Laughter Is The Best Medicine

Episode 111

"The art of medicine consists
of keeping the patient amused
while nature heals the disease."
(Voltaire)

In Episode 111 we visited with Kim Selbert, a licensed Marriage and Family therapist and Occupational Therapist and a Certified Laughter Yoga Leader. We had a lot of fun doing the demonstration and if you haven't seen the show you need to because you may find yourself laughing out loud. For more information on Kim and the classes she leads visit www.joyoflaughter.com.

Here's a recap of the history of Laughter Yoga and some of the relevant research which inspired it. (This is the kind of research that we at Green Health Live like to do each and every day).

History

He was particularly impressed by the findings of Norman Cousins,


a leading journalist in U.S.A.in the 1960s dying from a degenerative disease, who managed to heal himself completely by watching Marx Brothers movies and taking copius amounts of Vitamin C as his main form of therapy.


Dr. Kataria woke up on March 13th, 1995, and decided to start a small laugh club whose format was the turn-by-turn telling of jokes or anecdotes.

Within two weeks the stock of good jokes was depleted and participants complained. They did not want to listen and even less take part in the telling of stale or vulgar jokes.

He decided to forget about the jokes and experimented with the idea of laughing for no reason and it worked very well.

Apparently, the brain cannot distinguish self-induced laughter from the laughter from external stimuli, and what to some may seem like a silly and artificial beginning almost always leads into a natural euphoric state of hearty laughter. (This is exactly what happened to us during the show.)

He had unknowingly stumbled on a branch of yoga traditionally called Hasya Yoga (a Sanskrit name for Laughter Yoga.). His wife, Madhuri Kataria, is a Yoga teacher and helped build upon the yoga connection of laughter. Together they designed a sequence of simple laughter exercises with gentle yoga breathing exercise (pranayama) for maximum benefits.

A journalist heard of this unusual club and wrote an article about it in the local newspaper. Inspired people started to come to Dr. Kataria for advice on how to start their own "Laughter Clubs". Everything else is history.

Since its humble beginnings in 1995, this unique idea has grown into a worldwide movement of currently over 5000 Laughter Clubs in 53 countries. Laughter Yoga and Laughter Clubs have been featured in every single major media
network around the world (press, radio, television). Laughter Yoga is currently referred to as the "latest exercise craze to hit the United States of America". (Yeah, baby!)

Research

We know that stress and depression can both weaken the immune system.(1) Research from the field of PNI (Psychoneuroimmunology), has shown some specific benefits of laughter on the immune system.


Stimulates Immune System
(Thanks to Paul McGhee, PhD for info on immune research)

IgA (Immunoglobin A): A part of your immune system which serves to protect you against upper respiratory problems, like colds and the flu. Our saliva contains IgA, and this is often referred to as the body's first line of defense against upper respiratory viral and bacterial infections.

The studies show that watching as little as 30 or 60 minutes of a comedy video (that happens to be the length of our program, people) is enough to increase both salivary and blood levels of IgA.(2,3) This has been shown for both adults and children.(4)

Immunoglobulin M and G have also been shown to be enhanced as a result of humor - laughter.(5) IgM is the antibody that arrives first as part of the humoral immune response. IgG antibodies are present in the greatest amount in the body, and are responsible for producing long-term immunity. When you are immunized for a particular illness, it is the IgG antibodies that are tested to see if the procedure has worked.

B cells are produced in the bone marrow, and are responsible for making the immunoglobulins. If you count the number of these cells in the blood before and after a comedy video, you can demonstrate a significant increase in the number
of B cells circulating throughout the body following humor.(6)

Watching a one-hour humorous video also increases the activity -- and number -- of Natural Killer Cells (NK), although there is some evidence that this may be true only for individuals whose NK cell activity is lower than average.(7,8)

Among cancer patients, reduced natural killer cell activity is associated with an increased rate of spread of tumors.9 So the significance of laughter's ability to increase the activity of these cells is clear.

The previously-mentioned finding that humor's ability to boost NK cell activity is greatest among those with lower levels of NK cell activity is especially important for cancer patients. This is one reason oncology units of hospitals have become so interested in humor as a form of therapy.10

These cells destroy tumor cells and viruses by releasing a toxic substance. They are part of the body's first line of defense, and can attack foreign organisms even if they've never seen them before.

Cardiovascular Health

Using laughter-provoking movies to gauge the effect of emotions on cardiovascular health, researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore have shown for the first time that laughter is linked to healthy function of blood vessels.(11)

Laughter appears to cause the tissue that forms the inner lining of blood vessels, the endothelium, to dilate or expand in order to increase blood flow.

In Chinese medicine, the emotion associated with the heart is joy. And, traditionally, it is true that joy is beneficial to the heart.

References

1. Vollhardt, L.T. Psychoneuroimmunology: A literature review. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 1991, 61, 35-47.
2. Dillon, K.M., et al. Positive emotional states and enhancement of the immune system. International Journal of Psychiatry in Medicine, 1985, 5, 13-18.
Lefcourt, H., et al. Humor and immune system functioning. International Journal of Humor Research, 1990, 3, 305-321.
McClelland, D. & Cheriff, A.D. The immunoenhancing effects of humor on secretory IgA and resistance to respiratory infections. Psychology and Health, 1997, 12, 329-344.
3. Berk, L.S., et al. Immune system changes during humor associated with laughter. Clinical Research, 1991, 39, 124A.
4. 4. Lambert, R.B. & Lambert, N.K. The effects of humor on secretory immunoglobulin A levels in school-aged children. Pediatric Nursing, 1995, 21, 16-19.
5. Berk, L.S., et al. Eustress of humor associated with laughter modulates specific immune system components. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 1993, 15 (supplement), p. S111.
6. Berk, et al., 1993.
7. Berk, L.S., et al. Eustress of mirthful laughter modifies natural killer cell activity. Clinical Research, 1989, 37 (No. 1), p. 115A. Berk, et al., 1993.
8. Itami, J., et al. Laughter and immunity. Japanese Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine, 1994, 34, 565-571.
Kamei, T., et al. Changes of immunoregulatory cells associated with psychological stress and humor. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 1997, 84, 1296-1298.
9. Levy, S.M., et al. Prognostic risk assessments in primary breast cancer by behavior and immunological parameters. Health Psychology, 1985, 4, 99-113.
10. Bellert, J.L. Humor: A therapeutic approach in oncology nursing. Cancer Nursing, 1989, 12, 65-70.
11. Dr.Micheal Miller, M.D. and Charles Mangano, R.D.M.S; Young Park, M.D.;Radha Goel, M.D.; Gary Plotnick, M.D. and Robert A. Vogel, M.D., all from the University of Maryland School of Medicine. The study was supported by a grant from the National Institutes of Health and a Veterans Affairs Merit award to Dr. Miller.