CHAPTER 2
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES

Foreign literature

This chapter presents the review of related literature and studies for both foreign and local underlying the framework of the study. Synthesis was also created based from the gathered information and facts in literature and studies. These studies will also the researchers and readers to understand their study more. This will give greater information about how laughter slows down aging. According to Adams (2005) Laughter is a healing activity. Laughter operates on at least three different levels. They are the biophysical, the biochemical, and the bioenergetic levels.
At the biophysical level, laughter also moves lymph and oxygenates your organs. Laughter moves lymph fluid around your body simply by the convulsions you experience during the process of laughing; so it boosts immune system function and helps clear out old, dead waste products from organs and tissues. Remember that your lymph system doesn't have a separate pump; your body needs to move around to properly circulate lymph fluid so that your immune system can carry out its natural functions. Laughter is a great way to support that.
Secondly, laughter increases oxygenation of your body at both the cellular and organ level. By laughing, you intake vast amounts of oxygen in huge gulps, and you repeat this process in a sort of temporary hyperventilation session. This is the natural result of laughter, and if you watch someone laugh, you will notice these biophysical effects.
People would ask why oxygen is good for the body. Oxygen is one of the primary catalysts for biological energy in the human body. Remember, we breathe in oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide, so oxygen is an element of intracellular energy that's absolutely necessary to sustain human life.
It's also interesting to note that cancer cells are destroyed in the presence of oxygen. In fact, many parasites and bacteria don't survive well in the presence of oxygen, and to the extent that you can circulate extra oxygen throughout your body, you can help prevent, or in some cases treat, these diseases.
This is one reason why we see an increasing number of so-called "oxygen bars" in the United States and other countries. People enjoy going to these bars and breathing a much higher concentration of oxygen, because they say it gives them greater mental clarity. They like the feeling of this extra oxygen: it's almost like that "natural high," as they say. Now, personally, I've tried this myself and I didn't notice any effect whatsoever. But it could be because my body is able to carry oxygen so efficiently in the blood that I'm already experiencing peak oxygenation and didn't get any extra benefit from a higher concentration in the air I was inhaling. Laughing also boosts circulation, so at the same time that you're distributing oxygen around your body, you're boosting the circulation of your blood; you're exercising abdominal muscles; you're exercising the muscles of your face; and you're enhancing the flexibility of various joints throughout your body. So it's a bit of physical exercise and healthful body movement as well.
The harder you laugh, the greater this effect. If you can find a way to put yourself into a state of rolling, outrageous laughter, you're going to get a fantastic physical workout from it. In fact, the next day, you may even find your stomach muscles are sore.
Now let's look at the biochemical impact of laughter. When you laugh, there's a lot more going on in your body than just the physical effect. You're also experiencing a biochemical benefit.
Your body manufactures chemicals based on certain needs and then distributes them throughout your body. When you laugh, you generate a wealth of healing biochemicals. I've often stated that for every minute of laughter, you produce somewhere around $10,000 worth of healthy body chemistry, and what I mean is that if you had to go out and actually purchase these refined chemical compounds from labs or pharmaceutical companies, you would have to pay at least $10,000 for the very same chemistry that your brain is producing free of charge when you engage in laughter.
Some of these are brain-altering chemicals such as serotonin; others are immune-boosting chemicals such as interleukins. If you were to make a long list of all the chemicals created by engaging in healthy laughter, you would have quite a list of healthy body chemicals that would carry a hefty price tag if you purchased them retail. And yet, once again, you can create these chemicals for yourself at no cost by simply engaging in laughter.
You will find that these chemicals have extraordinary positive healing effects on your body and mind. They will boost immune system function; they will improve your outlook on life; they will tend to diminish any symptoms of depression; and because they help reduce stress, they will also prevent all of the various diseases and disorders that are caused by chronic stress.
In other words, laughter can help counteract the destructive, negative health consequences of chronic stress. And what I've described here just scratches the surface of the benefits that are available to those who engage in regular laughter. Check out the science field called psychoneuroimmunology to learn more on this. It's a fascinating specialty that looks at the link between the mind and immune system function. What researchers have found in this field is that your state of mind has everything to do with the functioning of your immune system. By engaging in laughter, you can boost both your mind and your body.
As cited by Spero “in addition to the study discussed at the beginning of this article, several other Japanese studies have explored the benefits of laughter for people with RA. One, published in 2005, showed that laughter causes the blood level of growth hormone, usually elevated in people with RA, to drop significantly after a period of mirthful laughter. Growth hormone is thought to contribute to joint pain and swelling. Another study, published in 2006, found that blood levels of interleukin-6 (an inflammation-causing molecule) decreased in people with RA after a period of laughter. In the same study, levels of TNF-alpha, another inflammation-causing molecule that plays a major role in RA, also decreased after laughter, but only in people whose RA was easily controlled. These studies suggest that laughter has at least a temporary effect on several molecules involved in RA.
