Why do pirates come to the cardiologist to be treated? You’d think it was their heart but actually it was their peripheral ARRRtery disease.
I know, not one of my better ones. But let’s dive into how laughter could benefit your cardiovascular system. It is well known that laughter comes with myriad benefits, including decreased stress, improved mood, pain relief, and even improved immune function. Laughter is even touted as a, you’re going to love this, form of aerobic exercise! Similar to exercise, laughter activates the sympathetic nervous system. It increases blood pressure, heart rate, respiration rate, and skeletal muscle activity to the same extent that exercise does. These similarities could indicate a possible avenue of treatment for people who are not able to exercise, which is why scientists are interested in studying the science of laughter. But does it matter if you are genuinely laughing (spontaneous) or “fake” laughing (simulated)?
Spontaneous laughter occurs when you laugh at something humorous, typically involving involuntary contraction of the orbicularis oculi muscles around the eye. On the other hand, simulated laughter occurs without positive or humorous stimuli, often referred to as laughing on command (i.e. saying haha). Many argue that although the brain knows the difference, the body does not and thus there should not be a significant physiological difference between spontaneous vs. simulated laughter.
A 2018 study examined this difference by assigning people to a simulated group, spontaneous group, and control group. The simulated group was asked to laugh on command, the spontaneous group watched a humorous video, and the control group watched a non-humorous documentary. This was then immediately followed by a stress test to measure the stress-buffering effects of laughter. Heart rate (HR) and Heart Rate Variability (HRV) were measured.
They found that both laughter groups increased HR and decreased HRV, similar to exercise. Simulated laughter produced a more significant cardiovascular response than spontaneous laughter. Increasing laughter, increased cardiovascular changes.
So, the next time you hear someone say that laughter is the best medicine, you’ll know why. Dr. Campisi, this may be the excuse you needed to add more dad jokes to your lectures, haha!
Law, M. M., Broadbent, E. A., & Sollers, J. J. (2018). A comparison of the cardiovascular effects of simulated and spontaneous laughter. Complementary therapies in medicine, 37, 103–109. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ctim.2018.02.005
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