INTRODUCTION:

Laughter is the most beautiful and beneficial therapy God ever granted humanity Charles R .Swindell

The pace of life in today’s society is “accelerated”. Many people complain about lack of time for all the jobs they have to do, and despite progress in numerous areas (technological and scientific advances), new problems have emerged in connection with the modern lifestyle (urgency and multiple demands) which leads to stress that can predispose to unhealthy behaviors such as poor eating habits (fast food), smoking and drinking, and so on. Stress has increased in our society, and continues to do so in view of today’s life conditions. It becomes a part of our daily lives (Grases Colom G, et al. 2011).

People of all ages and across the world, feel the strains of stress at various times throughout their lives. It affects everyone both physically and psychologically. Many individuals are able to cope up with small exposures to stress, and some people even become more productive when under pressure. However, it is problematic when stress becomes overwhelming and a person begins to suffer from its adverse consequences including increased anxiety and depression, multiple somatic complaints without an organic cause, or engaging in unhealthy behaviors including smoking, poor dietary habits, lack of physical exercise due to lack of time, devoting less time to social relations, and poor sleep habit (Samira S. B, et al, 2015).

Stress can be physical, mental, or emotional, and severe amounts of stress can have a negative impact on an individual’s body. Stressors that individuals carry may be chronic long-term stress, as well as daily acute stress. One population, in particular, where people may experience stress is graduate students. Among graduate students, stress can be caused as a result of academics (e.g., exams), assistant ships or jobs, one’s family, daily hassles (e.g., being late, parking, etcetera), changes in lifestyle (e.g., the transition from college to graduate school), as well as financial and social reasons (e.g., friendships and romantic relationships) (Samira S. B , et al. 2015).

Laughter is a powerful antidote to stress, pain, and conflict. Nothing works faster or more dependably to bring our mind and body back into balance than a good laugh. Laughter lightens our burdens, inspires hopes, connects us to others, and keeps us grounded, focused, and alert. Laughter is beneficial for one’s health. Laughter is healthy, and that a joke is a good way of beginning a speech or reducing hostility (Charanjeet k, et al. 2013 and Shankar S.R, et al. 2015).

Humor lightens our burdens, inspires hopes, connects us to others, and keeps us grounded, focused, and alert. It also helps you to release anger and be more forgiving. Laughter has positive, quantifiable physiological and psychological effects on certain aspects of health. Laughing therapy, a cognitive-behavioral therapy, is located within the complementary alternative therapies and has been regarded as a long-standing complementary and alternative therapy since 1970 (Demir M, 2015).

Laughing is an excellent way to reduce stress in our lives, and can help us to cope with and survive a stressful lifestyle. Laughter provides a full- scale workout for our muscles and unleashes a rush of stress – busting endorphins. Since our bodies cannot distinguish between real and fake laughter, anything that makes us giggle will have a positive impact. We do not need to be happy or have a sense of humor to benefit from a good laugh. According to Warburg O, President, Institute of Cell Physiology and Nobel Prize Winner says that ‘deep breathing techniques increases oxygen to the cells and are the most important factors in living a disease- free and energetic life. When cells get enough oxygen, cancer will not and cannot occur’ (Katari M, 2011).

Facts about Laughter:

Children laugh 300 to 400 times in a day. Their laughter comes straight from the body and does not make use of any intellectual capacity of the brain ie. Laughter is within the body. This is called the childlike model or body-to-mind model. While grown- ups laugh only 10 to 15 times. Adults use their cognitive ability to first comprehend humor and then laugh. This is called the humor model or mind-to-body model. Laughter Yoga and laughing without any reason helps to cultivate this childlike playfulness. Once we learn to play, laughter is a natural outcome. When we learn to induce laughter in the body, the mind just falls in step. The body cannot differentiate between fake and real laughter if done with willingness. One gets the same physiological and psychological benefits (Katari M, 2011 and Anuradha M. 2014).

Laughter Yoga:

Laughter yoga is a unique exercise routine which combines unconditional laughter with yogic breathing (Pranayama). Laughter Yoga may finish with “laughter meditation”. Twenty minutes of laughter is sufficient to develop full physiological benefits.

Laughter yoga includes four things:

Step 1: Clapping and warming – up Exercise.

Step 2: Deep Breathing Exercise.

Step 3: Childlike Playfulness.

Step 4: Laughter Exercise (Katari M, 2011).

Laughter the sweetest medicine for mind and body:

v Relaxes the whole body.

v Boosts the immune system.

v Triggers the release of endorphins.

v Protects the heart.

v Burns calories.

v Lightens anger’s heavy load.

v Helps to live longer (Lawrence Robinson, et al., 2016)

How to bring more laughter into our life?:

v Smile: practice smiling. Smile at people who pass in the street, who serve our morning tea, co-workers etc.

v Count our blessings: Good things in our life will distance our negative thoughts.

v When we hear laughter move toward it: It gives them an opportunity to laugh.

v Spend time with fun, playful people: Who routinely find the humor in everyday events.

v Bring humor into conversations: Ask people, “What’s the funniest thing that happened to you today? (Lawrence Robinson, etal. 2016).