Many studies have focused on other benefits of laughter. Lee Berk, DrPH, has been at the forefront of the study of laughter for many years, examining whether laughter has the power to bring about a wide variety of health benefits. In a study published in 1989, he reported that laughter brought about reduced blood levels of cortisol and other hormones associated with stress. In a study published in 2001, Berk and his colleagues found an increase in natural killer cells and other immune-system cells in the blood of people who watched a funny video. Stress is known to decrease the levels of these cells.
Two studies from the University of Maryland have helped clarify laughter’s effect on the cardiovascular system. In a 2001 study, 150 people who had had heart attacks or bypass surgery were compared with 150 controls, which had not had heart problems. The study found that people without heart problems were more likely to have a humorous perspective on life, finding greater comedy in everyday events. In other words, it’s possible that laughter protects heart health. In a 2006 study, healthy volunteers were shown either a scene from a funny movie or one from a tense movie. Measures of blood flow were taken before and after these viewings. In all, people’s blood flow increased 22% during laughter and decreased 35% during mental stress brought on by the tense film.
There isn’t enough evidence about laughter’s effect on health to have doctors start handing out laughter prescriptions. Furthermore, researchers are not sure what causes laughter’s benefit. But at the very least, laughter is aerobic exercise — according to a study published in 2007, genuine laughter causes a 10% to 20% increase in energy expenditure and heart rate over resting levels. And no one can argue against laughter’s effect on our emotions. Some researchers believe this is its greatest contribution to good health. Laughter acts as a positive emotional force, distracting your mind from pain and negative emotions such as anger and guilt. Laughter can also give you feelings of power and hope, allowing you to keep or regain control of a difficult situation. By turning you from these negative feelings, laughter helps to reduce stress. And stress reduction is a good thing. Stress has been shown in numerous studies to raise blood pressure and decrease immune system functioning, and people with arthritis sometimes find that their symptoms grow worse when they are under stress.” Griffin (2002) some researchers think laughter just might be the best medicine, helping you feel better and putting that spring back in your step.
"I believe that if people can get more laughter in their lives, they are a lot better off," says Steve Wilson, MA, CSP, a psychologist and laugh therapist. "They might be healthier too."
Yet researchers aren't sure if it's actually the act of laughing that makes people feel better. A good sense of humor, a positive attitude, and the support of friends and family might play a role, too.
"The definitive research into the potential health benefits of laughter just hasn't been done yet," says Robert R. Provine, professor of psychology and neuroscience at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County and author of Laughter: A Scientific Investigation.
But while we don't know for sure that laughter helps people feel better, it certainly isn't hurting.
We change physiologically when we laugh. We stretch muscles throughout our face and body, our pulse and blood pressure go up, and we breathe faster, sending more oxygen to our tissues.
People who believe in the benefits of laughter say it can be like a mild workout—and may offer some of the same advantages as a workout.
"The effects of laughter and exercise are very similar," says Wilson. "Combining laughter and movement, like waving your arms, is a great way to boost your heart rate."
One pioneer in laughter research, William Fry, claimed it took ten minutes on a rowing machine for his heart rate to reach the level it would after just one minute of hearty laughter.
And laughter appears to burn calories, too. Maciej Buchowski, a researcher from Vanderbilt University, conducted a small study in which he measured the amount of calories expended in laughing. It turned out that 10-15 minutes of laughter burned 50 calories.
While the results are intriguing, don't be too hasty in ditching that treadmill. One piece of chocolate has about 50 calories; at the rate of 50 calories per hour, losing one pound would require about 12 hours of concentrated laughter!
In the last few decades, researchers have studied laughter's effects on the body and turned up some potentially interesting information on how it affects us: * Blood flow. Researchers at the University of Maryland studied the effects on blood vessels when people were shown either comedies or dramas. After the screening, the blood vessels of the group who watched the comedy behaved normally—expanding and contracting easily. But the blood vessels in people who watched the drama tended to tense up, restricting blood flow. * Immune response. Increased stress is associated with decreased immune system response, says Provine. Some studies have shown that the ability to use humor may raise the level of infection-fighting antibodies in the body and boost the levels of immune cells, as well. * Blood sugar levels. One study of 19 people with diabetes looked at the effects of laughter on blood sugar levels. After eating, the group attended a tedious lecture. On the next day, the group ate the same meal and then watched a comedy. After the comedy, the group had lower blood sugar levels than they did after the lecture. * Relaxation and sleep. The focus on the benefits of laughter really began with Norman Cousin's memoir, Anatomy of an Illness. Cousins,who was diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis, a painful spine condition, found that a diet of comedies, like Marx Brothers films and episodes of Candid Camera, helped him feel better. He said that ten minutes of laughter allowed him two hours of pain-free sleep.
