research essay on laughter

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Laughter as medicine: A systematic review and meta-analysis of interventional studies evaluating the impact of spontaneous laughter on cortisol levels

Caroline kaercher kramer.

1 Division of Endocrinology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada

2 Leadership Sinai Centre for Diabetes, Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto, Canada

3 Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute, Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto, Canada

Cristiane Bauermann Leitao

4 Division of Endocrinology, Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre, Porto Alegre, Brazil

5 Post-graduate Program in Medical Sciences: Endocrinology, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil

Associated Data

All relevant data are within the paper and its Supporting Information files.

Laughter as an expression of humor has been recognized as good medicine for centuries. The health benefits of humor-induced well-being remain unclear and thus we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of interventional studies to evaluate the impact of spontaneous laughter on stress response as measured by cortisol levels.

Systematic review and meta-analysis.

Data sources

MEDLINE/PubMed, EMBASE, PsycINFO, Scopus, and Clinicaltrials.gov.

Eligibility criteria

Interventional studies, which could be either randomized placebo-controlled trials (RCTs) or quasi-experimental studies, conducted in adults that compared any spontaneous laughter intervention to a controlled setting and reported changes in cortisol levels were selected.

Data extraction and synthesis

We examined the impact of laughter on percentage change in cortisol levels by calculating pooled estimates of the absolute differences between arithmetic means before and after interventions as compared to control using random-effects model.

Eight studies (315 participants; mean age 38.6) met our inclusion criteria; four were RCTs and four were quasi-experiment studies. Five studies evaluated the impact of watching a humor/comedy video, two studies evaluating laughter sessions administered by a trained laughter therapist, and one study evaluating a self-administered laughter program. Pooling these data showed a significant reduction in cortisol levels by 31.9% (95%CI -47.7% to -16.3%) induced by laughter intervention compared to control group with no evidence of publication bias (P = 0.66). Sensitivity analyses demonstrated that even a single laughter session induced a significant reduction of 36.7% in cortisol (95%CI -52.5% to -20.8%). In addition, analyses including the four RCTs reinforced these results by demonstrating a significant reduction in cortisol levels promoted by laughter as compared to the placebo arm [-37.2% (95%CI -56.3% to -18.1%)].

Conclusions

Current evidence demonstrates that spontaneous laughter is associated with greater reduction in cortisol levels as compared with usual activities, suggesting laughter as a potential adjunctive medical therapy to improve well-being.

Trial registration

Registration number: CRD42021267972 .

Introduction

Laughter as an expression of humor has been recognized as a good medicine for centuries [ 1 ], a concept consistent with human neurodevelopment. Specifically, the capacity for laughter in humans precedes the neural development of speech [ 2 ] with neuroimaging studies suggesting a unique neural pathway for spontaneous laughter (i.e. genuine laughter) [ 3 ] that is intuitive and subcortical. Documented in Charles Darwin’s classic work [ 4 ], ancestral forms of play homologous to human laughter have been reported in other animals (dogs, chimps, and even rats) [ 2 , 5 , 6 ] being perceived by Darwin and other authors as a natural response that restores homeostasis across diverse species including homo sapiens .

In 1976, a remarkable publication in The New England Journal of Medicine highlighted a potential therapeutic role for spontaneous laughter [ 7 ]. In that report, the author/patient described his regimen of self-prescribed laughter as an adjunctive therapy that provided him with potent anesthetic effect attenuating symptoms caused by ankylosing spondylitis: “I made the joyous discovery that 10 minutes of genuine belly laughter had an anesthetic effect and would give me at least two hours of pain-free sleep” [ 7 ]. Subsequently, recent research has linked laughter and humor with increased levels of pain tolerance [ 8 ], and positive impact in overall well-being in diverse medical settings such as oncology [ 9 ], psychiatry [ 10 ], and rehabilitation [ 11 ]. Data from a recent randomized controlled trial (RCT) demonstrated a positive and robust effect of having a humor journal on well-being [ 12 ], suggesting that humorous interventions are simple underutilized strategies that can help with coping in an adverse situation such as the coronavirus pandemic [ 13 ].

The activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) axis and consequent elevation in glucocorticoids is a key physiological response to either physical (i.e. acute and chronic diseases) or psychological stressors (i.e. anticipated recognition of a threat). Coupled with the autonomic nervous system, the HPA axis represents a vital neuroendocrine system that is dynamically regulated in a feedback-loop manner in order to maintain homeostasis of virtually the entire human body [ 14 ]. Despite the long-dated acknowledgment of humor as medicine, the impact of spontaneous laughter on neuroendocrine stress response remain unclear. Previous reports in adults have suggested that spontaneous laughter can impact the HPA axis by reducing cortisol levels [ 15 – 22 ]. However, the small sample sizes preclude definitive conclusions based on these individual studies, suggesting the need for a robust and systematic evaluation of the mechanistic effect of laughter by meta-analysis. Thus, we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of interventional studies to evaluate the impact of spontaneous laughter on cortisol levels.

This systematic review and meta-analysis is reported in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) Statement and was registered with the International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews ( http://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/ ; CRD42021267972) [ 23 ].

Research ethics approval

Not applicable.

Data sources and searches

We selected relevant studies published between 1950 and April 20, 2022. We searched MEDLINE/PubMed, EMBASE, PsycINFO, Scopus, and Clinicaltrials.gov using the following combined text and Medical Subject Heading (MeSH) terms: “laughter”, “laughter therapy”, “humor therapy”, “cortisol”. The complete PubMed search was as follows: ("Laughter"[Mesh] OR "Laughter therapy"[Mesh]) OR ("Laughter"[Text word] OR "Laughter therapy"[Text word]) OR (Humor therapy [Text Word]). The online Table 1 shows the complete search strategies used to search each database or registry. All potentially eligible studies were considered for review, regardless of the primary outcome or language. We also conducted a manual search using references of the included articles published in English.

Study selection

Studies were eligible for inclusion if they: (1) were interventional studies, which could be either RCT or quasi-experimental studies conducted in adults, (2) compared any spontaneous laughter intervention to a controlled setting consisting of either an intervention not associated with humor (i.e. such as reading a book) or usual activities (control group), and (3) reported changes in cortisol levels (serum/plasma or salivary cortisol). Exclusion criteria were as follows: studies that evaluated laughter-inducing therapy as part of physical activity intervention given the impact of exercise itself on stress hormones [ 24 ], studies that did not report a control group, retrospective studies or observational studies, and studies that measured cortisol in unstandardized samples (i.e. breast milk and hair follicle) ( Fig 1 ). If a study reported data on more than one humorous intervention arm, we included the data that fulfilled our inclusion criteria.

Intervention investigated and outcome measurements

We evaluated any spontaneous laughter intervention, which included (i) watching a comedy movie, (ii) laughter therapy conducted by a trained laughter therapist consisting of activities that promoted laughter, and (iii) self-administered laughter therapy. The laughter intervention could be applied on only one experimental day or as intermittent therapy sessions over a continuous period of time. The primary outcome was the percentage mean difference in the change in cortisol (serum/plasma or salivary) between baseline and end of intervention between intervention and control groups. These data was calculated based on changes in cortisol in relation to baseline values. The measure of variance was extracted by either absolute values, graphical displays, or estimated according to the Cochrane handbook of systematic reviews or meta-analysis.

Data extraction and quality assessment

Two independent investigators (CKK, CBL) reviewed study titles and abstracts. Studies that satisfied the inclusion criteria were retrieved for full-text assessment. Studies selected for review by both investigators had an agreement value (k) of 97%; disagreements were resolved by further discussion between the investigators. The following data was extracted from each study: study design, total number of participants, duration of intervention, percentage mean changes in cortisol levels. The risk of bias was evaluated according to the revised Cochrane tool for assessing risk of bias in randomized trials (RoB 2) [ 25 ] and the risk of bias in non-randomized studies of interventions (ROBINS-I) tool [ 26 ]. In addition, we evaluated the quality of evidence using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) for meta-analyses [ 27 ].

Data synthesis and analysis

We examined the impact of spontaneous laughter on cortisol levels as assessed by percentage mean change in cortisol. We calculated pooled estimates of the absolute differences between arithmetic means before and after interventions as compared to control group using a random-effects model (inverse-variance DerSimonian-Laird method). The I 2 value was used to evaluate the magnitude of heterogeneity between studies, with values greater than 50% indicating moderate-to-high heterogeneity [ 28 ]. We performed meta-regression analyses to assess whether the duration of laughter-inducing intervention impacted the stress response measured by changes in cortisol levels. In addition, we performed the following sensitivity analyses: (i) including studies that evaluated the impact of a single session of humorous intervention on cortisol levels, (ii) stratifying the studies by laughter intervention (watching comedy movie and laughter therapy), (iii) stratifying the studies by cortisol assay (salivary and serum cortisol), and (iv) including only RCTs. The possibility of publication bias was evaluated using a funnel plot of effect size against the standard error for each trial. Funnel plot asymmetry was evaluated by Begg’s and Egger’s tests, with significant publication bias defined as a P value <0.1 [ 29 ]. All analyses were performed using Stata 14.0 (Stata Corp, College Station, Texas).

Patient and public involvement

There was no patient involved in this study design and results. However, we hope that with the publication of this report, further studies and implementation of interventions to improve well-being through laughter could benefit patients.

Study characteristics

We identified 3,089 studies, of which 3,070 were excluded on the basis of title and abstract. Nineteen studies were retrieved for detailed assessment, eleven of which excluded ( Fig 1 ). Eight studies (with data from 315 participants) met our inclusion criteria; four were RCTs [ 16 , 17 , 19 , 22 ] and four were quasi-experiment studies [ 15 , 18 , 20 , 21 ] ( Table 1 ).

Included studies were published between 1989 and 2021, five studies evaluated laughter intervention as a single experiment [ 15 – 17 , 19 , 22 ] while three studies evaluated more than one laughter session over 4–6 weeks of time [ 18 , 20 , 21 ]. Patients had a mean age of 38.6 years old (ranging from 24.0 to 68.5 years), and 12.5–62.5% were male with one study conducted only in men [ 15 ] and one only in women [ 20 ]. The population evaluated in these studies included healthy individuals [ 15 , 16 , 19 , 21 , 22 ], participants living with diabetes and obesity [ 17 , 20 ], and patients on hemodialysis [ 18 ]. The humorous intervention adopted in these studies varied, with five studies evaluating the impact of watching a humor/comedy video [ 15 , 16 , 17 , 19 , 22 ], two studies evaluating laughter sessions administered by a trained laughter therapist [ 18 , 20 ], and one study evaluating a self-administered laughter program [ 21 ]. Salivary [ 17 , 19 , 21 , 22 ] and serum [ 15 , 16 , 18 , 20 ] cortisol were assessed at the same time of the day between the study arms, although the time of cortisol collection varied between the studies ( Table 1 ).

The assessment of risk of bias is shown in Fig 2 . The RCTs presented concerns in the overall assessment of bias, mainly due to deviations on the intended intervention as the laughter intervention cannot remain blinded to the participants ( Fig 2A ). In the same way, the quasi-experimental studies had moderate possibility of bias related to possible confounding effect and impossibility of blinded intervention ( Fig 2B ).The dropout rates varied from 0% to 27.5%. Although some studies informed the participants about the possibility of adverse events with the humor intervention, there were no adverse events reported.

(Panel A) Risk of bias in randomized trials (RoB 2). (Panel B) Risk of bias in non-randomized studies of interventions (ROBINS-I).

