Laughing Hard Is 'Like You've Taken Pain Medication'

Melanin Bee curves her spine like a stretching cat as she lets out a maniacal, forced laugh. The quick-fire pattern of manufactured giggles soon ripples into genuine laughter. She's practicing what she calls Laughaste, a hilarious yoga routine she created that's a descendant of "laughter clubs" that emerged in India in the 1990s. The laughter clubs were based on the common-sense notion that laughter relieves stress—but a good laugh is also good for your heart and immune system and offers many other health benefits, says Dr. Michael Miller, a cardiologist and University of Pennsylvania medical professor, per the AP. "Like we say, exercise at least three to five days a week [and] belly-laugh at least two to five days a week," he says.

• History: Although luminaries from the ancient Greeks to Freud have opined on the roots and implications of laughter, the modern study of laughter— gelotology—began emerging in the 1960s. Stanford psychologist William F. Fry, one of gelotology's founders, drew blood samples from himself while watching Laurel and Hardy. He discovered that laughter increased the number of immune-boosting blood cells.
• Behind the scenes: Miller began studying laughter in the 1990s. Showing funny movies to study participants, he found that laughter produces endorphins in the brain that promote beneficial chemicals in the blood vessels. Nitric oxide, for example, causes blood vessels to dilate, which lowers blood pressure, inflammation, and cholesterol. The combination reduces the risk for a heart attack, he said, and the endorphins are natural painkillers.

• Miller's take: "When you've had a really good laugh, you feel very relaxed and light," says the chief of medicine at the Philadelphia Veterans Administration, where he's implementing a laughter therapy program. "It's like you've taken pain medication."
• How to laugh more: The simplest way: Get together with another person, look in each other's eyes, and repeat the sound "ha" for a full minute. Or try the "breathe in and laugh" technique: Bring your hands to your chest on a deep inhale and hold your breath for three seconds, then burst out laughing on the exhale while extending your hands forward. Really, though, "it's not about forcing yourself to laugh," says Mumbia physician Dr. Madan Kataria. "It's like activating your laughter muscles, getting rid of your mental inhibitions and shyness. Then the real laughing is childlike laughing, unconditional laughing." More here.