But things get murky when researchers try to sort out the full effects of laughter on our minds and bodies. Is laughter really good for you? Can it actually boost your energy? Not everyone is convinced.
"I don't mean to sound like a curmudgeon," says Provine, "but the evidence that laughter has health benefits is iffy at best."
He says that most studies of laughter have been small and not well conducted. He also says too many researchers have an obvious bias: they go into the study wanting to prove that laughter has benefits.
For instance, Provine says studies of laughing have often not looked at the effects of other, similar activities. "It's not really clear that the effects of laughing are distinct from screaming," Provine says.
Provine says that the most convincing health benefit he's seen from laughter is its ability to dull pain. Numerous studies of people in pain or discomfort have found that when they laugh they report that their pain doesn't bother them as much.
But Provine believes it's not clear that comedy is necessarily better than another distraction. "It could be that a compelling drama would have the same effect."
One of the biggest problems with laughter research is that it's very difficult to determine cause and effect.
For instance, a study might show that people who laugh more are less likely to be sick. But that might be because people who are healthy have more to laugh about. Or researchers might find that, among a group of people with the same disease, people who laugh more have more energy. But that could be because the people who laugh more have a personality that allows them to cope better.
So it becomes very hard to say if laughter is actually an agent of change, or just a sign of a person's underlying condition. As stated by Kataria M, at the School of Laughter Yoga, described laughter as a “powerful form of exercise that gives you more of a cardiovascular workout than many 'regular' aerobic activities. Similarly, two stages of laughter have been described, the arousal phase, elevating the heart rate, and the resolution phase, resting of the heart. Cardiologists at the University of Maryland found those patients who were suffering from myocardial infarction (MI) were 40% less likely to laugh. However, laughter was shown to be prophylactic against MI. Furthermore, an article by Miller M, et al. at the University of Maryland found beneficial effects of laughter on the blood vessel. This study consisted of twenty volunteers, where two video clips from both extremes of the emotional spectrum were shown. At the end of the videos, the brachial artery constricted for five minutes and was then released. In fourteen of the twenty volunteers the artery constricted after watching the stress stimuli, and dilated in nineteen of the twenty volunteers after watching the laughter stimuli. Moreover, the release of nitric oxide is considered vital for vasodilatation. Mental stress was shown to degrade nitric oxide, and therefore, laughter minimized the negative effects of stress by reducing the breakdown of nitric oxide and thus, leading to vasodilatation. On average, laughter increased blood flow by twenty-two percent, and stress decreased blood flow by thirty-five percent.

As Lee Berk (2014) says “humor reduces detrimental stress hormones like cortisol that decreases memory [brain cells], lowers your blood pressure and increases blood flow and your mood state. The act of laughter — or simply enjoying some humor — increases the release of endorphins and dopamine in the brain, which provides a sense of pleasure and reward.
“These positive and beneficial neurochemical changes, in turn, make the immune system function better,” Berk added. “There are even changes in brain wave activity towards what’s called the ‘gamma wave band frequency’, which also amp up memory and recall. So, indeed, laughter is turning out to be not only a good medicine, but also a memory enhancer adding to our quality of life.”
In accordance to Yakov Smirnoff (2012), laughter is important at all stages of life. Everybody benefits from the increases in serotonin and dopamine. Laughter feels good. A child laughs, on average, around 300 times a day, and adults laugh, on average, around five times a day. He thinks that adults want to have more laughter; they want to be more careless, more playful. I don’t think they have the opportunity to. When they come to my show, they are in heaven. All of a sudden they refill the need for playfulness and happiness and joy. It may be that they want it more than kids. Kids kind of create it naturally.He added that it is like hormone therapy: When you are youthful, it is part of what’s going on with you. But when you are older, you have to do it on purpose.
According to Dr. Jean-Paul Bell (2013), Some of the most popular jokes involve getting older, thanks to their universal appeal (everyone ages, after all). While joking about age-related changes can help ease any anxiety over aging as well as help to normalize common experiences among seniors, researchers in Norway have found that people with a sense of humor can expect to live longer than their humorless counterparts.
The study by the Norwegian University of Science and Technology examined the health records of 53,000 Norwegian seniors; it examined their overall health and length of survival in relation to their ability to see the humor in situations.Researchers discovered that after seven years, the study participants who had a “sense of humor” enjoyed a 20 percent lower mortality rate in comparison to those who had difficulty laughing at daily events.