Impact of laughter on cortisol levels

Eight studies assessed the change in cortisol levels between laughter-inducing intervention and control group [ 15 – 22 ]. Pooling the data from these studies (n = 315 participants) showed a significant reduction in cortisol levels by 31.9% (95%CI -47.7% to -16.3%) induced by humorous intervention compared to control, with between-study heterogeneity (I 2 74.4%, P < 0.01) ( Fig 3A ). In this analysis, there was no evidence of publication bias on the Egger test (P = 0.66). In order to evaluate whether the duration of laughter-inducing activity (minutes) impacted the attenuation of stress response measured by reduction in cortisol levels, we performed meta-regression analyses which demonstrated no impact of the duration of spontaneous laughter on the observed reduction in cortisol ( Fig 3B ). To further assess the impact of laughter intervention on cortisol levels, we performed additional analysis including the studies that assessed a single laughter session (ranging from 9 to 60 minutes) [ 15 – 17 , 19 , 22 ]. This analysis demonstrated that even a single laughter session induced a reduction of 36.7% in cortisol (95%CI -52.5% to -20.8%) as compared to control group. In addition, analyses stratified by the type of laughter intervention (watching comedy movie and laughter therapy) demonstrated a reduction in cortisol level regardless of the strategy to induce spontaneous laughter [comedy movie: -36.7% (95%CI -52.5% to -20.8%); laughter therapy: -18.9% (95%CI -34% to -3.2%)].

(Panel A) Meta-analysis of the percentage mean difference in cortisol (%) between laughter interventions and control. CI = confidence interval. (Panel B) Bubble plot with fitted meta-regression line showing relationship between duration of laughter intervention and reduction in cortisol.

Next, sensitivity analyses were performed stratifying by the cortisol assay: (i) serum/plasma cortisol, and (ii) salivary cortisol measurements ( Fig 4 ). As compared to control group, the laughter intervention induced significant decrease in cortisol in studies evaluating serum/plasma cortisol [-22.0% (95%CI -42.3% to -1.77%)] ( Fig 4A ). This effect was even more pronounced when the stress response was assessed by changes in salivary cortisol with a 43.9% reduction in cortisol induced by laughter as compared to control (95%CI -74.1% to -13.7%) ( Fig 4B ). Finally, we repeated the analyses restricting the analysis to the four RCTs [ 16 , 17 , 19 , 22 ] which also demonstrated a significant reduction in cortisol levels promoted by laughter as compared to the placebo arm [-37.2% (95%CI -56.3% to -18.1%)]. The overall GRADE profile from these analyses is moderate/low (not free of biases) for establishing clinical recommendations based on the quality of the data available ( Table 2 ).

(Panel A) Serum cortisol, and (Panel B) Salivary cortisol. CI = confidence interval.

Our results showed that, compared to non-humorous usual activities, interventions that trigger spontaneous laughter induced a significant reduction of ~32% in cortisol levels, suggesting an impact on HPA-axis as a metabolic pathway associated with the stress-relief effect of humor. The positive impact of laughter on buffering cortisol response was already evident after one single laughter session (~37% reduction), being observed regardless of the laughter-inducing strategy (watching comedy movie and laughter therapy) or cortisol assay (salivary and serum cortisol).

Findings in the context of existing studies

Previous studies have demonstrated the potential impact of sense of humor and laughter on cardiovascular health [ 30 – 32 ]. Laughter-inducing activities such as watching a comedy movie has been associated with improvement in endothelial function assessed by brachial artery flow-mediated vasodilation and carotid arterial compliance, with effects that lasted up to 24-hours [ 30 , 31 ]. The cardioprotective effect of positive emotions was also evident in clinical studies. Specifically, in a study of 300 individuals, Clark et al showed that the propensity to laugh under a variety of situations encountered in everyday life had an inverse association with incident coronary heart disease [ 32 ]. This concept is supported by epidemiological data from Women’s Health Initiative (n = 97,253 women) [ 33 ], Nurses’ Health Study (n = 69,744) [ 34 ], and the Veterans Affairs Normative Aging Study (n = 1,429 men) [ 34 ]. These studies demonstrated that optimism, which is closely related to spontaneous laughter (i.e. frequency of laughter is associated with optimism) [ 1 – 4 ], is inversely and independently associated with both cardiovascular and total mortality, being associated with exceptional longevity [ 33 , 34 ]. Our results expand and reinforce the importance of spontaneous laughter in promoting health by demonstrating a significant and objectively-measured reduction on the hallmark adrenal stress-hormone, cortisol, induced by genuine laughter.

A reduction in cortisol levels has also been reported in response to laughter-inducing interventions in children and adolescents [ 35 – 39 ]. A previous meta-analysis of 24 studies (n = 1,612 kids) demonstrated that hospital clowns might contribute to improved psychological well-being and emotional responses in children and adolescents in hospital setting, with four studies reporting reduced levels of salivary cortisol after seeing hospital clowns visits compared with the pre-intervention measurement [ 35 ]. The implementation of humor in clinical care has been more widely established in the pediatric population possibly because the psychological motivations behind genuine laughter in adults is more complex, being influenced by the individual’s cultural background, education, beliefs, and psychological traits [ 1 – 4 , 40 ]. Once developed, however, the interpretation and perception of laughter among adults overcomes cultural and language barriers. In a study evaluating 966 participants from 24 societies, individuals reliably distinguished friends from strangers based on acoustic features of laughter with an accuracy of 53–67% [ 41 ]. These results suggest that, despite the complexity of modern social interactions and diverse cultural backgrounds, laughter is still a nonverbal vocal expression that communicates positive affect and cooperative intent in humans. In parallel to that, laughter can be socially contagious as experiencing other people’s laughter is a powerful stimulus for further laughter [ 42 ] even if the joke lacks comedic component (i.e. a bad joke) [ 43 ].

The blunted response in cortisol induced by spontaneous laughter may have other positive metabolic effects beyond the most evident relaxation and well-being. Hayashi et al, evaluating the impact of laughter induced by a comedy show in individuals with type 2 diabetes not on insulin (16 men and 3 women, age 63.4 years, body mass index 23.5 kg/m 2 , glycated hemoglobin 7.2%) as compared to a usual lecture, observed that the humorous show reduced the postprandial glucose excursion by 2.5 mmol/l [ 44 ]. Another potentially desirable metabolic effect of laughter includes the energy consumption that results from the contraction of facial and abdominal skeletal muscles (diaphragm). In a study evaluating 55 healthy individuals (age 18–34 years; mean body mass index 24.7 kg/m 2 ) using whole-room indirect calorimeter equipped with audio recording system, it was estimated that 15 minutes of genuine laughter can increase energy expenditure by approximately 40 kcal [ 45 ]. Interestingly and relevant to our results, reduced cortisol levels may help hair growth as evidenced by a recent study evaluating the underlying mechanism that modulates hair growth in response to stress. In a study published in Nature , Choi et al have uncovered a cellular and molecular mechanism that links stress hormones produced by adrenal glands to the activation of hair-follicle stem cells through the control of growth arrest-specific 6 (GAS6) expression in dermal papillae [ 46 ].

Implications

The health benefits of self-induced or simulated laughter have also been reported previously [ 47 ] with the most common modality consisting of a combination of yoga breathing techniques with induced laughter exercises, the laughter yoga . We focused this meta-analyses on genuine laughter as (i) the majority of the human humor occurs spontaneously in everyday life [ 13 ], (ii) the combination of laughter with physical activity could impact the interpretation of the cortisol response as physical activity itself can impact the secretion of adrenal hormones [ 22 ], and (iii) previous imaging studies suggest the involvement of different neural pathways in stimulated as compared to spontaneous laughter [ 3 ]. The impact on HPA axis found in our analyses suggests that genuine laughter holds positive effects for overall health as the excessive/prolonged cortisol secretion associated with chronic HPA-axis stimulation has negative implications for both physical and psychological diseases including obesity, depression, and chronic pain [ 48 , 49 ]. RCTs evaluating the long-term impact of genuine laughter are needed to establish whether activities that induce spontaneous laughter could be applied in specific clinical scenarios such as to improve metabolic health, symptoms of anxiety, and coping with chronic stressful situations.

Potential limitations of this study

A possible limitation of our meta-analyses is the heterogeneity amongst the laughter-inducing protocols as the laughter interventions included watching movies and talking to a laughter therapist for different durations of time. In addition, the studies had small samples sizes. However, this is not expected to impact our conclusions as our results were consistent across the diverse protocols and even a single session of laughter was significantly associated with a decreased cortisol response. Another limitation pertains to the inherent bias of quasi-experiment studies design that cannot be ruled out. Nonetheless, the sensitivity analyses including only RCT’s reinforce the main results. In addition, despite the concerns observed in the assessment of risk of bias ( Fig 2 ), the main aspect of concern related to the fact that laughter interventions cannot be applied in a blinded fashion. In this context, the potential impact of social interactions on HPA-axis response to laughter is another relevant aspect that could have impacted the results. Our analyses included studies with laughter intervention applied in both group and individual settings, but the degree of social interaction prior to or combined with the laughter intervention was not described. Another weakness is that the timing of cortisol sampling was inconsistent between studies and could have implications for the degree of change in cortisol induced by laughter. However, the fact that the timing of collection was not different between the study arms and that we assessed percent changes in cortisol may have helped to limit the impact of this possible confounder. Finally, pooling the data on the impact of laughter on cortisol levels in absolute units was not suitable given the diverse biochemistry measurements performed by each study.

In conclusion, our results support the ancient knowledge that spontaneous laughter is in fact good medicine (preventive or therapeutic) being associated with greater reduction in cortisol levels as compared with usual activities. These analyses demonstrated the potential therapeutic role of laughter-inducing interventions as a complementary strategy to improve everyone’s well-being and highlight the need for further research aiming to improve our collective sense of humor.

Supporting information

S1 checklist, acknowledgments.

We dedicate this manuscript to Brazil as humor represents a fundamental characteristic of the Brazilian culture. CBL receives a scholarship from Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq–PQ 1D).

Funding Statement

The author(s) received no specific funding for this work.

Data Availability

Introduction to the Special Issue of the Scientific Study of Laughter: Where We Have Been, Current Innovations, and Where We Might Go From Here

• Published: 16 August 2022
• Volume 46 , pages 321–326, ( 2022 )

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• Sally D. Farley 1  

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In his pioneering work, The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals , Darwin (1872/1965) argued that laughter was the outward expression of mirth. In the 150 years since the publication of this book, research has revealed that laughter is substantially more complex, nuanced, and socially important than Darwin theorized. The current special issue highlights recent discoveries regarding the nature of laughter and illuminates numerous themes. These include the importance of both representational and constructionist accounts of laughter, the value of studying naturally-occurring laughter “in the wild,” evoked in a variety of contexts (including contexts likely to elicit derisive laughter), and the critical advantage of pre-registration and other open science practices for improving our scientific understanding of laughter.

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A Brief History of the Science of Laughter

In his seminal book The Expression of Emotions in Man and Animals (1872/1965), Darwin wrote that laughter reflected a state of internal happiness and joy and was essentially the audible extension of a smile. Yet in this pioneering work, Darwin ( 1872 /1965) spoke to the importance of context arguing that laughter was not a reflex action. He wrote, “a young child, if tickled by a strange man, would scream from fear” rather than laugh (p. 199). In addition, despite maintaining that laughter was predicated upon being in a pleasant state of mind, Darwin also commented on man’s ability to use laughter strategically, for example, to mask other emotions such as anger or contempt. These early observations were a harbinger for the most significant debate in emotion research in the last 150 years. Specifically, to what extent are nonverbal behaviors universal expressions of underlying emotion, signals for communicative goals, or ambiguous cues that require cultural learning or context to decode? And regarding laughter in particular, is there a difference between laughter evoked in response to genuine mirth and laughter evoked in other situations such as politeness, embarrassment or schadenfreude?

