Laughter therapy (humor therapy)
Laughter therapy, also known as humor therapy, utilizes humor to promote well-being and alleviate the effects of illness and emotional distress. Research indicates that laughter can significantly reduce pain perception, anxiety, and stress, primarily through the release of hormones like dopamine and endorphins that induce feelings of happiness and relaxation. This therapeutic approach can involve various methods, such as laughter yoga, laughter exercises, and visits from therapeutic care clowns, all designed to elicit genuine laughter.
Historically, the potential health benefits of laughter were highlighted by Norman Cousins, who reported improvements in his health through humorous entertainment during a serious illness. His experiences sparked further research into the relationship between mood and health, leading to studies showing laughter's positive effects on pain management, mood enhancement, and even cognitive functions like memory. Laughter therapy has wide applications, from medical settings to community laughter clubs, promoting social interaction and mental fitness, particularly among older adults. Overall, laughter therapy is recognized for its holistic benefits in enhancing both physical and emotional health.
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Laughter therapy (humor therapy)
Laughter therapy is the use of humor to promote wellness. It may be used to relieve the effects of illness or emotional distress.
Studies have found that laughter reduces perception of pain and other negative experiences, such as anxiety. This is due to both physical effects—the release of dopamine—and psychological effects. Researchers have discovered that genuine laughter—brought about by something the individual finds funny, such as a movie—has the same effect as chuckles that the subject experiences deliberately rather than spontaneously. It is the laughter, not the cause of the laughter, that provides the benefits. Researchers have applied laughter therapy to a variety of concerns, including mental and physical health and efforts to enhance mental function, such as improving memory.
Background
In 1964, Norman Cousins began to feel ill. He had a fever, aches, and lethargy. Soon he could move only with difficulty, and within weeks was in critical condition. Cousins was told that his connective tissues were essentially coming undone, and had a one in five hundred chance of surviving. Arthritis-related ailments are among many connective tissue problems, and Cousins knew that the endocrine system was necessary to combat arthritis and other illnesses, so he decided to find ways to stimulate the system, in particular the adrenal glands. He had read about how stress negatively affects health, so Cousins looked for ways to counter stress and other negatives. Positive emotions and attitudes had also been shown to help people cope with pain, which he was also experiencing.
Cousins began watching old episodes of a comedic television show that caught people reacting to outrageous situations on hidden cameras. He also began watching old Marx brothers' comedy films. Cousins found that ten minutes of mirth from the comedy programs allowed him to sleep for at least two hours without feeling pain. He also had his nurse read him humorous books, which had a similar effect. A lab test of his blood found small but steady changes in the sedimentation rate, or the speed with which red blood cells settle in a test tube, in millimeters per hour. This rate is used to determine the severity of infection or inflammation. After watching or hearing humorous material, Cousins's sedimentation rate consistently fell at least five points.
Cousins made other changes to his life as well. He took increasingly larger doses of ascorbic acid (vitamin C) intravenously. After a week of laughter and vitamin C, he was no longer using any drugs or sleeping pills, and he was sleeping for longer periods of time without pain. The following week, he began seeing small improvements, such as moving a finger without pain. Over the course of years, he gained more movement and experienced less pain. In 1979, he published Anatomy of an Illness as Perceived by the Patient: Reflections on Healing and Regeneration, in which he recounts his experiences.
In the wake of Cousins's experience, researchers were intrigued by his story and the potential impact of mood on health. Several studies were conducted. A University of California at Los Angeles study, for example, found that laughter, or humorous distraction such as watching funny movies, may have some positive effect on pediatric patients' pain. Children in the study kept their hands in cold water much longer when watching funny videos, although their perception of the degree of pain they felt was the same.
Overview
Laughter stimulates catecholamines, hormones that include adrenaline, noradrenaline, and dopamine. These cause the body to release chemicals called endorphins, which increase feelings of happiness and relaxation. These positive feelings counteract negative feelings, such as anxiety, pain, and stress.
