Laughter Therapy

Pallavi Srivastava

You see, if we measured the time we spend laughing in a day, most of us won't even clock a couple of minutes. The reason is not difficult to fathom, for these days we only laugh for a few seconds when we receive a funny email or when a friend tells a nasty tale about another, or when a child says something, well, childish. And we stop laughing the moment the funny instance is over. Then we complain about how stressed we are, and how problems like depression and aggression are taking a toll on our society.

And this is not about a new fad catching the fancy of people with ample time on their hands. Several scientific studies have been done in the past few years that point to the benefits a good laugh can have on human body and mind. Scientists have estimated that laughing 100 times equals the same physical exertion as a 10-minute workout on a rowing machine or 15 minutes on a stationary exercise bike. Laughing works out the diaphragm, abdominal, respiratory, facial, leg, and back muscles, and increases the levels of antibodies and immune cells in the body. In 1989, an article in the Journal of the American Medical Association said that humor therapy can increase the quality of life for patients with chronic problems and that laughter has an immediate symptom-relieving effect for these patients, an effect that accentuates when laughter is induced regularly over a period.

It's no wonder then that laughter has now begun to be used as various forms of therapy. Some of these are:

Humor therapy or therapeutic humor: This uses humorous material like books, movies or live shows to make patients laugh. It is usually done under medical supervision. The US-based Association for Applied and Therapeutic Humor defines therapeutic humor as "any intervention that promotes health and wellness by stimulating a playful discovery, expression or appreciation of the absurdity or incongruity of life’s situations."
This intervention may enhance health or be used as a complementary treatment of illness to facilitate healing or coping, whether physical, emotional, cognitive, social or spiritual.

Clown therapy: This is usually used for hospitalized children, and involves a trained professional artist who makes the young patients laugh with various antics. Studies done in the US and UK have shown that humor can reduce pain and stimulate immune function in children with cancer, AIDS or diabetes and in children receiving organ transplants and bone marrow treatments. In some instances, it may even reduce the amount of anesthesia necessary.

Laughter yoga: This involves breathing and stretching exercises accompanied with a various forms of stimulated laughter. It usually follows a structured format that lasts for about 30 minutes. "Laughter yoga is a concept where anyone can laugh for no reason at all," says Dr. Madan Kataria, the 52-year-old founder of the Mumbai-based Dr. Kataria School Of Laughter Yoga. This can be done alone or in a group, but the impact is said to be greater when it's performed with other people. Some like-minded persons can even do it over the telephone.

1. 1. Laugh for no reason: We should all laugh without any prompting, just the way a child does. This is the best laugh, as it does not require a reason for its initiation or end. And that'swhere recognizing the difference between laughter and humor comes in.
2. Fake it till you make it: Start laughing even if you don't exactly feel like it. And before you know it, you will start laughing genuinely. This 'induced laughter' has almost the same effect on the body as a laugh that comes from a reason.
3. Laugh as a community: When we see others around us laughing, this multiplies the positive effect on us. Laughter yoga should ideally be performed every day for 20-30 minutes. So pick up the magazine once again later, start laughing right now. As author William James said, "We don't laugh because we're happy, we are happy because we laugh."