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1) Berk LS, Felten DL, Tan SA, Bittman BB, Westengard J. Altern Ther Health Med. 2001 Mar;7(2):62-72, 74-6. |
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Modulation of neuroimmune parameters during the eustress of humor-associated mirthful laughter.
Center for Neuroimmunology, School
of Medicine, School of Public Health, Loma Linda University, Loma Linda, Calif.,
USA.
CONTEXT: 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.
OBJECTIVE: To determine the efficacy of mirthful laughter to modulate neuroimmune
parameters in normal subjects. DESIGN: A series of 5 separate studies based on
a multivariate repeated measures design, with post hoc simple contrast
analysis. SETTING: The schools of medicine and public health at Loma Linda University, Loma Linda, Calif. SUBJECTS: 52 healthy
men. INTERVENTION: Viewing of a humor video for 1 hour. Blood samples were
taken 10 minutes before, 30 minutes into, and 30 minutes and 12 hours after the
intervention. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Natural killer cell activity; plasma immunoglobulins;
functional phenotypic markers for leukocytes including activated T cells, nonactivated
T cells, B cells, natural killer cells, T cells with helper and suppressor
markers, and assessment of plasma volume and compartmental shifts; plasma
cytokine--interferon-gamma; and total leukocytes with subpopulations of
lymphocytes, granulocytes, and monocytes. RESULTS: Increases were found in
natural killer cell activity (P < .01); immunoglobulins G (P < .02), A (P
< .01), and M (P < .09), with several immunoglobulin effects lasting 12
hours into recovery from initiation of the humor intervention; functional
phenotypic markers for leukocyte subsets such as activated T cells (P <
.01), active cytotoxic T cells (P < .01), natural killer cells (P = .09), B
cells (P < .01), helper T cells (P < .02), uncommitted T cells with
helper and suppressor markers (P < .02), helper/suppressor ratio (P = .10)
with several leukocyte subset increase effects lasting 12 hours after the humor
experience; the cytokine interferon-gamma (P = .02), with increases lasting 12
hours; total leukocytes (P < .05), with specific subpopulation lymphocytes
during the intervention (P < .01) and 90 minutes into recovery (P < .05);
and granulocytes during the intervention (P < .05) and 90 minutes following
the intervention (P < .01). CONCLUSION: Modulation of neuroimmune parameters
during and following the humor-associated eustress of laughter may provide
beneficial health effects for wellness and a complementary adjunct to
whole-person integrative medicine therapies.
2) http://www.aath.org/Fry_PWintro.html
"Dr. Fry is a
psychiatrist and professor emeritus of Stanford University School of Medicine. He is
also a recognized humor researcher and perhaps the most influential person to
effect the growth and development of therapeutic humor over the last 50 years.
Let me tell you a bit of history, which brings Dr. Fry to the platform tonight.
3) Sigmund Freud, Il Motto di Spirito, Rizzoli Editore
4) Mario Farné ha pubblicato un libro, "Guarir dal ridere" (Bollati Boringhieri)
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5) Adams P. |
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Humour and love: the origination of clown therapy.
Gesundheit Institute, Arlington, VA 22213, USA. Heidi@SillyStuff.org
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6) Mathew FM. Nurs J India. 2003 Jul;94(7):146-7. |
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Laughter is the best medicine:
the value of humour in current nursing practice.
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7) Mayo Clin Womens Healthsource. 1999 Jul;3(7):7. |
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Laughter and medicine. How humor can help you heal.
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8) Brain. 2003 Oct;126(Pt 10):2121-38. Epub 2003 Aug 05. |
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Neural correlates of laughter and
humour.
Wild B, Rodden FA, Grodd W, Ruch W.
Department of Psychiatry, University of Tubingen, Tubingen, Germany. bawild@med.uni-tuebingen.de
Although laughter and humour have been constituents of humanity for thousands
if not millions of years, their systematic study has begun only recently.