Darwin’s argument that nonverbal expressions signify a readout of emotional experiences gave rise to the most dominant emotion theory in the last 50 years, Basic Emotions Theory (BET)(e.g., Ekman, 1992 ; Ekman & Friesen, 1969 ), which has evolved considerably over this time period (Keltner et al., 2019b ). Specifically, recent advances in BET have shown a marked increase in the number of documented universal emotions (as many as 28, Cowen & Keltner, 2019 ), greater integration with social functionalist accounts, and more attention to the importance of context (Keltner et al., 2019a ). But other theoretical approaches such as the Constructionist View (Barrett & Westlin, 2021 ) and the Behavioral Ecology View of facial displays (BECV; Crivelli & Fridlund, 2019 ) prioritize the role of social goals and context in the meanings we ascribe to nonverbal behavior. These views dispute the universality of emotion and challenge the notion that certain signals (such as facial expressions) convey unique meanings. This may be one of the most significant recurring debates in nonverbal communication and one that is germane to several papers in this special issue (Farley et al., 2022 ; Rychlowska et al., 2022 ; Wood et al., 2022 ).

Another pioneer whose work continues to inspire the scientific study of laughter is the late Richard Provine, to whom we owe a debt of gratitude. Provine’s (2001) painstaking naturalistic observation of more than 1000 laughter episodes contradicted several commonsense notions about laughter. The profoundly social nature of laughter was not terribly surprising, that is, individuals laugh 30 times more frequently in the presence of others than when alone (Provine, 2004 ). However, the findings that laughter is more frequent among speakers than listeners and occurs more in response to nonhumorous comments than humorous comments challenged the putative fixed link between humor and laughter (Provine, 2001 ). Echoing Provine’s work, this special issue showcases two papers that employed behavioral observation (as opposed to self-report) and yielded similarly novel and perplexing findings (Haviva & Starzyk, 2022 ; Mazzocconi & Ginzburg, 2022 ).

In 2005, Gervais and Wilson wrote a compelling treatise on the nature of humor and laughter in The Quarterly Review of Biology arguing for the existence of two unique neural laughter pathways. According to Gervais and Wilson ( 2005 ), “Duchenne” laughter evolved from the play displays of primates and thus reflects genuine positive affect. This type of laughter is spontaneous, involuntary, and emotional, and originates in older subcortical brain regions such as the brain stem and limbic system. In contrast, “Non-Duchenne” laughter is a more recent evolutionary development that can be employed strategically and is produced in neocortical areas. Given the volitional nature of “Non-Duchenne” laughter, it can serve many functions, from polite social glue which facilitates social bonding, to mocking insult which corrodes social relationships. The difficulty in unifying the laughter literature is due in part to its polysemous nature. Although the papers in this special issue do not adopt a uniform laughter classification system, recognition of different laughter types is a theme (Farley et al., 2022 ; Rychlowska et al., 2022 ; Wood et al., 2022 ).

Summary of Articles in This Special Issue

This special issue features significant recent contributions to the scientific study of laughter, ones that tread new terrain and complement the pioneering work discussed above. Despite the ubiquity and importance of laughter, there is very little exploration into the developmental trajectory of laughter in young children. In the first paper of the special issue, Mazzocconi and Ginzburg ( 2022 ) conducted a longitudinal investigation of a small sample of children from 12 to 36 months and noted that 12-month-old infants and their mothers have unique laughter profiles. Over time, however, infant laughter frequency increased and the patterns of child-mother laughter converged, possibly reflecting infants’ greater attunement with their caregivers and increased cognitive abilities (e.g., Theory of Mind). Given that laughter emerges around the third month of life, greatly preceding speech abilities, laughter serves a critical role for appraising and regulating social interaction with caregivers. The second paper in the special issue by Haviva and Starzyk ( 2022 ) examined another scarcely examined population – those at the opposite end of the developmental spectrum—older adults aged 67–95 (Haviva & Starzyk, 2022 ). This rare behavioral observation of laughter, the first to examine correlations between observed laughter frequency and a variety of psychological dimensions, refuted several intuitive notions about laughter. Although there was tremendous variability in laughter frequency among older adults, behavioral observations of laughter markedly exceeded the self-reported frequency reported in previous work, which both contradicts the stereotype that older adults laugh less than younger adults and underscores the unreliability of self-report accounts. Other unexpected findings were that laughter frequency was generally unrelated to dimensions of psychological health/well-being, physical health, and personality and did not differ by gender. Observed laughter frequency was, interestingly, negatively correlated with conscientiousness.

The third paper in the special issue (Smartt et al., 2022 ) picks up the thread of the relationship between laughter and the Big Five personality dimensions and asks the simple but interesting question—does laughter provide reliable cues to someone’s personality? Offering more support for the mysterious nature of laughter, person perception accuracy was generally not enhanced by viewing targets when they were laughing as opposed to when they were not, although observers were more accurate at detecting extraversion in laughing targets. However, people perceived targets to be higher in agreeableness, extraversion, openness to experience and conscientiousness when they were laughing than when they were not. The divergent associations between laughter and conscientiousness in this special issue are worthy of pointing out—Smartt et al. ( 2022 ) found that laughter makes individuals appear more conscientious, but Haviva and Starzyk ( 2022 ) found that frequent laughter was associated with less self-reported conscientiousness.

Because Smartt et al. ( 2022 ) relied upon laughter samples in response to humorous stimuli, these samples are likely to reflect spontaneous “Duchenne” laughter. Clearly, perceptions of laughing individuals experiencing genuine mirth would differ from those laughing at another person’s expense. Wood et al. ( 2022 ) included a negatively-valenced laughter type in their work on the social functional perspective, which describes three functions of smiles and laughs: reward (based on positive affect and desire to elicit positive affect in others), affiliation (based on politeness and desire to convey nonthreat), and dominance (based on a desire to show superiority or other negative affect). Researchers endeavored to determine whether reward, affiliation, and dominance laughs would map on to the same semantic space as their respective categories for smiles. Reward, affiliation, and dominance laugh samples of each type clustered together, as did reward, affiliation, and dominance smiles, but they occupied somewhat different semantic space. This research demonstrated that individuals implicitly judge smiles and laughter along reward, affiliation, and dominance dimensions.

In the fifth paper, Farley et al. ( 2022 ) grounded their work in the dual pathway framework first described by Gervais and Wilson ( 2005 ) and later empirically investigated by Bryant and his colleagues (e.g., Bryant & Aktipis, 2014 ; Bryant et al., 2016 ). Previous research demonstrated that raters, even five-month-old infants, can detect affiliation in short segments of laughter (Bryant & Aktipis, 2014 ; Vouloumanos & Bryant, 2019 ), but this paper showed that raters can accurately differentiate laughter samples from two dyad types both high in affiliation (friends and romantic partners). Farley et al. ( 2022 ) revealed that friend and romantic laughter differed on dimensions of perceived authenticity and vulnerability and argued that friendship laughter has features that are more compatible with the laughter production system that evolved from our primate counterparts. The findings from Farley et al. ( 2022 ) and Wood et al. ( 2022 ) are more supportive of the representational nonverbal perspective in that the laughter samples from these studies were accurately decoded, regardless of context, and in the case of Farley et al. ( 2022 ), across six different cultures.

In contrast, the final paper in this special issue by Rychlowska et al. ( 2022 ) offered compelling evidence as to the importance of context in decoding laughter’s meaning. Rychlowska et al. ( 2022 ) captured laughter evoked in response to three different social situations—amusement, embarrassment, and schadenfreude. They then exposed participants to four conditions with increasing context/informational value (audio only, audio–video with only the laugher visible, audio–video with laugher and conversational partner visible, and audio–video with both partners and precipitating event). Participants in the context-poor conditions did not exceed chance in their ability to identify the social situation that evoked the laughter. This paper complements research conducted by Aviezer and his colleagues ( 2017 ) on emotion detection in the face which posits that contextual information is integral, not peripheral, to the meanings we derive from nonverbal cues (see also Curran et al., 2018 ).

Ideally, the papers in this special issue will inspire further research on the fascinating, and at times counterintuitive, nature of laughter. As a body, they provide several important insights and avenues for future research. First, just like the nature/nurture “debate,” the tension between the representational and constructionist views of laughter perhaps represents a false dichotomy. Research strongly supports the existence of different kinds of laughter that convey unique meanings, but these signals are embedded in a context that colors and potentially overrides these meanings. I echo Keltner et al.’s ( 2019b ) call for more “systematic approaches to understanding how both classes of processes [evolution and culture] shape emotional expression in compelling ways” (p. 199), along with relevant moderators and mediators.

In addition, the dual pathway model posits that volitional laughter and spontaneous laughter differ in substantial ways (Gervais & Wilson, 2005 ). Thus, the methodological approach of sourcing laughter from actors, who will inevitably produce volitional laughter, is problematic in terms of ecological validity. A similar point has been raised about posed facial expressions (Namba et al., 2017 ). A deeper understanding of the richness and nuance of laughter would profit from examining naturally occurring laughter in a variety of contexts.

An additional insight garnered from examining these articles is the unreliability of self-reported laughter frequency, which urges future researchers to return to the laborious method of behavioral observation, a call that is especially important for developmental periods that have yet to be examined. Furthermore, these articles underscore that the field suffers from inconsistent terminology, a barrier to integrating potentially overlapping theoretical frameworks. For example, “Duchenne” laughter may be termed spontaneous, authentic, amusement, or reward laughter in different articles.

One final observation underscored by the present special issue is the immeasurable value gleaned from null findings. The lack of association between laughter frequency and a variety of physical and psychological correlates is both perplexing and counterintuitive (Haviva & Starzyk, 2022 ). The research community learns perhaps more from these null findings than from expected ones. Open science practices such as preregistration ensure that high-quality research contributes to the general body of knowledge regardless of research outcome, reducing publication bias and supporting a more transparent and comprehensive portrait of science (Nosek & Lakens, 2014 ).

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Farley, S.D. Introduction to the Special Issue of the Scientific Study of Laughter: Where We Have Been, Current Innovations, and Where We Might Go From Here. J Nonverbal Behav 46 , 321–326 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10919-022-00413-6

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Laughing is good for your mind and your body – here’s what the research shows

Professor of Cognitive Psychology, Grinnell College

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Amusement and pleasant surprises – and the laughter they can trigger – add texture to the fabric of daily life.

Those giggles and guffaws can seem like just silly throwaways. But laughter, in response to funny events, actually takes a lot of work, because it activates many areas of the brain : areas that control motor, emotional, cognitive and social processing.

As I found when writing “ An Introduction to the Psychology of Humor ,” researchers now appreciate laughter’s power to enhance physical and mental well-being.

Laughter’s physical power

People begin laughing in infancy, when it helps develop muscles and upper body strength . Laughter is not just breathing. It relies on complex combinations of facial muscles, often involving movement of the eyes, head and shoulders.

Laughter – doing it or observing it – activates multiple regions of the brain: the motor cortex, which controls muscles; the frontal lobe, which helps you understand context; and the limbic system, which modulates positive emotions. Turning all these circuits on strengthens neural connections and helps a healthy brain coordinate its activity.

By activating the neural pathways of emotions like joy and mirth, laughter can improve your mood and make your physical and emotional response to stress less intense. For example, laughing may help control brain levels of the neurotransmitter serotonin, similar to what antidepressants do. By minimizing your brain’s responses to threats, it limits the release of neurotransmitters and hormones like cortisol that can wear down your cardiovascular, metabolic and immune systems over time. Laughter’s kind of like an antidote to stress , which weakens these systems and increases vulnerability to diseases.

Laughter’s cognitive power

A good sense of humor and the laughter that follows depend on an ample measure of social intelligence and working memory resources.

Laughter, like humor, typically sparks from recognizing the incongruities or absurdities of a situation. You need to mentally resolve the surprising behavior or event – otherwise you won’t laugh; you might just be confused instead. Inferring the intentions of others and taking their perspective can enhance the intensity of the laughter and amusement you feel.

To “get” a joke or humorous situation, you need to be able to see the lighter side of things. You must believe that other possibilities besides the literal exist – think about being amused by comic strips with talking animals , like those found in “ The Far Side .”