Summary
The side cconclusions of the study is that laughter does not only helps the immune system but also the brain. It helps people to remember things longer than the usual. Laughing is also a choice, only if you want to be happy or not.
Local Literature According to Trinidad, laughing out woes will promote a healthier mindset, and he has embarked on a mission to spread the laughter and the good vibes. Laughter yoga involves self-triggered laughter that is not necessarily initiated by humour. The exercise routines combine yoga breathing techniques and laughter simulation with stretching, chanting and role playing that is absolutely perfect for the Filipino senior citizens. He said: “That's the gist of laughter yoga. We will be laughing without any reason, no jokes. We will be laughing because we want to be healthy. We have to have a good mind, good mindset.”
Advocates of laughter yoga say it can uplift one's mood, increase energy levels, improve memory, tone the body and strengthen the immune system. According to him, through laughter yoga, you will automatically become positive. So you will see the problem in a different light. You will see what the purpose is.

In accordance to Paredes, every sign of aging can cause anxiety. We hang on to every vestige of youth. As we get older, we dye our hair or save what’s left, smooth out our wrinkles, go to the gym. Some go through stem cell replacement, Botox, plastic surgery, magic cures and diets that take out or slow down the creeping signs of aging.
Aging is a given. It will happen, as long as we are alive. Which makes me wonder how we can handle aging so that we do not drop out of living and remain happy, productive, engaged, and at pace with the speed of life?
But with the power of laughter it can help to relieve stress, pain, and conflict. Nothing works faster or more dependably to bring your mind and body back into balance than a good laugh. Humor lightens your burdens, inspires hopes, connects you to others, and keeps you grounded, focused, and alert.
He said that the ability to laugh easily and frequently is a tremendous resource for surmounting problems, enhancing your relationships, and slow down aging. Lauhter has benefits that can halt aging. As stated by Licuanan, Laughing at ourselves and our trouble is an important coping mechanism. Often playful, sometimes cynical, sometimes disrespectful, we laugh at those we love and at those we hate, and make jokes about our fortune, good and bad. This sense of joy and humor is manifested in the Filipino senior citizens love for socials and celebrations, in our capacity to laugh even in the most trying of times, and in the appeal of political satire.
The result is a certain emotional balance and optimism, a healthy disrespect for power and office, and a capacity to survive.
Laughter has proven to be good for us mentally, but can laughter keep us healthy? Yes it is possible. Laughter helps keep life in balance and is a key part of a healthy lifestyle. Filipino senior citizens have an ability to survive which is manifested in our capacity for endurance despite difficult times, and in our ability to get by on so little by means of laughing. They don’t look at problems as big obstacles, instead they will think that it was easy and they can surpass it.

According to Andres, humor is a versatile medicine in fact, it is the medicine. It is a bullet-proof vest. It is a nourishing but non-toxic drug, a link between people. Humor is a solution to interpersonal problems because it creates team building psychology. Indeed it is a team builder. There was a family who are miserable because one of the member who was a miserable patient. Cushing prescribed humor as medicine and told them to read joke books. Go to the library and collect ten jokes per day, and phone him to tell him those ten jokes. This became a routine to the family and the patient recovered. Good humor makes us laugh at ourselves, and in the process, make others laugh. Humor which makes fun of others is not a good humor. Humor prevents heart attack; humor is an internal jogging. It is getting mileage out of life. It makes us creative. If you wish to try, start laughing when you are in a group and everybody will start laughing too. This is very true especially with children. Humor consists of listening, sympathy, and love. However, we use humor to show our love to our fellow men. As stated by Estavillo (2014) that by learning to laugh, taking things we cannot change right away in stride and learning to roll with the punches by focusing on the positive, beautiful side of life, we become more appreciative of what and how we are. Grateful even as we bear in mind that whatever challenges we face shall come to pass. That trials and difficulties, like rains and storms, are but passing seasons of life.
