Is laughter really the best medicine?

Food for thought: Laughter and MIRTH (methodical investigation of risibility, therapeutic and harmful): Narrative synthesis

2013-12-13

(Press-News.org) Contact information: Stephanie Burns
sburns@bmj.com
44-020-738-36920
BMJ-British Medical Journal
Is laughter really the best medicine? Food for thought: Laughter and MIRTH (methodical investigation of risibility, therapeutic and harmful): Narrative synthesis Laughter may not be the best medicine after all and can even be harmful to some patients, suggests the authors of a paper published in the Christmas edition of The BMJ.

Researchers from Birmingham and Oxford, in the UK, reviewed the reported benefits and harms of laughter. They used data published between 1946 and 2013. They concluded that laughter is a serious matter.

They identified benefits from laughter; harms from laughter; and conditions causing pathological laughter.

Some conditions benefit from 'unintentional' (Duchenne) laughter. Laughter can increase pain thresholds although hospital clowns had no impact on distress in children undergoing minor surgery (even though they were in stitches). Laughter reduces arterial wall stiffness,which the researchers suggest may relieve tension. And it lowered the risk of heart attack, so "reading the Christmas BMJ could add years to your life".

Clowns improved lung function in patients with COPD and 'genuine laughter' for a whole day could burn 2000 calories and lower the blood sugar in diabetics. Laughter also enhanced fertility: 36% of would-be mothers who were entertained by a clown after IVF and embryo transfer became pregnant compared with 20% in the control group.

However, laughter can also have adverse effects. One woman with racing heart syndrome collapsed and died after a period of intense laughter and laughing 'fit to burst' was found to cause possible heart rupture or a torn gullet. A quick intake of breath during laughing can cause inhalation of foreign bodies and can provoke an asthma attack. Laughing like a drain can cause incontinence. And hernias can occur after laughing: rapture causing rupture.

The authors' list conditions that cause pathological laughter and this may help in diagnosis. Epileptic seizures ("gelastic seizures") are the most common cause.

The researchers say that their review challenges the view that laughter can only be beneficial but do add that humour in any form carries a "low risk of harm and may be beneficial". They conclude that it remains to be seen whether "sick jokes make you ill, dry wit causes dehydration or jokes in bad taste [cause] dysgeusia (distortion of sense of taste)".

### END

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Quantum waves at the heart of organic solar cells

2013-12-13

Quantum waves at the heart of organic solar cells By using an ultrafast camera, scientists say they have observed the very first instants following the absorption of light into artificial yet organic nanostructures and found that charges not only formed rapidly ...

How Wagner's operas held secrets of his disabling migraines and headaches

2013-12-13

How Wagner's operas held secrets of his disabling migraines and headaches Medical histories: 'Compulsive plague! Pain without end!' How Richard Wagner played out his migraine in the opera Siegfried In a paper published in the Christmas edition of The BMJ, researchers ...

Rapid evolution of novel forms: Environmental change triggers inborn capacity for adaptation

2013-12-13

Rapid evolution of novel forms: Environmental change triggers inborn capacity for adaptation CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (December 12, 2013) – In the classical view of evolution, species experience spontaneous genetic mutations that produce various novel traits—some ...

Scientists discover double meaning in genetic code

2013-12-13

Scientists discover double meaning in genetic code Discovery casts new light on how changes to DNA impact health and disease Scientists have discovered a second code hiding within DNA. This second code contains information that changes how scientists read the instructions ...

Mayo Clinic: First in-human trial of endoxifen shows promise as breast cancer treatment

2013-12-13

Mayo Clinic: First in-human trial of endoxifen shows promise as breast cancer treatment ROCHESTER, Minn. -- A Phase I trial of endoxifen, an active metabolite of the cancer drug tamoxifen, indicates that the experimental drug is safe, with early evidence for anti-tumor activity, ...

Speeding up gene discovery

2013-12-13

Speeding up gene discovery CAMBRIDGE, MA -- Since the completion of the Human Genome Project, which identified nearly 20,000 protein-coding genes, scientists have been trying to decipher the roles of those genes. A new approach developed at MIT, the Broad ...

Younger, early breast cancer patients often undergo unnecessary staging, imaging procedures at time

2013-12-13

Younger, early breast cancer patients often undergo unnecessary staging, imaging procedures at time Abstract #P3-06-02 SAN ANTONIO ¬¬– More than one third of younger, early stage breast cancer patients undergo unnecessary imaging procedures ...

US ranks near bottom among industrialized nations in efficiency of health care spending

2013-12-13

US ranks near bottom among industrialized nations in efficiency of health care spending UCLA, McGill study also shows women fare worse than men in most countries A new study by researchers at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health and McGill ...

Noble gas molecule discovered in space

2013-12-13

Noble gas molecule discovered in space A molecule containing a noble gas has been discovered in space by a team including astronomers from Cardiff University. The find was made using a Cardiff-led instrument aboard Europe's Herschel Space Observatory. The ...

With new study, aquatic comb jelly floats into new evolutionary position

2013-12-13

With new study, aquatic comb jelly floats into new evolutionary position Study calls for a shift in understanding of how complex cell types evolved In a study that compares the genomes of aquatic life forms, researchers have found ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Mental health from supermarket shelves? This is the evidence we have about over-the-counter herbal products and dietary supplements used for depression