Laughter’s social power

Many cognitive and social skills work together to help you monitor when and why laughter occurs during conversations. You don’t even need to hear a laugh to be able to laugh. Deaf signers punctuate their signed sentences with laughter , much like emoticons in written text.

Laughter creates bonds and increases intimacy with others. Linguist Don Nilsen points out that chuckles and belly laughs seldom happen when alone , supporting their strong social role. Beginning early in life, infants’ laughter is an external sign of pleasure that helps strengthen bonds with caregivers.

Later, it’s an external sign of sharing an appreciation of the situation. For example, public speakers and comedians try to get a laugh to make audiences feel psychologically closer to them, to create intimacy.

By practicing a little laughter each day, you can enhance social skills that may not come naturally to you. When you laugh in response to humor, you share your feelings with others and learn from risks that your response will be accepted/shared/enjoyed by others and not be rejected/ignored/disliked.

In studies, psychologists have found that men with Type A personality characteristics , including competitiveness and time urgency, tend to laugh more, while women with those traits laugh less. Both sexes laugh more with others than when alone.

Laughter’s mental power

Positive psychology researchers study how people can live meaningful lives and thrive. Laughter produces positive emotions that lead to this kind of flourishing. These feelings – like amusement, happiness, mirth and joy – build resiliency and increase creative thinking . They increase subjective well-being and life satisfaction . Researchers find that these positive emotions experienced with humor and laughter correlate with appreciating the meaning of life and help older adults hold a benign view of difficulties they’ve faced over a lifetime.

Laughter in response to amusement is a healthy coping mechanism. When you laugh, you take yourself or the situation less seriously and may feel empowered to problem-solve . For example, psychologists measured the frequency and intensity of 41 people’s laughter over two weeks, along with their ratings of physical and mental stress. They found that the more laughter experienced , the lower the reported stress. Whether the instances of laughter were strong, medium or weak in intensity didn’t matter.

Maybe you want to grab some of these benefits for yourself – can you force laughter to work for you?

A growing number of therapists advocate using humor and laughter to help clients build trust and improve work environments ; a review of five different studies found that measures of well-being did increase after laughter interventions. Sometimes called homeplay instead of homework, these interventions take the form of daily humor activities – surrounding yourself with funny people, watching a comedy that makes you laugh or writing down three funny things that happened today.

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You can practice laughing even when alone. Intentionally take a perspective that appreciates the funny side of events. Laughing yoga is a technique of using breathing muscles to achieve the positive physical responses of natural laughing with forced laughter (ha ha hee hee ho ho).

Researchers today certainly aren’t laughing off its value, but a good deal of the research on laughter’s influence on mental and physical health is based on self-report measures. More psychological experimentation around laughter or the contexts in which it occurs will likely support the importance of laughing throughout your day, and maybe even suggest more ways to intentionally harness its benefits.

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The Health Benefits of Laughter

Elizabeth Scott, PhD is an author, workshop leader, educator, and award-winning blogger on stress management, positive psychology, relationships, and emotional wellbeing.

Rachel Goldman, PhD FTOS, is a licensed psychologist, clinical assistant professor, speaker, wellness expert specializing in eating behaviors, stress management, and health behavior change.

Research has shown that the health benefits of laughter are far-ranging. Studies so far have shown that laughter can help relieve pain, bring greater happiness, and even increase immunity. Positive psychology names the propensity for laughter and sense of humor as one of the 24 main signature strengths one can possess.  

Unfortunately, however, many people don't get enough laughter in their lives.

In fact, one study suggests that healthy children may laugh as much as 400 times per day, but adults tend to laugh only 15 times per day.

Other studies find us laughing a little more than that, but if you ask me, virtually all of us could use a little more laughter in our lives, considering how beneficial a good laugh can actually be for our stress levels and overall wellness. 

Stress Management Benefits of Laughter

Here are some of the many ways laughter reduces stress.

Laughter reduces the level of stress hormones like cortisol , epinephrine (adrenaline), dopamine , and growth hormone. It also increases the level of health-enhancing hormones, like endorphins.

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

Physical Release

Have you ever felt like you have to laugh or you'll cry? Have you experienced that cleansed feeling after a good laugh? Laughter provides a physical and emotional release.

Internal Workout

A good belly laugh exercises the diaphragm, contracts the abs, and even works out the shoulders, leaving muscles more relaxed afterward. It even provides a good workout for the heart.

Distraction

Laughter brings the focus away from anger , guilt, stress , and negative emotions in a more beneficial way than other mere distractions.

Perspective

Studies show that our response to stressful events can be altered by whether we view something as a threat or a challenge . Humor can give us a more lighthearted perspective and help us view events as challenges, thereby making them less threatening and more positive.  

Social Benefits

Laughter connects us with others. Just as with smiling and kindness , most people find that laughter is contagious. So, if you bring more laughter into your life, you can most likely help others around you to laugh more and realize these benefits as well.

By elevating the mood of those around you, you can reduce their stress levels and perhaps improve the quality of social interaction you experience with them, reducing your stress level even more!

How to Use Laughter

Laughter is one of my all-time favorite stress management strategies because it's free, convenient, and beneficial in so many ways. You can get more laughter in your life with the following strategies.

Laugh With Friends

Going to a movie or a comedy club with friends is a great way to get more laughter in your life. The contagious effects of laughter may mean you'll laugh more than you otherwise would have during the show, plus you'll have jokes to reference at later times.

Having friends over for a party or game night is also a great setup for laughter and other good feelings. Making time for this kind of fun is as important as any other habit you keep in your life to support your health, and it's very possibly more enjoyable than most health habits as well.

Find Humor in Your Life

Instead of complaining about life's frustrations, try to laugh about them. If something is so frustrating or depressing it's ridiculous, realize that you could 'look back on it and laugh.' Think of how it will sound like a story you could tell your friends, and then see if you can laugh about it now.

With this attitude, you may also find yourself being more lighthearted and silly, giving yourself and those around you more to laugh about. Approach life in a more mirthful way and you'll find you're less stressed about negative events.

Fake It Until You Make It

Just as studies show the positive effects of smiling occur whether the smile is fake or real , faked laughter also provides the benefits mentioned above. The body can't distinguish between 'fake' laughter that you just start doing on purpose and 'real' laughter that comes from true humor.

The physical benefits are exactly the same, and the former usually leads to the latter anyway. So smile more, and fake laughter; you'll still achieve positive effects, and the fake merriment may lead to real smiles and laughter.

There's no shortage of laughter opportunities from entertainment, both at the theater as well as at home with streaming movies and T.V. comedies.

While wasting your time watching something marginally funny may actually frustrate you, watching truly hilarious movies and shows is an easy way to get laughter into your life whenever you need it. You may want to share your recommendations with friends and you'll have something to reference and laugh about together.

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By Elizabeth Scott, PhD Elizabeth Scott, PhD is an author, workshop leader, educator, and award-winning blogger on stress management, positive psychology, relationships, and emotional wellbeing.

Laughing Your Way to Health and Joy

Fake it until you make it..

Posted January 4, 2022 | Reviewed by Michelle Quirk

• Because the mind is not limited to the brain but dwells in the whole body, if the body feels good, the mind will feel good.
• Mental stress causes blood vessels to constrict contributing to atherosclerosis and heart disease.
• Some health professionals are implementing laughter therapy in their clinical practice, both individually and in groups.

I am sure the reader is familiar with the concept of psychosomatics — the science of how the mind affects the body, for better or worse. Many people forget that the reverse is also true. What goes on in the body affects the psyche — in other words, the mind. When we are happy, we smile or laugh. When we are sad, we sob, we cry. The interesting thing is that when we pretend to cry or laugh — actors do this all the time — the feelings associated with these bodily changes well up. In these difficult times, conscious laughter may be just the ticket to feeling more optimistic and cheerful.

The Historical Perspective

In India, laughing yoga or yoga laughter has existed for a very long time. Nobody really knows who invented it or when it first appeared. Whatever its origins, laughter yoga owes its modern success to a family physician, Madan Kataria, and his wife, Madhuri Kataria, who modernized its practice by making it accessible to Westerners.

In the United States, William F. Fry, a professor of psychology at Stanford University, California, was the first scientist to suggest in 1964 that laughter was a suitable field of study. The American Association for Therapeutic Humor was founded in 1987, and the formation of the International Society for Humor Studies followed in 1988. Both of these organizations unite several hundred professionals interested in integrating humor into a variety of therapeutic modalities. Together they have published hundreds of articles on the health benefits of laughter, and their members have written many books and spoken at numerous conferences.

Marí Cruz Garcia independently developed her own concept of “conscious laughter” in the early 1980s, created her own laughter school, started to train laughter therapists in 1990, and continues to do so.

You may have seen the 1998 Hollywood movie on Dr. Patch Adams starring Robin Williams. Hunter Patch Adams, while still in medical school, committed his life to bringing fun and laughter to young hospitalized patients. Around the same time, professional clowns from the not-for-profit Big Apple Circus started to do hospital visits. Their message and techniques spread worldwide over the following years.

How to Laugh

The easiest way to laugh is in a group led by a person familiar with laughing techniques. For example, see the work of Steve Wilson, a psychologist from Ohio, who brought the concept of Laughter Clubs to the United States in the late 1990s. He has trained thousands of Certified Laughter Leaders in North America and beyond. His approach incorporates laughter exercises, games, music, movement, and creative arts.

Another person whose work you can access on the Web is Annette Goodheart, a psychologist from Santa Barbara, CA. She devised a set of techniques on how to use laughter to release strong or repressed emotions. Her book Laughter Therapy is a good read.

If joining a group either in your city or virtually does not appeal to you, you can learn to laugh on your own. You do not need to have a sense of humor , know jokes, or even be happy. Laugh for the same reason you exercise or diet — because you know it is good for you.

Why It Works

Current scientific research at Loma Linda University’s School of Allied Health and Medicine has shown that laughter helps the brain regulate the stress hormones cortisol and epinephrine. The researchers also discovered a link between laughter and the production of antibodies and endorphins, the body’s natural painkillers. Even the expectation that something funny is coming suffices to bring about positive effects, according to the lead immunologist, Lee Berk.

Scientists at the Maryland School of Medicine found that laughter causes the tissue that forms the inner lining of blood vessels, the endothelium, to expand, resulting in an increased blood flow, while stress constricts blood vessels and reduces blood flow.

In one study volunteers watched segments of a funny movie, "There's Something About Mary" on one day and on the next watched the opening section of the rather stressful movie "Saving Private Ryan." Each volunteer served as his or her own control. Overall, more than 300 measurements were taken. “The magnitude of change we saw in the endothelium after laughing was consistent and similar to the benefit we might see with aerobic exercise or statin use,” said Michael Miller, lead investigator.

Geneticist Kazu Murakami and Yoshimoto Kogyo Co Ltd, a leading entertainment company, jointly carried out their first experiment to let people with diabetes laugh at a comedy show performed by the firm's top stand-up comedians after listening to a monotonous college lecture. The two-day experiment, as described in his 2006 paper, showed that their blood glucose levels dropped after they laughed compared with after listening to the lecture. His latest experiment with the entertainment firm found 18 genes controlling the immune system activated.

When we laugh, extra amounts of serotonin are naturally released in the gastrointestinal tract. The parasympathetic system — rest and digest — is dialed up, the sympathetic nervous system — fight or flight — is dialed down. As a result, the immune system is powered up and you heal faster and are less prone to sickness. The pituitary gland and the hypothalamus release endorphins, dopamine , and oxytocin , neuropeptides related to feelings of happiness and bonding . You feel good when you are connected with yourself and others.

I should point out that sufficient randomized controlled clinical trials have not been conducted validating the therapeutic efficacy of laughter. Therefore, it is not surprising that, in academic circles, this approach is generally held in disdain as nonscientific and off the wall and not a replacement for antidepressant medications and psychotherapy . In terms of consumers, the problem is that laughter is free, and we don’t value what’s free.