Laughter lifts the spirits. Couple this with long, deep breathing and, the you’ll feel better. Often, on and off my Laughter Yoga sessions, I am asked if I get depressed and encounter problems, too. I reply I have no problems, only challenging situations, and say, “Hello! I am as human as anyone. The big difference is I don’t dwell on any situation toxic and negative. I lift them up to God, who willingly takes on all our burdens for us. He carries us on His shoulders during our most trying moments.” Jokingly, but seriously, I added, the louder my laughter, the heavier or more difficult the challenges that besiege me. Also, at the onset of a any negative feeling, I do some Laughter Yoga exercises, particularly the Hearty Laughter, my favorite. It is good for the mind, body and spirit and guaranteed to make one feel better. The hoho haha-ing is another good stress buster, good for the overall well-being. Any rhythmic movement of the diaphragm makes one feel better. It overhauls the mood and mindset. In addition, I do positive chanting like: “I feel good, very good; I am happy, very happy,” complete with body movement, and in no time at all, the cobwebs crowding my mind are gone. I realize the great need to spread Laughter Yoga to help and make as many of our kababayans experience the best, fastest, easiest, stress-and-depression buster there is — Laughter Yoga. Acceding to the numerous emailed requests, the following are the Laughter Yoga benefits: lifts depression, reduces cholesterol level, clears the air passages, boosts the immune system, brings down the stress level, enhances optimism and cultivates positivism. To summarize the local literature Laughter Yoga is a great factor why Filipinos were able to survive all the tough experiences that come into their lives. Laughter yoga does not only helps their immune system and blood pressure but it also serves as an exercise which helps the muscle and the respiratory system.
Foreign Studies As stated by Pedersen, Seeking out something to laugh about on a daily basis—such as watching your favorite comedian online—may be just what you need to create a more relaxed, zen-like state of mind. A new study by Loma Linda University Health reveals that joyful laughter produces an abundance of gamma brain waves, similar to those found in a person who meditates often.
Using laughter as a form of therapy—also known as Humor Associated with Mirthful Laughter (HAML)—is increasing in popularity as a holistic and non-pharmacological treatment.
For the study, researchers recruited 31 participants who were asked to watch a 10 minute video segment in one of the following genres: humorous, distressful, or spiritual. As they watched the video, they were connected to an EEG monitor that measures brain wave frequencies from 1 to 40 Hz.
As the participants watched the humorous video, the EEG data showed that the brain produced significant levels of gamma waves (30-40Hz). Gamma waves are abundant in the brains of people who meditate often and have reached a state of contentment and happiness.
Also, since gamma is the only frequency found in every part of the brain, we now know that humor literally engages the entire brain; and similar to meditation, holds it there. Researchers refer to this state as being ‘in the zone.’
A person in this state of mind thinks more clearly and has more integrative thoughts. According to researchers, this is especially important for a person who wants to revisit or reorganize certain aspects of their lives in order to feel renewed and focused.
What types of brain waves were created when the participants watched the other types of videos? The spiritual videos evoked significant levels of alpha brain wave bands, similar to those experienced when a person is resting. In contrast, participants watching the distressful videos actually experienced flat brain wave bands across the board, similar to those experienced by people who feel detached or feel like they want to be somewhere else. According to Sears our paleo ancestors lived a much healthier lifestyle than we do today. This is partly due to the lack of unnatural anxiety in their lives.
It doesn’t mean that they were stress-free by any means. They had the stress of fighting for their dinner, finding shelter, and protecting themselves from predators. But, as brutal as those types of stressors are, we were built to handle them and get over them.
It’s completely different now. Modern-day people are constantly moving. It’s always hurry, hurry! And worry, worry. This makes it easy to forget the pleasurable things in life. Things like social intimacy, family, friends, and most of all fun and laughter.When you stop and think about it, those are really important ways to be happier and remain that way. A happier disposition equals healthier living.
You and I are naturally made to appreciate humor as an anxiety and stress reliever. But in the modern world, we encounter anxiety and stress that don’t go away, and this can affect our quality and length of life.
There is a Norwegian study that says adults who see humor in life are 35% more likely to live a longer life than those who do not. Not a single pharmaceutical can make the same claim. People know that stress can make health conditions worse. So it is such a leap to believe that laughter can improve health?
He found a fascinating case where it did. The American Physiological Society published the story of Norman Cousins. He was diagnosed with an “incurable” autoimmune disease. Yet Norman believed that laughter could help improve his situation. So he watched funny TV shows on a regular basis to test his theory. “Funny” enough, his incurable disease went into complete remission.
After he reads the study he dug deeper to see what else he could learn on this theory. One of the most interesting studies he came upon was on diabetics. Twenty high-risk diabetics were broken into two groups – control and laughter. After 12 months, research showed multiple “significant improvements” in the health of the laughter group over the control group.The reason could be the telomere. Turns out, people with a lot of anxiety and stress have shorter telomeres. As cited by Smith (2002) Humor and laughter may help combat memory loss in the elderly, a new study suggests.
Previous research has found that the stress hormone cortisol can harm memory and learning ability in older adults. This new study examined whether mirth might reduce the damage caused by cortisol.