Investigations into their neurological correlates remain fragmentary and the
following review is a first attempt to collate and evaluate these studies, most
of which have been published over the last two decades. By employing the
classical methods of neurology, brain regions associated with symptomatic
(pathological) laughter have been determined and catalogued under other
diagnostic signs and symptoms of such conditions as epilepsy, strokes and
circumspect brain lesions. These observations have been complemented by newer
studies using modern non-invasive imaging methods. To summarize the results of
many studies, the expression of laughter seems to depend on two partially
independent neuronal pathways. The first of these, an 'involuntary' or
'emotionally driven' system, involves the amygdala, thalamic/hypo- and subthalamic
areas and the dorsal/tegmental brainstem. The second, 'voluntary' system
originates in the premotor/frontal opercular areas and leads through the motor
cortex and pyramidal tract to the ventral brainstem. These systems and the
laughter response appear to be coordinated by a laughter-coordinating centre in
the dorsal upper pons. Analyses of the cerebral correlates of humour have been
impeded by a lack of consensus among psychologists on exactly what humour is,
and of what essential components it consists. Within the past two decades,
however, sufficient agreement has been reached that theory-based hypotheses
could be formulated and tested with various non-invasive methods. For the
perception of humour (and depending on the type of humour involved, its mode of
transmission, etc.) the right frontal cortex, the medial ventral prefrontal cortex,
the right and left posterior (middle and inferior) temporal regions and
possibly the cerebellum seem to be involved to varying degrees. An attempt has
been made to be as thorough as possible in documenting the foundations upon
which these burgeoning areas of research have been based up to the present
time.
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9) Pediatr Pulmonol. 2003 Aug;36(2):107-12. |
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Mirth-triggered asthma: is
laughter really the best medicine?
Liangas G, Morton JR, Henry RL.
School of Women's and Children's
Health, University of New South Wales, New South Wales, Australia.
Mirthful emotions such as laughter and excitement are unrecognized but perhaps
important triggers of asthma. Our study aimed to explore the prevalence, mechanisms,
and associations of mirth-triggered asthma (MTA) in children. Our MTA
prevalence questionnaire was given to 285 children who presented to the
Emergency Department of Sydney Children's Hospital (SCH) with
an acute episode of asthma. Our MTA profile questionnaire study was a
cross-sectional study of 541 children with asthma. The parents completed a
questionnaire regarding their child's asthma. In our laughter diary study,
diary cards were given to the parents of 21 children with asthma. The diary required
details regarding the mirthful stimulus, symptoms of asthma, and recording of
peak expiratory flow (PEF) measurements. Of the selected cohort, 31.9% had
mirth-triggered asthma. In the cross-sectional study, mirth-triggered asthma
was more common: with increasing age (P = 0.02); in those who in the last 3
months had taken more doses of salbutamol (P = 0.005), and who had more wheeze,
nocturnal symptoms, and early morning symptoms (P < 0.0005); and in those
who reported exercise-induced asthma (P < 0.0005). Laughter was more
commonly reported as a trigger than excitement; cough was the most prominent
symptom; and symptoms mostly occurred within 2 min of the mirthful stimulus. In
the laughter diary study, 59 of 130 recorded events described symptoms of asthma.
Mirth while watching a film led to PEF of 73% of baseline, compared with 81%
for mirth with exertional play, and 95% for mirth with nonexertional play (P =
0.01). Mirth-triggered asthma is common, and is an indicator of suboptimal
asthma control.
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10) Bennett MP, Zeller JM,
Rosenberg L, McCann J. |
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The effect of mirthful laughter
on stress and natural killer cell activity.
Indiana State University School of Nursing, Terre Haute, Ind., USA.