Laughter, including simulated laughter, has positive quantifiable physiological and psychological effects. It can be used with preventive intent or as a complementary or alternative therapeutic option in the treatment of emotional as well as physical disorders. Whether used in a clinical setting or in a laughing yoga group or in the privacy of one’s home, laughter’s benefits are many and can contribute greatly to living life optimally.

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Hayashi, T., Urayama, O., Kawai, K., Hayashi, K., Iwanaga, S., Ohta, M., ... & Murakami, K. (2006). Laughter regulates gene expression in patients with type 2 diabetes. Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics , 75(1), 62–65.

Miller, M., & Fry, W. F. (2009). The effect of mirthful laughter on the human cardiovascular system. Medical Hypotheses , 73(5), 636–639.

Mora-Ripoll, R. (2013). Laughter techniques for therapeutic use in medicine. OA Alternative Medicine, 1(3), 25.

Tremayne, P., & Sharma, K. (2019). Implementing laughter therapy to enhance the well-being of patients and nurses. Nursing Standard, 34(3).

350+ Scientific Research Papers on Laughter https://www.laughteronlineuniversity.com/350-scientific-research-papers…

Thomas R. Verny, M.D. , the author of eight books, including The Embodied Mind , has taught at Harvard University, University of Toronto, York University, and St. Mary’s University of Minnesota. His podcast, Pushing Boundaries , may be viewed on Youtube or listened to on Spotify and many other platforms.

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The benefits of laughter

What are the physical, mental, and social benefits of laughter, laughter helps you stay mentally healthy, laughter brings people together and strengthens relationships, how to bring more laughter into your life, tips for developing your sense of humor, using humor to overcome challenges and enhance your life, laughter is the best medicine.

It’s fun to share a good laugh, but did you know it can actually improve your health? Learn how to harness the powerful benefits of laughter and humor.

It’s true: laughter is strong medicine. It draws people together in ways that trigger healthy physical and emotional changes in the body. Laughter strengthens your immune system, boosts mood, diminishes pain, and protects you from the damaging effects of stress. Nothing works faster or more dependably to bring your mind and body back into balance than a good laugh. Humor lightens your burdens, inspires hope, connects you to others, and keeps you grounded, focused, and alert. It also helps you release anger and forgive sooner.

With so much power to heal and renew, the ability to laugh easily and frequently is a tremendous resource for surmounting problems, enhancing your relationships, and supporting both physical and emotional health. Best of all, this priceless medicine is fun, free, and easy to use.

As children, we used to laugh hundreds of times a day, but as adults, life tends to be more serious and laughter more infrequent. But by seeking out more opportunities for humor and laughter, you can improve your emotional health, strengthen your relationships, find greater happiness—and even add years to your life.

Laughter is good for your health

Laughter relaxes the whole body. A good, hearty laugh relieves physical tension and stress, leaving your muscles relaxed for up to 45 minutes after.

Laughter boosts the immune system. Laughter decreases stress hormones and increases immune cells and infection-fighting antibodies, thus improving your resistance to disease.

Laughter triggers the release of endorphins, the body’s natural feel-good chemicals. Endorphins promote an overall sense of well-being and can even temporarily relieve pain.

Laughter protects the heart. Laughter improves the function of blood vessels and increases blood flow, which can help protect you against a heart attack and other cardiovascular problems.

Laughter burns calories. Okay, so it’s no replacement for going to the gym, but one study found that laughing for 10 to 15 minutes a day can burn approximately 40 calories—which could be enough to lose three or four pounds over the course of a year.

Laughter lightens anger’s heavy load . Nothing diffuses anger and conflict faster than a shared laugh. Looking at the funny side can put problems into perspective and enable you to move on from confrontations without holding onto bitterness or resentment.

Laughter may even help you to live longer. A study in Norway found that people with a strong sense of humor outlived those who don’t laugh as much. The difference was particularly notable for those battling cancer.

Physical health benefits

• Boosts immunity
• Lowers stress hormones
• Decreases pain
• Relaxes your muscles
• Prevents heart disease

Mental health benefits

• Adds joy and zest to life
• Eases anxiety and tension
• Relieves stress
• Improves mood
• Strengthens resilience

Social benefits

• Strengthens relationships
• Attracts others to us
• Enhances teamwork
• Helps defuse conflict
• Promotes group bonding

Laughter makes you feel good. And this positive feeling remains with you even after the laughter subsides. Humor helps you keep a positive, optimistic outlook through difficult situations, disappointments, and loss.

[Read: Cultivating Happiness]

More than just a respite from sadness and pain, laughter gives you the courage and strength to find new sources of meaning and hope. Even in the most difficult of times, a laugh–or even simply a smile–can go a long way toward making you feel better. And laughter really is contagious—just hearing laughter primes your brain and readies you to smile and join in the fun.

The link between laughter and mental health

Laughter stops distressing emotions. You can’t feel anxious, angry, or sad when you’re laughing.

Laughter helps you relax and recharge. It reduces stress and increases energy, enabling you to stay focused and accomplish more.

Laughter shifts perspective , allowing you to see situations in a more realistic, less threatening light. A humorous perspective creates psychological distance, which can help you avoid feeling overwhelmed and diffuse conflict.

Laughter draws you closer to others, which can have a profound effect on all aspects of your mental and emotional health.

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There’s a good reason why TV sitcoms use laugh tracks: laughter is contagious. You’re many times more likely to laugh around other people than when you’re alone. And the more laughter you bring into your own life, the happier you and those around you will feel.

Sharing humor is half the fun—in fact, most laughter doesn’t come from hearing jokes, but rather simply from spending time with friends and family. And it’s this social aspect that plays such an important role in the health benefits of laughter. You can’t enjoy a laugh with other people unless you take the time to really engage with them. When you care about someone enough to switch off your phone and really connect face to face, you’re engaging in a process that rebalances the nervous system and puts the brakes on defensive stress responses like “fight or flight.” And if you share a laugh as well, you’ll both feel happier, more positive, and more relaxed—even if you’re unable to alter a stressful situation.

How laughing together can strengthen relationships

Shared laughter is one of the most effective tools for keeping relationships fresh and exciting. All emotional sharing builds strong and lasting relationship bonds, but sharing laughter also adds joy, vitality, and resilience. And humor is a powerful and effective way to heal resentments, disagreements, and hurts. Laughter unites people during difficult times.

Humor and playful communication strengthen our relationships by triggering positive feelings and fostering emotional connection. When we laugh with one another, a positive bond is created. This bond acts as a strong buffer against stress, disagreements, and disappointment. Humor and laughter in relationships allows you to:

Be more spontaneous. Humor gets you out of your head and away from your troubles.

Let go of defensiveness. Laughter helps you forget resentments, judgments, criticisms, and doubts.

Release inhibitions. Your fear of holding back is pushed aside.

Express your true feelings. Deeply felt emotions are allowed to rise to the surface.

Use humor to resolve disagreements and tension in your relationship

Laughter is an especially powerful tool for managing conflict and reducing tension when emotions are running high. Whether with romantic partners, friends and family, or co-workers, you can learn to use humor to smooth over disagreements , lower everyone’s stress level, and communicate in a way that builds up your relationships rather than breaking them down.

Laughter is your birthright, a natural part of life that is innate and inborn. Infants begin smiling during the first weeks of life and laugh out loud within months of being born. Even if you did not grow up in a household where laughter was a common sound, you can learn to laugh at any stage of life.

Begin by setting aside special times to seek out humor and laughter, as you might with exercising, and build from there. Eventually, you’ll want to incorporate humor and laughter into the fabric of your life, finding it naturally in everything.

Here are some ways to start:

Smile. Smiling is the beginning of laughter, and like laughter, it’s contagious. When you look at someone or see something even mildly pleasing, practice smiling. Instead of looking down at your phone, look up and smile at people you pass in the street, the person serving you a morning coffee, or the co-workers you share an elevator with. Notice the effect on others.

Count your blessings. Literally make a list. The simple act of considering the positive aspects of your life will distance you from negative thoughts that block humor and laughter. When you’re in a state of sadness, you have further to travel to reach humor and laughter.

[Listen: Gratitude in Difficult Times]

When you hear laughter, move toward it. Sometimes humor and laughter are private, a shared joke among a small group, but usually not. More often, people are very happy to share something funny because it gives them an opportunity to laugh again and feed off the humor you find in it. When you hear laughter, seek it out and ask, “What’s funny?”

Spend time with fun, playful people. These are people who laugh easily–both at themselves and at life’s absurdities–and who routinely find the humor in everyday events. Their playful point of view and laughter are contagious. Even if you don’t consider yourself a lighthearted, humorous person, you can still seek out people who like to laugh and make others laugh. Every comedian appreciates an audience.

Bring humor into conversations. Ask people, “What’s the funniest thing that happened to you today? This week? In your life?”

Simulated laughter

So, what if you really can’t “find the funny?” Believe it or not, it’s possible to laugh without experiencing a funny event—and simulated laughter can be just as beneficial as the real thing. It can even make exercise more fun and productive. A Georgia State University study found that incorporating bouts of simulated laughter into an exercise program helped improve older adults’ mental health as well as their aerobic endurance. Plus, hearing others laugh, even for no apparent reason, can often trigger genuine laughter.

To add simulated laughter into your own life, search for laugh yoga or laugh therapy groups. Or you can start simply by laughing at other people’s jokes, even if you don’t find them funny. Both you and the other person will feel good, it will draw you closer together, and who knows, it may even lead to some spontaneous laughter.

Creating opportunities to laugh

• Watch a funny movie, TV show, or YouTube video.
• Invite friends or co-workers out to a comedy club.
• Read the funny pages.
• Seek out funny people.
• Share a good joke or a funny story.
• Check out your bookstore’s humor section.
• Host game night with friends.
• Play with a pet.
• Go to a “laughter yoga” class.
• Goof around with children.
• Do something silly.
• Make time for fun activities (e.g. bowling, miniature golfing, karaoke).

An essential ingredient for developing your sense of humor is to learn not to take yourself too seriously and laugh at your own mistakes and foibles. As much as we’d like to believe otherwise, we all do foolish things from time to time. Instead of feeling embarrassed or defensive, embrace your imperfections. While some events in life are clearly sad and not opportunities for laughter, most don’t carry an overwhelming sense of either sadness or delight. They fall into the gray zone of ordinary life—giving you the choice to laugh or not. So, choose to laugh whenever you can.

How to develop your sense of humor

Laugh at yourself. Share your embarrassing moments. The best way to take yourself less seriously is to talk about times when you took yourself too seriously.

Attempt to laugh at situations rather than bemoan them. Look for the humor in a bad situation, and uncover the irony and absurdity of life. When something negative happens, try to make it a humorous anecdote that will make others laugh.

Surround yourself with reminders to lighten up. Keep a toy on your desk or in your car. Put up a funny poster in your office. Choose a computer screensaver that makes you laugh. Frame photos of you and your family or friends having fun.

Remember funny things that happen. If something amusing happens or you hear a joke or funny story you really like, write it down or tell it to someone to help you remember it.

Don’t dwell on the negative. Try to avoid negative people and don’t dwell on news stories, entertainment, or conversations that make you sad or unhappy. Many things in life are beyond your control—particularly the behavior of other people. While you might view carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders as admirable, in the long run it’s unrealistic and unhealthy.

Find your inner child. Pay attention to children and try to emulate them—after all, they are the experts on playing, taking life lightly, and laughing at ordinary things.

Deal with stress. Stress can be a major impediment to humor and laughter, so it’s important to keep your stress levels in check. One great technique to relieve stress in the moment is to draw upon a favorite memory that always makes you smile—something your kids did, for example, or something funny a friend told you.

Don’t go a day without laughing. Think of it like exercise or breakfast and make a conscious effort to find something each day that makes you laugh. Set aside 10 to 15 minutes and do something that amuses you. The more you get used to laughing each day, the less effort you’ll have to make.