Researchers showed a 20-minute humorous video to a group of healthy seniors and a group of seniors with diabetes. These groups were compared with a group of seniors who didn't see the video.
The two groups that watched the funny video showed significant decreases in cortisol levels and greater improvements on memory tests, compared to the group that didn't see the video. The diabetes group showed the largest decrease in cortisol levels, while the healthy group had the greatest improvement on memory tests.
The study was to be presented Sunday at the Experimental Biology meeting in San Diego. Research presented at meetings should be viewed as preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed medical journal.
"It's simple, the less stress you have, the better your memory," one of the study's authors, Lee Berk, said in a Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology news release. "Humor reduces detrimental stress hormones like cortisol that decreases memory [brain cells], lowers your blood pressure and increases blood flow and your mood state. The act of laughter -- or simply enjoying some humor -- increases the release of endorphins and dopamine in the brain, which provides a sense of pleasure and reward.
"These positive and beneficial neurochemical changes, in turn, make the immune system function better," Berk added. "There are even changes in brain wave activity towards what's called the 'gamma wave band frequency', which also amp up memory and recall. So, indeed, laughter is turning out to be not only a good medicine, but also a memory enhancer adding to our quality of life."
The findings could be used in designing wellness programs for the elderly, according to study author Dr. Gurinder Singh Bains. Berk and Bains are both from Loma Linda University in Calif.
The study did not prove that humor offsets memory loss, it only found an association between the two. Scott (2010) Research has shown that the health benefits of laughter are far-ranging. While more studies need to be done, studies so far have shown that laughter can help relieve pain, bring greater happiness, and even increase immunity. Positive psychology names the propensity for laughter and sense of humor as one of the 24 main signature strengths one can possess, and laughter yoga clubs are springing up across the country. Unfortunately, however, many people don't get enough laugher in their lives. In fact, one study suggests that healthy children may laugh as much as 400 times per day, but adults tend to laugh only 15 times per day. Other studies find us laughing a little more than that, but if you ask me, virtually all of us could use a little more laughter in our lives, considering how beneficial a good laugh can actually be for our stress levels and overall wellness. Read on for more findings about the health benefits of laughter, and see how to incorporate more humor and fun into your life.
Stress Management Benefits of Laughter: * Hormones: Laughter reduces the level of stress hormones like cortisol, epinephrine (adrenaline), dopamine and growth hormone. It also increases the level of health-enhancing hormones like endorphins. Laughter increases the number of antibody-producing cells we have working for us, and enhances the effectiveness of T cells. All this means a stronger immune system, as well as fewer physical effects of stress. * Physical Release: Have you ever felt like you "have to laugh or I'll cry"? Have you experienced the cleansed feeling after a good laugh? Laughter provides a physical and emotional release. * Internal Workout: A good belly laugh exercises the diaphragm, contracts the abs and even works out the shoulders, leaving muscles more relaxed afterward. It even provides a good workout for the heart. * Distraction: Laughter brings the focus away from anger, guilt, stress and negative emotions in a more beneficial way than other mere distractions. * Perspective: Studies show that our response to stressful events can be altered by whether we view something as a 'threat' or a 'challenge'. Humor can give us a more lighthearted perspective and help us view events as 'challenges', thereby making them less threatening and more positive. (For more on changing your perspective, see this article on cognitive reframing.) * Social Benefits of Laughter: Laughter connects us with others. Just as with smiling and kindness, most people find that laughter is contagious, so if you bring more laughter into your life, you can most likely help others around you to laugh more, and realize these benefits as well. By elevating the mood of those around you, you can reduce their stress levels, and perhaps improve the quality of social interaction you experience with them, reducing your stress level even more. Vann (2014) Well, it is scientifically proven that, even if you pretend to laugh or act happy, your body produces “happiness” chemicals. Our bodies do not know the difference between thinking about doing something and actually doing it. Whatever the source of laughter, it leads to the same set of physiological changes in the body. Laughter generates the release of positive chemicals, which · Enrich the blood with plentiful supplies of oxygen · Boost the immune system and bring relaxation · Counteract harmful stress chemicals · Release endorphins, the body’s pain-killer hormone, and give a sense of well-being · Counteract depression, anxiety and psychosomatic problems · Ensure good sleep · Bring a happy glow to your face and make your eyes shine This is supported by the research of 19th Century French physiologist, Duchene, who found that a “real” smile (when the lips part and turn up and the muscles contract around the eyes to create crow’s feet), involuntarily sends a signal of genuine joy to the brain of the person smiling. So even an induced “real” smile can uplift your mood. (Try it now. How do you feel?). And of course when we experience a “real” smile from someone else, we tend to automatically smile back, even if we don’t know the person.

