The Beneficial Effect Of Laughter On Your Health
I stumbled upon the article ‘Laughter: gender-specific variations’ in Revista Clínica Española (‘Spanish Clinical Journal’) and I can’t help thinking about the need for taking this into account to improve doctor-patient relationships. The text can actually be read as a guide to understand how every person laughs and how to use it in clinical practice.
Table 1. Laughter effect on health
| Physiological | Psychological |
| Excercise and relaxe muscles | Reduce stress and depression/anxiety symptoms |
| Improve respiration | Boost state of mind, self-esteem, hope, energy |
| Lower stress hormone levels | Improve memory, creative thinking and problem-solving skills |
| Stimulate blood circulation | Improve social interaction |
| Boost immune system | Increase cooperation, solidarity and teamwork |
| Elevate pain threshold and endurance | Promote psychological well-being |
| Improve neurological function | Improve doctor-patient relationship and quality of life |
| Increase contagious laughter |
Just take a look a the abstract: “Contrary to other high-cost therapies, laughter can be easily implemented and prove cost-effective in daily clinical practice”.
So why is pulling a long face still such a popular attitude in our medical staff?
* This post was originally published in Spanish at Salud con costs *
*This blog post was originally published at Diario Medico*
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