The ability to laugh, play, and have fun not only makes life more enjoyable but also helps you solve problems, connect with others, and think more creatively. People who incorporate humor and play into their daily lives find that it renews them and all of their relationships.

Life brings challenges that can either get the best of you or become playthings for your imagination. When you “become the problem” and take yourself too seriously, it can be hard to think outside the box and find new solutions. But when you play with the problem, you can often transform it into an opportunity for creative learning.

[Read: Managing Conflict with Humor]

Playing with problems seems to come naturally to children. When they are confused or afraid, they make their problems into a game, giving them a sense of control and an opportunity to experiment with new solutions. Interacting with others in playful ways helps you retain this creative ability.

Here are two examples of people who took everyday problems and turned them around through laughter and play:

• Roy , a semi-retired businessman, was excited to finally have time to devote to golf, his favorite sport. But the more he played, the less he enjoyed himself. Although his game had improved dramatically, he got angry with himself over every mistake. Roy wisely realized that his golfing buddies affected his attitude, so he stopped playing with people who took the game too seriously. When he played with friends who focused more on having fun than on their scores, he was less critical of himself. Now golfing was as enjoyable as Roy had envisioned. He scored better without working harder. And the brighter outlook he was gaining from his companions and the game spread to other parts of his life.
• Jane worked at home designing greeting cards, a job she used to love but now felt had become routine. Two little girls who loved to draw and paint lived next door. Eventually, Jane invited the girls over to play with all of her art supplies. At first, she just watched, but in time she joined in. Laughing, coloring, and playing pretend with the little girls transformed Jane’s life. Not only did it end her loneliness and boredom, but it sparked her imagination and helped her artwork flourish. Best of all, it rekindled the playfulness in Jane’s relationship with her husband.

As laughter, humor, and play become integrated into your life, your creativity will flourish and new opportunities for laughing with friends, coworkers, acquaintances, and loved ones will occur to you daily. Laughter takes you to a higher place where you can view the world from a more relaxed, positive, and joyful perspective.

More Information

• Buchowski, M. S., Majchrzak, K. M., Blomquist, K., Chen, K. Y., Byrne, D. W., & Bachorowski, J.-A. (2007). Energy expenditure of genuine laughter. International Journal of Obesity , 31(1), 131–137. Link
• Laugh and be thankful—It’s good for the heart—Harvard Health . (n.d.). Retrieved May 25, 2022, from Link
• Manninen, S., Tuominen, L., Dunbar, R. I., Karjalainen, T., Hirvonen, J., Arponen, E., Hari, R., Jääskeläinen, I. P., Sams, M., & Nummenmaa, L. (2017). Social Laughter Triggers Endogenous Opioid Release in Humans. The Journal of Neuroscience , 37(25), 6125–6131. Link
• Miller, M., & Fry, W. F. (2009). The effect of mirthful laughter on the human cardiovascular system. Medical Hypotheses , 73(5), 636–639. /p> Link
• Romundstad, S., Svebak, S., Holen, A., & Holmen, J. (2016). A 15-Year Follow-Up Study of Sense of Humor and Causes of Mortality: The Nord-Trøndelag Health Study. Psychosomatic Medicine , 78(3), 345–353. Link
• Speer, M. E., & Delgado, M. R. (2017). Reminiscing about positive memories buffers acute stress responses. Nature Human Behaviour , 1(5), 0093. Link
• Yim, J. (2016). Therapeutic Benefits of Laughter in Mental Health: A Theoretical Review. The Tohoku Journal of Experimental Medicine , 239(3), 243–249. Link

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350+ Scientific Research Papers on Laughter

The following list was compiled by Don L. F. Nilsen, English Department, Arizona State University Tempe, AZ (possibly using http://www.BioMedSearch.com ). You will find more (and more recent) research articles on laughter categorized by area(s) of benefits in the LOU laughter research center .

• Adelswärd, Viveka, and Britt-Marie Öberg. “The Function of Laughter and Joking in Negotiating Activities.” HUMOR: International Journal of Humor Research 11.4 (1998): 411-430.
• Arner, T. D. “No Joke: Transcendent Laughter in The Teseida and The Miller’s Tale.” Studies in Philology 102.2 (2005): 143-158.
• Askenasy, J. J. M. “The Functions and Dysfunctions of Laughter.” Journal of General Psychology 14.4 (1987): 317-34.
• Bainy, Moses. Why Do We Laugh and Cry? West Ryde, Australia: Sunlight Publications, 1993.
• Basil Hall, Laughter as a displacement activity: the implications for humor theory
• Baudelaire, Charles. The Essence of Laughter. New York, NY: Meridian: 1956.
• Bell, N. D. “Laughter in Interaction.” Discourse Studies 7.1 (2005): 137-138.
• Bellert, J. “Humor: A Therapeutic Approach in Oncology Nursing.” Cancer Nursing 12.2 (1989): 65-70.
• Berger, Arthur Asa. “After the Laughter: A Concluding Note.” Blind Men and Elephants: Perspectives on Humor. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Press, 1995, 159-170.
• Berger, Arthur Asa. “The Functions of Laughter: Sociological Aspects of Humor.” Blind Men and Elephants: Perspectives on Humor. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Press, 1995, 91-104.
• Berger, Arthur Asa. “The Politics of Laughter: A Cultural Theory of Humor Preferences.” Blind Men and Elephants: Perspectives on Humor. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Press, 1995, 105-120.
• Berger, Arthur Asa. “The Problem of Laughter: Philosophical Approaches to Humor.” Blind Men and Elephants: Perspectives on Humor. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Press, 1995, 37-50.
• Berger, Arthur Asa. Redeeming Laughter. New York, NY: Walter de Gruyter, 1997.
• Berger, Arthur Asa. “The Rhetoric of Laughter: The Techniques Used in Humor.” Blind Men and Elephants: Perspectives on Humor. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Press, 1995, 51-64.
• Berger, Arthur Asa. “Seeing Laughter: Visual Aspects of Humor.” Blind Men and Elephants: Perspectives on Humor. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Press, 1995, 139-158.
• Berger, Arthur Asa. “The Structure of Laughter: Semiotics and Humor.” Blind Men and Elephants: Perspectives on Humor. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Press, 1995, 65-78.
• Berger, Arthur Asa, and A. Wildavsky. “Who Laughs at What?” Society 31.6 (1994): 82-86.
• Berger, Peter L. Redeeming Laughter: The Comic Dimension of Human Experience. Hawthorne, NY: Walter de Gruyter, 1997.
• Berger, Phil. The Last Laugh. NY: Limelight, 1985.
• Bergler, E. Laughter and the Sense of Humor. NY: Intercontinental Medical Book Corp, 1956.
• Bergson, Henri Louis. Laughter: An Essay on the Meaning of the Comic. New York, NY: MacMillan, 1924.
• Bergson, Henri Louis. “Laughter.” Comedy. Ed. Wylie Sypher. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1956, 59-190.
• Berk, Lee, and S. A. Tan. “Eustress of Mirthful Laughter Modulates the Immune System Lymphokine Interferon-Gama.” Annals of Behavioral Medicine Supplement, Proceedings of the Society of Behavioral Medicine’s Sixteenth Annual Scientific Sessions 17 (1995): C064.
• Berk, Lee, S. A. Tan, and William Fry. “Eustress of Humor Associated Laughter Modulates Specific Immune System Components.” Annals of Behavioral Medicine Supplement, Proceedings of the Society of Behavioral Medicine’s Fourteenth Annual Scientific Sessions 15 S111.
• Berk, Lee., S. A. Tan, William F. Fry, B. J. Napier, J. W. Lee, R. W. Hubbard, J. E. Lewis, and W. C. Eby. “Neuroendrocrine and Stress Hormone Changes During Mirthful Laughter.” American Journal of the Medical Sciences. 298.6 (1989): 390-96.
• Berk, Lee, S. Tan, B. Napier, and W. Evy. “Eustress of Mirthful Laughter Modifies Natural Killer Cell Activity. Clinical Research 37 (1989): 115A.
• Berk, Lee, S. A. Tan, S. Nehlsen-Cannarella, B. J. Napier, J. E. Lewis, J. E. Lee, and W. C. Eby. “Humor Associated with Laughter Decreases Cortisol and Increases Spontaneous Lymphocyte Blastogenesis.” Clinical Research 36 (1988): 435A.
• Berlyne, D. E. “Laughter, Humor, and Play.” Handbook of Social Psychology: Volume 3. Eds. G. Lindzey, and E. Aronson. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1969.
• Bizi, S., G. Keinan, and B. Beit-Hallahi. “Humor and Coping with Stress: A Test Under Real-Life conditions.” Personality and Individual Differences 9 (1988): 951-956.
• Black, D. W. “Laughter.” Journal of the American Medical Association 252.21 (1984): 2995-98.
• Black, D. W. “Pathological Laughter.” Journal of Nervous and Mental Diseases 170 (1982): 67-71.
• Blumenfeld, E., and L. Alpern. The Smile Connection: How to Use Humor in Dealilng with People. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1986.
• Bonaiuto, Marino, Elio Castellana, and Antonio Pierro. “Arguing and Laughing: The Use of Humor to Negotiate in Group Discussions.” HUMOR: International Journal of Humor Research 16.2 (2003): 183-224.
• Bornstein, M. H., and M. E. Arterberry. “Recognition, Discrimination and Categorization ofSmiling by 5-Month-Old Infants.” Developmental Science 6.5 (2003): 585-599.
• Boston, Richard. An Anatomy of Laughter. London, England, Collins, 1974.
• Bouissac, Paul. “A Laughable Theory of Laughter.” High Quality 22 (1992): 8-11.
• Boyd, B. “Laughter and Literature: A Play Theory of Humor.” Philosophy and Literature 28.1 (2004): 1-22.
• Braga, S. S., R. Manni, and R. F. Pedretti. “Laughter-Induced Syncope.” Lancet (July 30-August 6, 2005): 366-426.
• Brody, R. “Anatomy of a Laugh.” American Health. (Dec, 1983): 43-47.
• Brottman, Mikita. “Risus Sardonicus: Neurotic and Pathological Laughter.” HUMOR: International Journal of Humor Research. 15.4 (2002): 401-418.
• Brown, G. E., D. Brown, and J. Ramos. “Effects of a Laughing Versus a Non-Laughing Model on Humor: Responses in College Students.” Psychological Relports 48.1 (1981): 35-40.
• Brown, G. E., K. J. Wheeler, and M. Cash. “The Effects of a Laughing vs. a Non-laughing Model on Humor Responses in Preschool Children.” Journal of Experimental Child Psychology 29 (1980): 334-39.
• Buckley, Francis H. The Morality of Laughter. Ann Arobr, MI: University of Michigan Press, 2003.
• Bushnell, D. D., and T. J. Scheff. “The Cathartic Effects of Laughter on Audiences.” The Study of Humor. Eds. Harvey Mindess and Joy Turek. Los Angeles, CA: Antioch Univ, 1979, 62ff.
• Caron, James E. “From Ethology to Aesthetics: Evolution as a Theoretical Paradigm for Research on Laughter, Humor, and Other Comic Phenomena.” HUMOR: International Journal of Humor Research 15.3 (2002): 245-282.
• Carroll, Noel. “Words, Images, and Laughter.” Persistence of Vision 14 (1997): 42-52.
• Casadonte, Donald. “A Note on the Neuro-Mathematics of Laughter.” HUMOR: International Journal of Humor Research 16.2 (2003): 133-156.
• Chapman, Antony J. “Humor and Laughter in Social Interaction and Some Implications. Handbook of Humor Research, Volume I. Eds. P. E. McGhee, and J. H. Goldstein. New York, NY: Springer, 1983, 135-157.
• Chapman, Antony J. “Social Facilitation of Laughter in Children.” Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 9 (1973): 528-41.
• Chapman, Antony J., and W. Chapman. “Responsiveness to Humor: Its Dependency upon a Companion’s Humorous Smiling and Laughter.” The Journal of Psychology 88 (1974): 245-52.
• Chapman, Antony J., and Hugh C. Foot, eds. Humor and Laughter: Theory, Research, and Applications. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction, 1996.
• Chapman, Antony J., and D. S. Wright. “Social Enhancement of Laughter: An Experimental Analysis of Some Companion Variables.” Journal of Experimental Child Psychology 21 (1976): 201-218.
• Charland, M. “Normes and Laughter in Rhetorical Culture.” Quarterly Journal of Speech 80.3 (1994): 339-342.
• Chase, Jefferson S. Inciting Laughter: The Development of “Jewish Humor” in 19th Century German Culture. New York, NY: Walter de Gruyter, 1999.
• Claassens, L. J. M. “Laughter and Tears: Carnivalistic Overtones in the Stories of Sarah and Hagar.” Perspectives in Religious Studies 32.3 (2005): 295-308.
• Cleveland, Les. Dark Laughter: War in Song and Popular Culture. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1994.
• Cogan, R., D. Cogan, W. Waltz, and M. McCue. “Effects of Laughter and Relaxation on Discomfort Thresholds.” Journal of Behavioral Medicine. 10.2 (1987): 139-144.
• Coser, R. L. “Laughter among Colleagues.” Psychiatry 23 (1960): 81-95.
• Coser, R. L. “Some Social Functions of Laughter: A Study of Humor in a Hospital Setting.” Human Relations 12.2 (1959): 171-182.
• Cousins, Norman. “The Laughter Prescription.” The Saturday Evening Post Oct, 1990: 34.
• Cousins, Norman. “Proving the Power of Laughter.” Psychology Today 23 (1989: 22-25.
• Cox, Samuel S. Why We Laugh. New York: Benjamin Blom, 1969.
• Dardick, G. “Learning to Laugh on the Job Principal 69.5 (1990): 32, 34.
• Darwin, Charles. “Joy, High Spirits, Love, Tender Feelings, Devotion.” The Expression of Emotions in Man and Animals. New York, NY: D. Appleton, 1924, 196-219.
• Davidhizar, Ruth, and Margaret Bowen. “The Dynamics of Laughter.” Archives of Psychiatric Nursing. 6.2 (1992): 132-137.
• Davidson, Cathy N. “Laughter without Comedy in For Whom the BellTolls.” Hemingway Notes 3.2 (1973): 609
• Davis, Jessica Milner. “Taking Humour and Laughter Seriously.” Australian Journal of Comedy. 2.1 (1996): 77-88.
• de Sousa, Ronald. “When Is It Wrong to Laugh?” The Philosophy of Laughter and Humor. Ed. John Morreall. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1987, 226-249.
• Debenham, Warren. Laughter on Record: A Comedy Discography. Metuchen, NJ: The Scarecrow Press, 1988.
• Delahaye, S. “Death by Laughter in Sade and Maupassant.” French Studies Bulletin 96 (2005): 16-17.
• Derks, Peter, Lynn S. Gillikin, Debbie S. Bartolome-Rull, and Edward H. Bogart. “Laughter and Electroencephalographic Activity.” HUMOR: International Journal of Humor Research 10.3 (1997): 285-300.
• Devereux, Paul G., and Gerald P. Ginsburg. “Sociality Effects on the Production of Laughter.” Journal of General Psychology “Special Issue on Humor and Laughter” Eds. Mahony, Diana L. and Louis G. Lippman.128.2 (2001): 227-240.
• Dickie, S. “Joseph Andrews and the Great Laughter Debate.” Studies in Eighteenth Century Culture 34 (2005): 271-332.
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• Dobbin, J. Individual Differences in th Appraisal of Stress and the Immunological Consequences: Psychological Moderation of Lymphocyte Activation and Cytokine Production. Ontario, Canada: University of Western Ontario, 1990.
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• Dudden, Arthur P. The Assault of Laughter. New York, NY: A. S. Barnes, 1962.
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• Eastman, Max. Enjoyment of Laughter. NY: Simon and Schuster, 1936.
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• Elsley, Judy. “Laughter as Feminine Power in The Color Purple and A Question of Silence.” New Perspectives on Women and Comedy. Ed. Regina Barreca. Philadelphia, PA: Gordon and Breach, 1992, 193-200.
• Erdman, L. “Laughter Therapy for Patients with Cancer.” Oncology Nursing Forum 18.8 (1991): 1359-1363.
• Falk, Dana R., and Clara E. Hill. “Counselor Interventions Preceding Client Laughter in Brief Therapy.” Journal of Counseling Psychology 39.1 (1992): 39-45.
• Farley-Hills, David. The Benovelence of Laughter: Comic Poetry of the Commonwealth and Restoration. Totowa, NJ: Rowman and Littlefield, 1974.
• Fendt, G. “Apartheid among the Dead; Or, on Christian Laughter in Ann Petry’s `The Bones of Louella Brown.'” Contributions in Afroamerican and African Studies 209 (2004): 111-118.
• Finnigan, Joan. Laughing All the Way Home: Indigenous Humour of the Ottawa Valley. Toronto, Canada: Deneau, 1984.
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• Fogarasi, A., J. Janszky, Z. Siegler, and I. Tuxhorn. “Ictal Smile Lateralizes to the Right Hemisphere in Childhood Epilepsy.” Epilepsia 46.3 (2005): 449-451.
• Foot, Hugh. “Humor and Laughter.” A Handbook of Communication Skills. Ed. O. D. W. Hargie. London, England: Croom Helm, 1986, 355-382.
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The Effect of Laughter Yoga on the Quality of Life of Elderly Nursing Home Residents

