Shine OnIs laughter really the best medicine?
Laughter is believed to improve many ailments, but now a new study suggests there may be a downside to too much chuckling.
British researchers reviewed the reported benefits and harms of laughter from all previous studies published between 1946 and 2013. They found that while laughter does indeed have many health benefits, there are also some harmful effects.
Their study, published in the British Medical Journal, shows that laughter reduces pain, lowers heart attack risk, enhances fertility, lowers blood sugar in diabetics, improves lung function and reduces arterial wall stiffness.
They note that a previous study shows 36 per cent of would-be mothers who were entertained by a clown after intro-fertilization and embryo transfer became pregnant compared with 20 per cent in the control group.
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Another study showed that laughing helped lower blood pressure by 5mmHg among participants who took part in a laughter group which met once every two weeks for three months. The control group showed no difference in blood pressure readings before and after the duration of the study.
Yet in a few isolated cases, laughter has been shown to cause fainting, hernias, asthma attacks, headaches, dislocated jaws, and urinary incontinence. Also rare, some people have even inhaled food or foreign objects while laughing, and experienced a collapsed lung.
The good news is the researchers have a sense of humour about their work, and conclude that it remains to be seen whether "sick jokes make you ill or dry wit causes dehydration."