In the 1970’s, it was Norman Cousins, author of “The Anatomy of an Illness” who found that a large part of what cured him of a potentially fatal illness, was watching funny films. This sparked serious scientific interest. Subsequently Dr William Fry of Stanford University, California, showed that laughter stimulated the heart rate, provided good cardio-vascular exercise and decreased the chances of respiratory infections whilst Dr Lee Berk of Loma Linda University Medical Centre, California, proved that laughter produced fewer arrhythmias, lowered blood pressure, lowered the levels of stress hormones, (particularly cortisol), reduced the need for medication and ultimately resulted in fewer heart attacks. Laughter has been so beneficial physiologically, that it’s sometimes called “internal jogging”.

But the physiological benefits are mirrored by psychological benefits. Illness also has its psychological causes. Happier people tend to have fewer illnesses. Researchers have found that happiness or related states like hopefulness, optimism and contentment appear to reduce the risk or limit the severity of cardiovascular disease, pulmonary disease, diabetes, hypertension, colds and upper-respiratory infections. People who struggle with life are often more predisposed to these illnesses. According to a Dutch study of elderly patients published in 2004, those upbeat mental states referred to above reduced an individual’s risk of death by 50% over a 9 year period. Also, doctors have known for years that clinical depression can worsen heart disease. Laughter, however, makes it easier to handle life and its challenges, because it puts us intensely “in the moment”, and it’s when we are in the moment, that we are not aware of our problems. It’s as if we literally drop them. Can you remember a time when you’ve laughed and things have somehow seemed different? We even say we’ve “laughed it off”. Laughter puts us at ease: people who laugh, worry less than those who don’t. It helps us handle challenges because it relaxes us and gives us a better perspective: a period of laughter gives us the opportunity to look at things differently and defuses painful emotions. With practice, it develops joyfulness so that this precious experience is more present in everyday life. By acting silliness in groups and having a great laugh about it, we build self-confidence which helps us drop our inhibitions. As said earlier, it also helps communication because laughter is an important social skill that keeps communication fun. It develops our innate sense of humour, helps us find more laughter in our lives and thus changes our perception of who we are for the better. What a simple gift we’ve got – if only we used it more. As a conclusion, persons who are fond of laughing will have a longer life. In order to decrease the stress that we are feeling we need to laugh more to achieve just like what we have in our Paleo ancestors.
Local Studies
According to Dr. Ancheta, laughter makes us survive. Visual humor in comic strips (by Velasquez, Medina, Abrera), in the movies of foremost Filipino film comic (Dolphy), in the early popular theatrical forms (the komedya and the sarsuwela), and in the new internet-based animation (such as Maritess versus the Suoperfriends by Dino Ignacio and Rex Navarrette) show how Filipino texts embody the “ordinary” and the “average” individual in the Philippines. The texts also demonstrate the strength of the Filipino character, and how laughter is used to reduce conflicts within the Filipinos.
Comedy in Filipino popular cultural forms veil the tactics used to battle the ordinary Filipino’s disempowerment in Philippine society. For instance, political jokework and joke cycles are apparently tentative and short-lived, but in fact they are potent ways for an apparently disenchanted citizenry to get back at authority, inscribing in these jokes the beliefs Filipinos have about morality and about deep-seated concepts of “hiya”, “loob”, etc. The same power dynamics is seen in sarsuelas and komedyas. Comic texts about freakery and disability, such as those depicted by Dolphy in his films, or by Medina in his “Pugad Baboy” invert hierarchies, not just of power, but of acceptability.
Santos (2013) What’s the one prescription I am always happy to dispense? Take two belly laughs and call me in the morning. Safer than any big pharma pill-of-the-moment and free of harmful side effects, laughter is one of the easiest things you can do to promote healing and well being. In fact, in my 20 years of medical experience, I’ve found that patients who have a sense of humor and laugh a lot, tend to heal better and faster than those who don’t. Therefore I say, if health and wellness is your goal, skip irony, bypass sarcasm and make the conscious choice to add more joyous laughter into to your day.
Here are 5 simple health-enhancing reasons to have a daily laugh. the “runner’s high.”
1. Laughter helps reduce inflammation throughout the body – good news for your heart, brain and circulatory health.
2. Laughter “massages” internal organs – which is why it’s sometimes referred to as “internal jogging” – with effects similar to exercise.
3. Laughter provides a light workout for the heart, lungs, diaphragm and even the abdominal muscles.
4. Laughter releases tension in the muscles of the face, neck, shoulders and abdomen – all common areas where we tent to hold lots of tension
5. Laughter is physically and mentally therapeutic – an involuntary response, that positively alters mood instantly – what could be better?
