A good laugh
How comedy helps the heart
Watching comedy is good for the heart, researchers have revealed.
A new academic health study shows that laughter causes blood vessels to increase, allowing blood to flow more freely.
It’s the exact same effect as aerobic exercise, reasearchers from the American College of Cardiology in Orlando found.
They came to their conclusions after monitoring 20 volunteers who watched a comedy routine from the Woody Harrelson bowling comedy Kingpin. Their blood flow increased an average 22 per cent.
In contrast, the harrowing opening battle scenes from Saving Private Ryan caused blood flow to decrease 35 per cent.
Lead researcher Michael Miller said "anything that evokes an emotional response has an impact on the heart".
"Laughter may help reduce the need to run marathons, but we don't recommend replacing exercise with laughter as a public health measure."
Published: 8 Mar 2005