Department of Psychology, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, University of Guilan, Rasht, Iran ( 2019 )

Background: Old age is associated with the physical and psychological problems that affect the Quality of Life (QoL). Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the effect of Laughter Therapy (LT) on the QoL of elderly people in nursing homes.

Materials & Methods: This was a quasi-experimental study with pre-test and post-test with the control and experimental group and one-month follow-up conducted in 2017. The statistical population consisted of 44 elderly people in the Mehr Aein nursing home in Astaneh-ye Ashrafiyeh City, Iran. Based on the inclusion criteria, 32 old people were selected and randomly assigned to experimental (n=16) and control (n=16) groups. The experimental group received an interventional program consisting of Madan Kataria Laughter Therapy, showing comic films, and reading comic books for one month, over 12 sessions of 100 minutes. After the end of laughter intervention, the elderly of both groups responded to the elderly quality of life questionnaire (LIPAD). The obtained data were analyzed using covariance analysis of repeated measures.

Results: There was a significant difference between the two groups with regard to their QoL (P<0.01). That is, the adjusted mean of the experimental group in the QoL was significantly higher than the mean of the control group (P<0.01). Also, in the experimental group, the mean follow-up score was higher than the mean score of the pre-test, which indicates the stability of the intervention effects after one month (P<0.01). 

Conclusion: Laughter Therapy intervention has a positive effect on improving the QoL of the elderly. Therefore, it is necessary that authorities consider this program at nursing home centers as a complementary method besides the existing treatments for reducing the mental health problems and improving the QoL of the elderly.

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Talking politics with strangers isn't as awful as you'd expect, research suggests

Many of us avoid discussing politics with someone who holds an opposing viewpoint, assuming the exchange will turn nasty or awkward. But having those conversations is far more gratifying than we expect, a new research paper suggests.

Across a series of experiments involving hundreds of U.S. adults, a team of scientists found that individuals underestimate the social connection they can make with a stranger who disagrees with them. The findings are published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.

These low expectations may help to explain why people think those on the opposite side of the political spectrum have more extreme views than they actually do, behavioral scientists Kristina A. Wald (University of Pennsylvania), Michael Kardas (Oklahoma State University), and Nicholas Epley (University of Chicago) wrote in an article about their research.

"Mistakenly fearing a negative interaction may create misplaced partisan divides," they wrote, "not only keeping people from connecting with each other but also keeping people from learning about each other and from each other."

The experimenters found evidence, through experiments conducted online and in person, that people prefer to avoid hot-button issues, especially with people who disagree with them. People also tend to advise their friends and relatives to avoid such conversations.

But Wald, Kardas, and Epley believed people would find discussing their political differences to be a more positive experience than expected, at least partly because people fail to appreciate the extent to which conversations are informative and draw people closer together.

To test their theory, they asked nearly 200 participants in one experiment for their opinions on divisive political and religious topics, such as abortion and climate change. The researchers then divided the participants into pairs and assigned them to discuss one of these topics. Some participants were told in advance whether their partners agreed with them or not, but others entered the discussions unaware of their partners' views.

All the participants reported how positively or negatively they expected the conversation to be, then engaged in the discussion while being video recorded. Afterward, the participants rated their sentiments about the dialogue. Research assistants also viewed the videos of the conversations and evaluated them across several dimensions.

As predicted, the participants underestimated how positive their conversation experience would be, but this tendency was largest when they disagreed with their partner. Participants in this disagreement condition also underestimated the similarities in their opinions. Coders who watched the videos of these conversations confirmed that participants tended to stay on topic, and that the conversations were consistently positive whether the participants agreed or disagreed.

In another experiment, the researchers tested their hypothesis that people underestimate how the process of conversation itself -- actual back-and-forth dialogue -- connects people. To do so, they randomly assigned participants to discuss a divisive topic they agreed or disagreed on, but they also randomly assigned participants to either have a conversation about the topic in a dialogue format or to simply learn of their partners' beliefs on the topic in a monologue format. In the monologue format, each person separately recorded themselves talking about their opinion and then watched the other person's recording.

Overall, the participants underestimated how positive their interactions would be, especially when they disagreed with their partner, the researchers noted. But this tendency was especially strong when people actually had a conversation with their partner rather than simply learning of their beliefs in a monologue. The social forces in conversation that draw people together through back-and-forth dialogue are not only powerful, but they appear to be even more powerful than people expect.

The researchers cautioned that their experiments involved participants talking with strangers; the experiments did not reveal how disagreements unfold among family and friends. Still, they said their findings illustrate the benefits of talking and listening to others rather than typing and broadcasting in debates on social media.

Our reluctance to discuss our differences denies us some positive social interactions, the authors concluded.

"Misunderstanding the outcomes of a conversation," they wrote, "could lead people to avoid discussing disagreements more often, creating a misplaced barrier to learning, social connection, free inquiry, and free expression."

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• 25 March 2024
• Correction 27 March 2024

Weird new electron behaviour in stacked graphene thrills physicists

• Dan Garisto

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Electrons in stacked sheets of staggered graphene collectively act as though they have fractional charges at ultralow temperatures. Credit: Ramon Andrade 3DCiencia/Science Photo Library

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Last May, a team led by physicists at the University of Washington in Seattle observed something peculiar. When the scientists ran an electrical current across two atom-thin sheets of molybdenum ditelluride (MoTe 2 ), the electrons acted in concert, like particles with fractional charges. Resistance measurements showed that, rather than the usual charge of –1, the electrons behaved similar to particles with charges of –2/3 or –3/5, for instance. What was truly odd was that the electrons did this entirely because of the innate properties of the material, without any external magnetic field coaxing them. The researchers published the results a few months later, in August 1 .

Strange topological materials are popping up everywhere physicists look

The same month, this phenomenon, known as the fractional quantum anomalous Hall effect (FQAHE), was also observed in a completely different material. Researchers led by Long Ju, a condensed-matter physicist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, saw the effect when they sandwiched five layers of graphene between sheets of boron nitride. They published their results in February this year 2 — and physicists are still buzzing about it.

