A new study finds that laughing a lot can actually make you healthier by lowering blood pressure and bad levels of cholesterol.
Laughing was also found to increase a person’s appetite, relax their mood and reduce stress hormone production.
You have probably heard of the saying, “laughter is the best form of medicine” and this study proves this to be true for sure.
Researchers based their study findings on 14 healthy volunteers who were asked to watch twovideos, one a distressing scene, and the other a comedy scene.
Researchers took blood from the participants after each video to analyze it for different hormone levels, to determine if the videos that the people watched had an effect on them.
There was no change in the blood of participants following them watching the distressing video but after the comedy video there were noticable changes.
Blood levels of appetite hormones leptin and ghrelin changed, and blood pressure levels were also reduced.
Dr Berk said: “The ultimate reality of this research is that laughter causes a wide variety of modulation, and that the body’s response to repetitive laughter is similar to the effect of repetitive exercise. The value of the research is that it may provide for those who are healthcare providers with new insights and understandings, and thus further potential options for patients who cannot use physical activity to normalise or enhance their appetite.”
