Don't worry be happy

Don't Worry, Be Happy


The Study: The authors propose that laughter, more specifically, mirthful laughter may serve to provide physiological benefit to the human cardiovascular system. Additionally, they test their hypothesis by using high resolution ultrasound (Brachial Artery Reactivity Testing aka BART) to study to measure flow mediated vasodilation (FMD) in the brachial artery in response to both video induced mirthful laughter (Saturday Night Live clips) and video induced stress (Saving Private Ryan).







The Facts:



a. There is a complex relationship between emotion and the cardiovascular system



b. Cardiovascular events can be triggered by emotional distress and highly emotional events such as natural disasters, can cause sudden cardiac death.



c. A question then arises: If emotional distress can cause problems, is it possible that happy emotions, in this case mirthful laughter, might be good for you?



d. A total of 160 BART measurements were performed and demonstrated strongly divergent effects when patients were shown humorous vs stressful video clips.



e. Patients who watched the "stressful" movies experienced a 35% reduction of flow mediated dilation of the brachial artery compared to their baseline measurement.



f. Patients who watched the laughter inducing videos experienced a 22% increase in flow mediated dilation of the brachial artery, an amount similar to that observed in previous studies with aerobic activity and statin therapy.



g. While it is true that blood pressure elevates during mirthful laughter and that vascular accidents have been documented in association with mirthful laughter, the incidence of such events is very low, suggesting that laughter may possibly provide "an as-yet undelineated sparing factor" in terms of whatever biological stress may be inherent in the process of laughter itself.



h. When looked at in totality "...mirthful laughter may serve as a useful and important vehicle for the promotion of vascular health."



i. But further research is needed to understand the complex relationship between mirthful laughter and health and its true clinical significance.







Take Home: It appears that it really may be better to have a positive outlook on life than being a worrying pessimist. Perhaps there is some truth in that old saying that laughter is the best medicine.





Reviewer's Comments: This article was published in the journal Medical Hypotheses. This is a very interesting journal and as the name suggests, allows the authors to speculate about the subject at hand. This gives the author a greater latitude to express thoughts and perhaps make that intuitive leap from facts to new conclusions. I like this journal.





Reviewer: Roger R. Coleman DC





Reference: Miller M, Fry WF. The effect of mirthful laughter on the human cardiovascular system. Med Hypotheses 2009;73:636-9





Link to Abstract: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19477604