At the American Physical Society (APS) March Meeting, held in Minneapolis, Minnesota, from 3 to 8 March, Ju presented the team’s findings, which haven’t yet been replicated by other researchers. Attendees, including Raquel Queiroz, a theoretical physicist at Columbia University in New York City, said that they thought the results were convincing, but were scratching their heads over the discovery. “There is a lot we don’t understand,” Queiroz says. Figuring out the exact mechanism of the FQAHE in the layered graphene will be “a lot of work ahead of theorists”, she adds.

Although the FQAHE might have practical applications down the line — fractionally charged particles are a key requirement for a certain type of quantum computer — the findings are capturing physicists’ imagination because they are fundamentally new discoveries about how electrons behave.

“I don’t know anyone who’s not excited about this,” says Pablo Jarillo-Herrero, a condensed-matter physicist at MIT who was not involved with the studies. “I think the question is whether you’re so excited that you switch all your research and start working on it, or if you’re just very excited.”

Strange maths

Strange behaviour by electrons isn’t new.

In some materials, usually at temperatures near absolute zero, electrical resistance becomes quantized. Specifically, it’s the material’s transverse resistance that does this. (An electrical current encounters opposition to its flow in both the same direction as the current — called longitudinal resistance — and in the perpendicular direction — what’s called transverse resistance.)

Quantized ‘steps’ in the transverse resistance occur at integer multiples of electron charge: 1, 2, 3 and so on. These plateaus are the result of a strange phenomenon: the electrons maintain the same transverse resistance even as charge density increases. That’s a little like vehicles on a road moving at the same speed, even with more traffic. This is known as the quantum Hall effect.

In a different set of materials, with less disorder, the transverse resistance can even display plateaus at fractions of electron charge: 2/5, 3/7 and 4/9, for example. The plateaus take these values because the electrons collectively act like particles with fractional charges — hence the fractional quantum Hall effect (FQHE).

Key to both phenomena is a strong external magnetic field, which prevents electrons from crashing into each other and enables them to interact.

(Left to right) Long Ju, Zhengguang Lu, Yuxuan Yao and Tonghang Han are all part of the team at MIT that demonstrated the fractional quantum anomalous Hall effect in layered graphene. Credit: Jixiang Yang

The FQHE, discovered in 1982, revealed the richness of electron behaviour. No longer could physicists think of electrons as single particles; in delicate quantum arrangements, the electrons could lose their individuality and act together to create fractionally charged particles. “I think people don’t appreciate how different [the fractional] is from the integer quantum Hall effect,” says Ashvin Vishwanath, a theoretical physicist at Harvard University in Cambridge. “It’s a new world.”

Over the next few decades, theoretical physicists came up with models to explain the FQHE and predict its effects. During their exploration, a tantalizing possibility appeared: perhaps a material could exhibit resistance plateaus without any external magnetic field. The effect, now dubbed the quantum anomalous Hall effect — ‘anomalous’, for the lack of a magnetic field — was finally observed in thin ferromagnetic films by a team at Tsinghua University in Beijing, in 2012 3 .

Carbon copy

Roughly a decade later, the University of Washington team reported the FQAHE for the first time 1 , in a specially designed 2D material: two sheets of MoTe 2 stacked on top of one another and offset by a twist.

This arrangement of MoTe 2 is known as a moiré material. Originally used to refer to a patterned textile, the term has been appropriated by physicists to describe the patterns in 2D materials created from atom-thin lattices when they are stacked and then twisted, or staggered atop one another. The slight offset between atoms in different layers of the material shifts the hills and valleys of its electric potential. And it effectively acts like a powerful magnetic field, taking the place of the one needed in the quantum Hall effect and the FQHE.

Xiaodong Xu, a condensed-matter physicist at the University of Washington, talked about the MoTe 2 discovery at the APS meeting. Theory hinted that the FQAHE would appear in the material at about a 1.4º twist angle. “We spent a year on it, and we didn’t see anything,” Xu told Nature .

Source: Adapted from Ref. 2.

Then, the researchers tried a larger angle — a twist of about 4º. Immediately, they began seeing signs of the effect. Eventually, they measured the electrical resistance and spotted the signature plateaus of the FQAHE. Soon afterwards, a team led by researchers at Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China replicated the results 4 .

Meanwhile, at MIT, Ju was perfecting his technique, sandwiching graphene between layers of boron nitride. Similar to graphene, the sheets of boron nitride that Ju’s team used were a mesh of atoms linked together in a hexagonal pattern. The material’s lattice has a slightly different size from graphene’s; the mismatch creates a moiré pattern (see ‘Anomalous behaviour’).

Last month, Ju published a report 2 about seeing the characteristic plateaus. “It is a really amazing result,” Xu says. “I'm very happy to see there’s a second system.” Since then, Ju says, he’s also seen the effect when using four and six layers of graphene.

Both moiré systems have their pros and cons. MoTe 2 exhibited the effect at a few kelvin, as opposed to 0.1 kelvin for the layered graphene sandwich. (Low temperatures are required to minimize disorder in the systems.) But graphene is a cleaner and higher-quality material that is easier to measure. Experimentalists are now trying to replicate the results in graphene and find other materials that behave similarly.

Moiré than bargained for

Theorists are relatively comfortable with the MoTe 2 results, for which the FQAHE was partly predicted. But Ju’s layered graphene moiré was a shock to the community, and researchers are still struggling to explain how the effect happens. “There’s no universal consensus on what the correct theory is,” Vishwanath says. “But they all agree that it’s not the standard mechanism.” Vishwanath and his colleagues posted a preprint proposing a theory that the moiré pattern might not be that important to the FQAHE 5 .

Welcome anyons! Physicists find best evidence yet for long-sought 2D structures

One reason to doubt the importance of the moiré is the location of the electrons in the material: most of the activity is in the topmost layer of graphene, far away from the moiré pattern between the graphene and boron nitride at the bottom of the sandwich that is supposed to most strongly influence the electrons. But B. Andrei Bernevig, a theoretical physicist at Princeton University in New Jersey, and a co-author of another preprint proposing a mechanism for the FQAHE in the layered graphene 6 , urges caution about theory-based calculations, because they rely on currently unverified assumptions. He says that the moiré pattern probably matters, but less than it does in MoTe 2 .

For theorists, the uncertainty is exciting. “There are people who would say that everything has been seen in the quantum Hall effect,” Vishwanath says. But these experiments, especially the one using the layered graphene moiré, show that there are still more mysteries to uncover.

Nature 628 , 16-17 (2024)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-00832-z

Updates & Corrections

Correction 27 March 2024 : An earlier version of this story spelled researcher Tonghang Han’s name incorrectly in the photo caption.

Park, H. et al. Nature 622 , 74–79 (2023).

Article   PubMed   Google Scholar  

Lu, Z. et al. Nature 626 , 759–764 (2024).

Chang, C.-Z. et al. Science 340 , 167–170 (2013).

Xu, F. et al. Phys. Rev. X 13 , 031037 (2023).

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Dong, J. et al. Preprint at arXiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2311.05568 (2023).

Kwan, Y. H. et al. Preprint at arXiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2312.11617 (2023).

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3. problems students are facing at public k-12 schools.

We asked teachers about how students are doing at their school. Overall, many teachers hold negative views about students’ academic performance and behavior.

• 48% say the academic performance of most students at their school is fair or poor; a third say it’s good and only 17% say it’s excellent or very good.
• 49% say students’ behavior at their school is fair or poor; 35% say it’s good and 13% rate it as excellent or very good.

Teachers in elementary, middle and high schools give similar answers when asked about students’ academic performance. But when it comes to students’ behavior, elementary and middle school teachers are more likely than high school teachers to say it’s fair or poor (51% and 54%, respectively, vs. 43%).

Teachers from high-poverty schools are more likely than those in medium- and low-poverty schools to say the academic performance and behavior of most students at their school are fair or poor.

The differences between high- and low-poverty schools are particularly striking. Most teachers from high-poverty schools say the academic performance (73%) and behavior (64%) of most students at their school are fair or poor. Much smaller shares of teachers from low-poverty schools say the same (27% for academic performance and 37% for behavior).

In turn, teachers from low-poverty schools are far more likely than those from high-poverty schools to say the academic performance and behavior of most students at their school are excellent or very good.

Lasting impact of the COVID-19 pandemic

Among those who have been teaching for at least a year, about eight-in-ten teachers say the lasting impact of the pandemic on students’ behavior, academic performance and emotional well-being has been very or somewhat negative. This includes about a third or more saying that the lasting impact has been very negative in each area.

Shares ranging from 11% to 15% of teachers say the pandemic has had no lasting impact on these aspects of students’ lives, or that the impact has been neither positive nor negative. Only about 5% say that the pandemic has had a positive lasting impact on these things.

A smaller majority of teachers (55%) say the pandemic has had a negative impact on the way parents interact with teachers, with 18% saying its lasting impact has been very negative.

These results are mostly consistent across teachers of different grade levels and school poverty levels.

Major problems at school

When we asked teachers about a range of problems that may affect students who attend their school, the following issues top the list:

• Poverty (53% say this is a major problem at their school)
• Chronic absenteeism – that is, students missing a substantial number of school days (49%)
• Anxiety and depression (48%)

One-in-five say bullying is a major problem among students at their school. Smaller shares of teachers point to drug use (14%), school fights (12%), alcohol use (4%) and gangs (3%).

Differences by school level

Similar shares of teachers across grade levels say poverty is a major problem at their school, but other problems are more common in middle or high schools:

• 61% of high school teachers say chronic absenteeism is a major problem at their school, compared with 43% of elementary school teachers and 46% of middle school teachers.
• 69% of high school teachers and 57% of middle school teachers say anxiety and depression are a major problem, compared with 29% of elementary school teachers.
• 34% of middle school teachers say bullying is a major problem, compared with 13% of elementary school teachers and 21% of high school teachers.

Not surprisingly, drug use, school fights, alcohol use and gangs are more likely to be viewed as major problems by secondary school teachers than by those teaching in elementary schools.

Differences by poverty level

Teachers’ views on problems students face at their school also vary by school poverty level.

Majorities of teachers in high- and medium-poverty schools say chronic absenteeism is a major problem where they teach (66% and 58%, respectively). A much smaller share of teachers in low-poverty schools say this (34%).

Bullying, school fights and gangs are viewed as major problems by larger shares of teachers in high-poverty schools than in medium- and low-poverty schools.

When it comes to anxiety and depression, a slightly larger share of teachers in low-poverty schools (51%) than in high-poverty schools (44%) say these are a major problem among students where they teach.  

Discipline practices

About two-thirds of teachers (66%) say that the current discipline practices at their school are very or somewhat mild – including 27% who say they’re very mild. Only 2% say the discipline practices at their school are very or somewhat harsh, while 31% say they are neither harsh nor mild.

We also asked teachers about the amount of influence different groups have when it comes to determining discipline practices at their school.

• 67% say teachers themselves don’t have enough influence. Very few (2%) say teachers have too much influence, and 29% say their influence is about right.

• 31% of teachers say school administrators don’t have enough influence, 22% say they have too much, and 45% say their influence is about right.
• On balance, teachers are more likely to say parents, their state government and the local school board have too much influence rather than not enough influence in determining discipline practices at their school. Still, substantial shares say these groups have about the right amount of influence.

Teachers from low- and medium-poverty schools (46% each) are more likely than those in high-poverty schools (36%) to say parents have too much influence over discipline practices.

In turn, teachers from high-poverty schools (34%) are more likely than those from low- and medium-poverty schools (17% and 18%, respectively) to say that parents don’t have enough influence.

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Table of contents, ‘back to school’ means anytime from late july to after labor day, depending on where in the u.s. you live, among many u.s. children, reading for fun has become less common, federal data shows, most european students learn english in school, for u.s. teens today, summer means more schooling and less leisure time than in the past, about one-in-six u.s. teachers work second jobs – and not just in the summer, most popular.

About Pew Research Center Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world. It conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, media content analysis and other empirical social science research. Pew Research Center does not take policy positions. It is a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts .

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