Laughter may boost physical activity mental health

ISLAMABAD: A new study suggested that combining laughter with moderate exercise may improve the mental health of older adults as well as boost their motivation and ability to engage in physical activity.

Greene and team note that one major barrier to regular exercise for older adults is lack of motivation largely due to low enjoyment of physical activity.

For their study the researchers set out to investigate whether combining laughter with physical activity would boost exercise enjoyment for older adults enabling them to reap the associated health benefits.

“We want to help older adults have a positive experience with exercise so we developed a physical activity program that specifically targets exercise enjoyment through laughter,” explains Greene. “Laughter is an enjoyable activity and it carries with it so many health benefits so we incorporated intentional laughter into this program to put the fun in fitness for older adults.”

The program the researchers created is known as LaughActive. It incorporates moderate intensity physical activity with simulated laughter techniques whereby participants choose to laugh without there being any humorous stimuli.

This simulated laughter initiates eye contact and playful behaviors with other participants the team notes which triggers genuine laughter.

The researchers explain that the body is unable to pinpoint the difference between simulated and genuine laughter so either form offers health benefits.

Their mental health and aerobic enduranc that is the ability to exercise for long periods without getting tired were also assessed.

At the end of the 6 week program 96.2 percent of participants reported laughter as an enjoyable addition to physical activity while 88.9 percent said they felt the laughter aspect of the program helped increase exercise accessibility and made them want to continue.

Celeste Greene said that The combination of laughter and exercise may influence older adults to begin exercising and to stick with the program.

What is more the LaughActive program was associated with significant improvements in mental health and aerobic endurance among participants.

Based on their results Greene and colleagues believe incorporating laughter with physical activity could be a good way to improve both the mental and physical health of older adults.

Furthermore the team says such an approach may encourage older adults with functional or cognitive impairments to reap the health benefits of laughter they point out that simulated laughter does not require cognitive skills to get the joke because there is no joke to understand.

While their study findings show promise the researchers point out that they are early results in a small number of participants so further studies are needed to gain a better understanding of how laughter may benefit health.