Lee Berk is a psychoneuroimmunologist
that along with his team from Londa Linda University in California, found out
that laughing and exercising are far more similar than it was thought; for instance,
reasonable sessions in the gym have a similar effect as the giggles caused by
an alteration in the hormones of appetite.
To support this
claim, Berk conducted an experiment measuring the levels in blood of a
hunger-regulating hormone known as ghrelin of fourteen participants who watched
twenty minutes of humorous TV shows such as Seinfeld,
Saturday Night Live, and Bill Cosby’s
stand-up. Afterwards, he made the test subjects watch the opening battle scenes
of Saving Private Ryan and made a
contrast between the levels of ghrelin in blood, which demonstrated that the
levels of this hormone spiked after watching the funny clips, just like after a
session in the gym.
But this does not
mean that laughing will replace exercise; on the contrary, elevated signals of
ghrelin tell the brain that the body is using a lot of energy and soon will
need fuel. According to Berk laughing therapy could help people with conditions
that cause appetite loss, such as depression and chronic pain.
Nowadays, Berk is
studying if laughing therapy is able to reduce inflammation associated with
many illnesses, including cancer and heart attack.
Do you really
think that laughter could be a good therapy for “losing weight” or for helping
people with certain conditions?
