LAUGHTER FACTS AND RESEARCH

Choose from the following articles to learn more about Laughter Yoga:

Social Workers are Laughing (PDF)
Laughter Therapy in Health Care, Mental Health, Geriatric and School Settings. By Helen Whitley, LCSW.

Laughing Lessons - A Good Guffaw Just Might Be The Best Medicine (PDF)
Offering a very low impact way to get an aerobic workout, the concept of Laughter Yoga is sweeping the nation. By Amy Meadows.

Laughter Yoga Club offers residents health benefits, stress relief (PDF)
"If you're wanting to laugh, there are a lot of reasons to do it, whether something's funny or not," said Craig Whitley of southwest Cherokee, a certified laughter yoga leader. "Instead of getting angry if you are caught in traffic, just laugh. You're going to feel better, and it's a great way to make more productive use of time in a car."

Workplace Laughter and Personal Efficacy (PDF)
This study measured the impact of a purposeful aerobic laughter intervention on employees’ sense of self-efficacy in the workplace. Participants were 33 employees of a behavioral health center. They met for 15-minute sessions on 15 consecutive workdays and engaged in a guided program of non-humor dependent laughter. Employees demonstrated a significant increase in several different aspects of self-efficacy, including self-regulation, optimism, positiveemotions, and social identification, and they maintained these gains at follow-up.

 Helen Whitely in the Tribune

Launch a past Blue Skies Ahead newsletter:
Modulation of Neuroimmune Parameters During the Eustress of Humor-Associated Mirthful Laughter (PDF)
Humor therapy and the related mirthful laughter are suggested to have preventive and healing effects. Although these effects may be mediated by neuroendocrine/neuroimmune modulation, specific neuroimmune parameters have not been fully investigated. By Lee S. Berk, MPH, DrPH, David L. Felten, MD, PhD, Stanley A Tan, MD, PhD, Barry B. Bittman, MD, and James Westengard, BS

The Health Benefits of Laughter (PDF)
Dr. Andrew Weil, in his April 2005 newsletter wrote: I think it's (laughter) one of the most effective ways to reduce stress, and preliminary research suggests laughter may also boost immunity, relieve pain, lower blood sugar in people with type-2 diabetes, and help protect against heart disease. By Denise Austin, TV fitness guru.

University of Maryland School of Medicine Study shows Laughter Helps Blood Vessels Function Better (PDF)
Volunteers were shown funny and disturbing movies to test the effect of emotions on blood vessels. By Michael Miller, M.D.

Physiologic Evidence for the Interpersonal Role of Laughter During Psychotherapy (PDF)
The role of laughter during psychotherapy is poorly understood. This study examined 10 unique sessions of psychodynamic psychotherapy with digital videotape and simultaneous measures of skin conductivity (SC) from patients and therapists. By Carl D. Marci, MD, Erin K. Moran, BA, and Scott P. Orr, PhD

Learning the Yoga Way of Laughter (PDF)
The physical and psychological benefits of laughter are the subject of serious scientific study, but Dr. Kataria, who practiced general medicine before taking up his laughter mission, prefers intuitive explanations: "We don't need doctors to tell us it's good for us. We know it is." by Alex Perry

The Funny Thing About Laughter (PDF)
Laughter may seem like little more than evolution's whoopee cushion, but if scientists studying it are right, we owe it an awful lot of thanks for some surprisingly serious things.

Choose from the following articles to learn more about Happiness:

The New Science of Happiness (PDF)
What makes the human heart sing? Researchers are taking a close look. What they’ve found may surprise you. By Claudia Wallis.

The Biology of Joy (PDF)
Happiness isn't just a vague, ineffable feeling; it's a physical state of the brain--one that you can induce deliberately.

The Science of Happiness - Psychology explores humans at their best (PDF)
Thought not denying humanity's flaws, the new tack of positive psychologists recommends focusing on people's strengths and virtues as a point of departure.		  
 

Some Laughter Quotes:

Laughter is the spark of the soul.-Unknown                                                        
Laughter is inner jogging. - Norman Cousins

Earth laughs in flowers.-Ralph Waldo Emerson

A laugh is a smile that bursts.- Mary H. Waldrip

Laugh often, Dream big, Reach for the stars! - Unknown

Laugh as much as you breathe, and love as long as you live.-Unknown

An optimist laughs to forget, a pessimist forgets to laugh.- Unknown

Laughter is the shock absorber that eases the blows of life.- Unknown

What soap is to the body, laughter is to the soul- Yiddish Proverb

Laughter is a tranquilizer with no side effects.-Arnold H. Glasgow

The human race has only one really effective weapon and that is laughter.-Mark Twain

A smile starts on the lips, A grin spreads to the eyes, A chuckle comes from the belly; But a good laugh bursts forth from the soul, Overflows, and bubbles all around.
-Carolyn Birmingham

Against the assault of laughter nothing can stand.
-Mark Twain

Laughter is the brush that sweeps away the cobwebs of your heart.
-Mort Walker

Laughter gives us distance. It allows us to step back from an event, deal with it and then move on.
 -Bob Newhart

The most wasted of all days is one without laughter. - ee cummings
laugh facts 2
Man is distinguished from all other creatures by the faculty of laughter”.
-Joseph Addison

The human race has one really effective weapon, and that is laughter.
- Mark Twain

You don't stop laughing because you grow old. You grow old because you stop laughing.
-Michael Pritchard

Laughter is not at all a bad beginning for a friendship, and it is by far the best ending for one.
-Oscar Wilde

Among those whom I like or admire, I can find no common denominator, but among those whom I love, I can: all of them make me laugh.
-W. H. Auden		 laugh facts 1



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