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Skriven 2004-09-29 07:16:10 av Greg Sears (1:153/307)
     Kommentar till en text av George Pope
Ärende: F unny story
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Laugh Yourself to Health

Anticipating Laughter May Improve Your Health

BOSTON - It turns out television might be good for you after all, at
least if it's funny. New research from the University of California's
Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine in Irvine concludes
that merely anticipating a funny event improved people's mood.

Previous work from these researchers found that laughter can increase the
body's ability to fight off infection by increasing levels of key immune
system components, and also by decreasing levels of stress hormones
associated with poor immune function.

This new finding, however, is the first to suggest that anticipating a
humorous event may do the same. The results were presented at the annual
meeting of the Society for Neuroscience in San Diego.

"We've demonstrated that watching a funny video can stimulate the body's
ability to manage stress and fight disease," said Lee Berk, lead
researcher for the study and professor of medicine at the UC Irvine
College of Medicine. "But this is the first time we've seen that just
anticipating such an event can change the body's responses."

Funny Videos Improve Health

For the current study, the moods of 10 men were evaluated two days
before, 15 minutes before, and immediately following a viewing of a funny
video of their choice. At each point their moods were evaluated using a
standard test known as the profile of mood states, which assess levels of
tension, anger, depression, fatigue, and confusion.

According to Berk, these negative mood categories have all been shown to
increase stress hormone levels and reduce the effectiveness of the immune
system.

The results showed that two days before viewing the video, levels of
depression among the men dropped 51 percent, confusion went down 36
percent, anger fell 19 percent, fatigue 15 percent, and tension 9
percent.

Immediately after the men viewed the video, these mood levels dropped
even more. Depression and anger both dropped 98 percent, fatigue fell by
87 percent, confusion was down 75 percent, and tension decreased by 61
percent.

These mood changes suggest to the researchers that anticipating a
humorous event could boost the immune system much the way laughter does.

Berk is working to show that the improvements in mood observed during the
anticipation of watching a funny video translates into actual molecular
changes in the immune system. "I do have the [raw] data that shows that
the stress hormones that suppress the immune system are modulated in a
beneficial direction relative to anticipation," said Berk.

In other words, early experiments have shown that the sheer anticipation
of a funny event helps the body fight off illness.

Laughter Clubs

Berk also points out that a number of hospitals have "humor carts," as
well as programs that bring clowns in for children to raise spirits and
possibly boost the immune system. Berk is even working on a program to
provide humor prescriptions to patients by having them fill out
questionnaires that identify their humor preferences.

Another humor approach to combat illness is the "laughter club," which is
used by the Memphis Tennessee Cancer Foundation. Its motto is "laugh
anyway."

"A laughter club is like an aerobics class," said Steve Wilson, the
psychologist who developed "laughter clubs" and president of World
Laughter Tour Inc. "A group of people get together at a designated place
and time with an instructor that we call a laughter leader, and they go
through a routine of giggling and guffawing. We say that laughter clubs
prevent hardening of the attitudes."



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