CONTEXT: A recent survey of rural Midwestern cancer patients revealed that humor
was one of the most frequently used complementary therapies. Psychoneuroimmunology
research suggests that, in addition to its established psychological benefits, humor
may have physiological effects on immune functioning. OBJECTIVE: To determine
the effect of laughter on self-reported stress and natural killer cell
activity. DESIGN: Randomized, pre-post test with comparison group. SETTING: Indiana State University Sycamore Nursing Center, which is a
nurse-managed community health clinic in a mid-sized, Midwestern city.
PARTICIPANTS: 33 healthy adult women. INTERVENTION: Experimental subjects
viewed a humorous video while subjects in the distraction control group viewed
a tourism video. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Self-reported stress and arousal
(Stress Arousal Check List), mirthful laughter (Humor Response Scale), and
immune function (chromium release natural killer [NK] cell cytotoxicity assay).
RESULTS: Stress decreased for subjects in the humor group, compared with those
in the distraction group (U32 = 215.5; P = .004). Amount of mirthful laughter
correlated with postintervention stress measures for persons in the humor group
(r16 = -.655; P = .004). Subjects who scored greater than 25 on the humor
response scale had increased immune function postintervention (t16 = 2.52 P =
.037) and compared with the remaining participants (t32 = 32.1; P = .04). Humor
response scale scores correlated with changes in NK cell activity (r16 = .744;
P = 001). CONCLUSION: Laughter may reduce stress and improve NK cell activity.
As low NK cell activity is linked to decreased disease resistance and increased
morbidity in persons with cancer and HIV disease, laughter may be a useful
cognitive-behavioral intervention.
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11) Neuhoff CC, Schaefer C. |
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Effects of laughing, smiling, and
howling on mood.
Fairleigh Dickinson University, Hackensack, NJ 07601, USA.
This study examined the effects of forced laughter on mood and compared
laughter with two other possible mood-improving activities, smiling and
howling. While howling did not substantially improve mood, both smiling and
laughing did. Moreover, laughter seemed to boost positive affect more than just
smiling by 22 adults.
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12) Sanz Ortiz J. |
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Therapeutic
value of humor
[Article in Spanish]
Servicio de Oncologia Medica y Cuidados Paliativos. Hospital Universitario Marques
de Valdecilla. Facultad de Medicina. Universidad de Cantabria. Santander. Espana. oncsoj@humb.es
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13) Weiss R. |
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Initiative proves laughter is the best medicine.
rweiss@memnet.org
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14) Howe NE. |
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The origin of humor.
Michigan, Trenton, USA.
normhowe_2000@yahoo.com
Humor is spread throughout every culture on earth and occupies a large portion
of our literature and social interaction. It is so deeply rooted in our culture
that it may be a defining characteristic of our species. Yet there has been
comparatively little effort to understand its origin. According to the Accepted
Theory of Humor all jokes begin with a buildup of tension while an initial
paradigm is formed. When the punch line occurs the subject must realign his
thinking to accommodate the differences between the initial paradigm and the
sudden burst of new information. The Mind Reading Hypothesis extends the
accepted theory of humor to include a relationship between the observer and the
subject of the humor. The actual source of amusement is the observation of the
resolution in the mind of the subject of the collision between old perception
and new reality.
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15) Rosner F. |
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Therapeutic efficacy of laughter in medicine.
Department of Medicine, Mount Sinai Services, Queens Hospital Center,
82-68 164th Street, Jamaica, New York 11432, USA.
16) Fieldhouse F.
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Nurs Older People. 2001 Mar;13(1):33. |
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Laughter still the best medicine.
17) Houben M.
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Pflege Z. 2002 Apr;55(4):279-80. |
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[Humor training: mastering daily routine with a laugh] |
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Laughter can be the best medicine.
University of Calgary, Alberta.
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19) Cornelia B, Elvira U. Krankenpfl Soins Infirm. 1999 Dec;92(12):11-3. |
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Humor in nursing care. Laughter frees life forces
[Article in German]
20) Moore DB.
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Adv Nurse Pract. 2000 Aug;8(8):34-7. |
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Make them laugh. Therapeutic humor for patients with grief-related
stress or anxiety.