Benefits of laughter:

v Physical health benefits:

· Boosts immunity.

· Lowers stress hormones.

· Decreases pain.

· Relaxes our muscles, burns calories.

· Prevents heart disease.

v Mental health benefits:

· Adds joy and zest to life.

· Prevents heart disease.

· Relieves stress.

· Improves mood and mental functioning.

· Enhances resilience, improves self-esteem.

· Helps overcome anger and resentment.

· Eases anxiety and tension.

v Social benefits:

· Strengthens relationships

· Attracts others to us, reduces loneliness.

· Enhances teamwork.

· Helps defuse conflict.

· Promotes group bonding (Lawrence Robinson, et al. 2016 and Anuradha M, 2014).

Studies have shown the wide-ranging health benefits of laughter. A Vanderbilt University study estimated that just 10-15 minutes of laughter a day can burn up to 40 calories. Meanwhile, a University of Maryland study found that a sense of humor can protect against heart disease. A study reported by Bennett, et al. (2003) reported that the findings consistent with previous psychoneuroimmunology (PNI) data show the effects of stress are detrimental to the immune system. The study also shows that people with higher arousal levels (which results from stress) have lower levels of NK cells at baseline, and high stress levels meant less positive change in NK cell levels.

Kaur L and Walia I (2008) conducted a quasi experimental study to evaluate the effect of laughter therapy on the stress level of nursing students in the National Institute of Nursing Education PGIMER, Chandigarh. Total forty two B.Sc nursing first year students available during the time of data collection constituted the study sample. Data was collected before and after the intervention. It involves administering laughter therapy for 15-20 minutes daily. During ten days, laughter therapy has shown positive effect on reducing the stress level of samples at statistically significant level (tcal 32, df 41, p <0.05) Mean stress score was decreased from 112 to 103 after the laughter therapy.

Regarding the level of stress before intervention (laughter therapy) twelve (28.6%) samples experienced mild stress, twenty three (54.7%) experienced moderate level of stress. The number of samples experienced moderate level of stress was reduced to 18(42.8%) from 23(54.7%) after the intervention which inferred that laughter therapy had positive effect in reducing the level of stress of study samples.

CONCLUSION:

Laughter is our birthright, a natural part of life that is innate and inborn (Charanjeet k, 2013). It makes us to feel good and the good feeling that we get when we laugh remains with us even after the laughter subsides. Humor helps us to keep a positive, optimistic outlook through difficult situations, disappointments, and loss. Laughter gives us the courage and strength to find new sources of meaning and hope. Even in the most difficult of times, a laugh–or even simply a smile–can go a long way toward making us feel better. And laughter really is contagious—just hearing laughter primes our brain readies us to smile and join in the fun. On the whole, it shows that laughter is a magic and best medicine for stress relief.

REFERENCES:

1. Grases Colom G., Trías Alcover C., Sánchez-Curto C. and Zárate-Osuna J. (2011). Study of the effect of positive humor as a variable that reduces stress, relationship of humor with personality and performance variables. Psychology in Spain, 15(1), 9-21.

2. Charanjeet K., Anuja S. and Mahalingam. (2013). Humor Therapy on Psychological Wellbeing of Student Nurses. IOSR Journal of Nursing and Health Science, 2(4), 53-55.

3. Shankar S.R., Dr. Susila C. and Anitha J. (2015). Effectiveness of Laughter Therapy on Stress among School Teachers. International Journal of Science and Research, 5(5), 405-411.

4. Samira S. B, Al Farhan A. I., Althubaiti A., Agha S., Rahman S. and Ibrahim N.O. (2015). Sources of Stress and Coping Strategies among Undergraduate Medical Students Enrolled in a Problem-Based Learning Curriculum. Journal of Biomedical Education, ID 575139.

5. Meenakshi A.E., Dr. Latha V. and Vijayalakshmi K. (2014). Effectiveness of Laughter therapy upon the Emotional balance of Primary school teachers. Journal of Mental Health Nursing, 2(1), 15-16.

6. Anuradha M. (2014). Laughter and Health. Journal of Mental Health Nursing, 2(2), 19-21.

7. Katari M. (2011). Laugh for No reason. Madhuri International, Mumbai, 1- 265.

8. Demir M. (2015). Effects of Laughter Therapy on Anxiety, Stress, Depression and Quality of Life in Cancer Patients, Journal of Cancer Science Therapy, 7(9) 272-273

9. Lawrence Robinson, Melinda Smith and Jeanne Segal. (2016). Laughter is the best medicine. Helpguide.org.

10. Kaur L and Walia I. (2008). Effect of laughter therapy on level of stress: a study among nursing students. Nursing and Midwifery Research Journal, 4(1):34-38.

11. http://www.monksofadoration.org/hn/healnt11.html “Laughter and Health”

Received on 27.03.2017 Modified on 10.04.2017

Int. J. Adv. Nur. Management. 2017; 5(3): 262-264.

DOI: 10.5958/2454-2652.2017.00057.9