be attributable to a higher prevalence of bronchial asthma in western countries. Laughter was associated with emotional well-being in MISS and life satisfaction in AUR, providing cross cultural models to describe the interactions between laughter and disease. This study validated the correlation between emotional well-being and life satisfaction, with a stronger correlation seen in MISS, suggesting that individualists rely more on their emotional well-being to judge their life satisfaction. In conclusion, there is a benefit to clinicians to incorporate laughter history into their general medical history taking. Future research should consider developing mechanisms to explain the effects of level two, determine specific systemic effects and obtain more samples to generalize the cross cultural differences.

Regional aging and longevity characteristics in China

“…Quality and duration of sleep have been shown to affect health and reduce mortality (Dew et al, 2003;Kripke, Simons, Garfinkel, & Hammond, 1979) and an optimistic mental state has also been found to be positively related to longevity probably because it assists in relaxation which can reduce multiple mortality factors (Brummett, Helms, Dahlstrom, & Siegler, 2006;Diener & Chan, 2011;Giltay, Geleijnse, Zitman, Hoekstra, & Schouten, 2004). Laughter, is also positively associated with health, through possibly decreasing the risk of heart attack, lowering blood pressure (Hasan & Hasan, 2009;University of Maryland Medical Center, 2005), or minimizing the negative effects of stress by reducing the breakdown of nitric oxide (leading to vasodilatation) and increasing the number of natural disease-fighting killer cells. Although our research is not aimed to find the causality between mental state and longer lifespan, three-quarters of the centenarians with positive attitude support this theory.…”

The Entropy of Laughter: Discriminative Power of Laughter’s Entropy in the Diagnosis of Depression

“…Laughter has been widely explored as a therapeutic method to prevent and to treat major medical diseases-the positive effect of laughter and humor in pain relief, autoimmune pathologies, surgical recuperations, psychotherapy interventions, patient empowerment, general resilience, mental wellbeing, etc., is well authenticated [7,[21][22][23][24]. In mental pathologies, however, very few works have been addressed that explore the discriminative potential that laughter might contain.…”

“…About the specific phonation involved, the facial counterparts, the diaphragmatic and bodily movements, and the systemic repercussions (cardiovascular, immune, central and autonomous nervous system, etc. ), they will not be dealt with here [1,4,20], although they are essential to fulfill the "hidden" evolutionary missions of laughter and to explain most of the present therapeutic applications [13,21].…”

Therapeutic Benefits of Laughter in Mental Health: A Theoretical Review

“…Laughter therapy physiologically reduces the level of stress hormones, increases the level of health promoting-hormones such as endorphins, and strengthens the immune system by increasing the number of T-lymphocytes through activation of natural killer cells, which multiplies white blood cells in the body, and Ig A, G, and M, which raises immunity in the body (Bennett and Lengacher 2006;Hayashi et al 2007;Bennett and Lengacher 2009). In addition, it also has an effect of reducing blood pressure by controlling vasoconstriction by lowering the degradation of the vasorelaxant substance, nitric oxide, and reducing cortisol thus raising blood sugar (Bennett and Lengacher 2008;Hasan and Hasan 2009). As for the mental effects of the laughter therapy, it helps reduce unpleasant feelings such as tension, anxiety, hatred, and anger, alleviates stress and depression, aids better interpersonal relationships, and improves insomnia, memory failure, and dementia (Takeda et al 2010;Ko and Youn 2011;Bains et al 2015).…”