Laughter therapy can involve a laughter coach who prompts participants to laugh. This could involve simple, hearty laughter, or laughter exercises. For example, lawnmower laughter is an exercise in which participants pretend to start up a mower with mild laughter, then begin revving the engine, or laughing heartily. Such laughter often causes participants to find their funny bones and genuinely experience laughs.
Other approaches to laughter therapy include laughter yoga and therapeutic care clowns. Laughter yoga involves some controlled breathing during laughter exercises, but does not involve the poses traditionally seen in yoga. Instead, individuals might bark out brief laughs at intervals, until eventually dissolving into belly laughs. Therapeutic care clowns attempt to boost patients' moods through entertaining visits. Humor in hospitals came to public attention because of Dr. Hunter Adams, better known as Patch Adams. He became famous for clowning around with patients. After a difficult adolescence, when he tried to take his own life several times, he chose happiness. He began performing as a clown and worked to achieve his medical degree. He had ideas about a whole-systems approach to health, and integrated his clown humor with patient treatment. He wrote a paper about humor and health and founded the Gesundheit! Institute, a holistic medical care project, to show others how to help people through humor and other means. He also organized international visits to hospitals, homes for the elderly, and orphanages. Patch Adams's methods were immortalized in a 1998 film.
Laughter therapy has many applications in everyday life. Laughing, whether genuine chuckles prompted by humor or a non-spontaneous, deliberate act, increases one's energy. This energy helps boost confidence when facing situations that one dreads. For example, working with a colleague who is very negative, or critical, may be easier if laughter has increased one's energy before the encounter.
Health applications for laughter therapy include mood changes that appear to help with pain management as well as other benefits. These include physical benefits, such as stimulation of the heart and lungs and enhanced oxygen intake, relaxation of muscles, improved digestion, balanced blood pressure, and an improvement in mental functions, such as alertness and creativity.
Laughter therapy has been used in the treatment of various diseases, such as cancer. Laughter clubs have been established around the world, both in health care settings and in private settings, so individuals can practice laughter yoga exercises and socialize. AARP, an advocacy organization for older Americans, has supported laughter therapy for its benefits, which include maintaining mental fitness.
Bibliography
Contreras, Gustavo Martinez. "Laughter for Health." AARP VIVA, Summer 2011, www.aarp.org/health/healthy-living/info-06-2011/laughter-health.html. Accessed 22 Jan. 2018.
Cousins, Norman. Anatomy of an Illness as Perceived by the Patient: Reflections on Healing and Regeneration. W.W. Norton & Company, 1979.
Dunbar, R.I.M., et al. "Social Laughter Is Correlated with an Elevated Pain Threshold." Proceedings of the Royal Society Biological Sciences, 14 Sept. 2011, rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/279/1731/1161. Accessed 22 Jan. 2018.
Edmonds, Molly. "What Is Laughter Therapy?" HowStuffWorks.com, 15 June 2009, science.howstuffworks.com/life/laughter-therapy.htm. Accessed 22 Jan. 2018.
Khatchadourian, Raffi. "The Laughing Guru: Madan Kataria's Prescription for Total Well-Being." New Yorker, 30 Aug. 2010, www.newyorker.com/magazine/2010/08/30/the-laughing-guru. Accessed 22 Jan. 2018.
"Laughter Therapy." Cancer Treatment Centers of America, www.cancercenter.com/treatments/laughter-therapy/. Accessed 22 Jan. 2018.
Muller, Robert T. "LOL: How Laughter Can Improve Your Health." Psychology Today, 29 Nov. 2013, www.psychologytoday.com/blog/talking-about-trauma/201311/lol-how-laughter-can-improve-your-health. Accessed 22 Jan. 2018.
"Patch Adams." The Gesundheit! Institute, www.patchadams.org/patch-adams/. Accessed 22 Jan. 2018.
"Watching Funny Shows Helps Children Tolerate Pain Longer, Study Finds." Science Daily, 26 Oct. 2007, www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071024100905.htm. Accessed 22 Jan. 2018.