And in the words of 19th century humorist Mark Twain, “Humor is mankind’s greatest blessing.” A wise man indeed! Katan, Beauty is not looks alone – it is holistic as it encompasses both physical and mental attributes. Enhancing this wholeness of self is laughter - an elixir for wellness. It helps to outwardly reflect the inner glow of good health, happiness and joy.

The well being of people is largely dependent on fitness levels both physiologically and psychologically. The constant struggle to cope with enormous stressors in life takes its toll on one’s appearance. Stress is the number one killer and is writ large on one’s face making one prone to untimely ageing.
Laughter Yoga benefits both body and mind. It reduces stress levels and stimulates the production of endorphins, natural opiates known for their relaxing effects. It also helps to release muscular tension and reduce the negative physical symptoms of stress, worry and anxiety. It is an exercise that is extremely relaxing and provides a sense of calm. Certain specialists even claim that one minute of laughter equals 45 minutes of relaxation.
Besides relieving tension, laughter exercises are excellent for an overall health. They help to prevent heart disease, insomnia and depression, diminishes constipation and fatigue and reinforces the immune system – all of these if regulated and disciplined are factors that can enhance beauty.
Laughter Yoga is the fastest growing alternative therapy for fitness, an integral part of beauty and health. Laying stress on the importance of breathing and oxygen, Laughter Yoga is well defined as the best way to increase the net supply of oxygen and boost the immune system. It flushes the lungs of stale residual air, promotes circulation in the lymphatic system, increases blood circulation, and massages the entire body mind system, which helps to cleanse the body of toxins and waste products, leaving one glowing with health and beauty.
On the psychological front, Laughter Yoga is an instant stress buster. It has the power to change the mood states by releasing endorphins and generating a feeling of mental and physical soundness, thereby sanitizing the system of negative emotions and recharging the mechanism with a positive outlook.
Kong (2013) Modern life is full of tensions, as evidenced by the popularity of psychiatrists, anti-stress drugs, exercise spas and meditation techniques. Laughter is one way to deal with these pressures. It provides a much-needed release not just for ourselves, but also for the people around us. Even Scriptures say, “A joyful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit dries up the bones.” (Proverbs.17:22)
Some people say that after God created the world, He made man and woman. Then to keep the whole thing from collapsing, He invented humor.
Humor is so powerful it can diffuse business tensions. This is a classic: when Eugene Cafiero was president of the Chrysler Corporation, he went to England to resolve an intense conflict between management and members of the union at a Chrysler plant. As Cafiero entered the plant, a man confronted him and loudly declared, “I’m Eddie McClusky and I’m a Communist.” Cafiero held tight his hand and replied, “I’m Eugene Cafiero, and I’m a Presbyterian.” Laughter followed, and it cooled off this confrontation. When a situation is potentially explosive, humor can diffuse it.
Don’t you just love a cheerful person? I do. When I come into the presence of anyone who is so serious he or she looks like a raisin, I can immediately feel the tension, and I begin to expect that the encounter and the conversation will be challenging.
Doing business should be serious, but you and I shouldn’t be too serious with ourselves. We need to cheer up. And the best way to cheer yourself up is to try to cheer somebody else up. Those who have never learned to cultivate a healthy sense of humor become impatient, critical, skeptical and cynical (This part sounds like a list of weight reducing drugs.). People without a sense of humor miss out on the joy of life and living.
I’ve had memorable conversations with established business people and achievers. I noticed that most of those who have made it to the top of their field are those who have learned to laugh off their mistakes, learn from their mistakes, and profit from their mistakes by moving forward strengthened by their experiences. Remember: Those who can’t laugh at themselves leave the job to others.
Humor administered tastefully makes the audience laugh, because the seasoned speaker makes the audience see themselves and laugh at their own idiosyncrasies. The idea is not to insult and laugh at the audience or other people, but to laugh with them.
I’ve made it a habit to look at the humor in everything. Even God has a great sense of humor – if you don’t believe me, just look at the mirror.
People who don’t know how to laugh look like raisins, but people who do are great to be with.
Life is too short to sweat the small stuff. And, if you really think about it, most things in this world are really just small stuff in the light of life after the one in this world. We have many reasons to be joyful, if we really think about it. So we shouldn’t take ourselves too seriously.
Learn to laugh, love and live, for God has designed this life for us to enjoy it, not just for us to sorrowfully endure it. We can do that if we put our faith in Him.
Summary
The reason why filipinos were able to survive all the trials that they are facing is because they are fond of laughing. It relaxes their heart and brain that brings out an unexplainable emotion. Filipinos are also known for living a longer life than others because of laughing.