Humor and Laughter May Influence Health: [Part] III. Laughter and Health Outcomes

Mary Payne Bennett, Western Kentucky University
Cecile Lengacher, University of South Florida

Article comments

eCAM 2008;5(1)37–40 © 2007 The Author(s). This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by-nc/2.0/uk/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. doi:10.1093/ecam/nem041

Abstract

This is part three of a four-part series reviewing the evidence on how humor influences physiological and psychological well-being. The first article included basic background information, definitions and a review of the theoretical underpinnings for this area of research.

The second article discussed use of humor as a complementary therapy within various clinical samples, as well as evidence concerning how a sense of humor influences physiological and psychological wellbeing.

This third article examines how laughter influences health outcomes; including muscle tension, cardio-respiratory functioning and various stress physiology