If you have to choose between spending 20 minutes pedaling a bicycle or 20 minutes laughing out loud, or beating jaw, go for the latter. According to a study carried out by the American Lee Berk and presented yesterday at the Experimental Biology conference held in California,20 minutes of laughter a day, enjoying the experience, is equivalent to 20 minutes of exercise.
To discover theeffects of frequent laughter on the body, Berk and his team from Loma Linda University, in the United States, selected a group of 14 healthy people, who were exposed to a 20-minute video of their choice between humorous programs such asSaturday Night Live, Seinfield and theShow de Bill Cosby. At the beginning and at the end of this session, their levels of stress hormones, blood pressure and cholesterol in the blood were measured.
Thus they found thatlaughter reduced systolic blood pressure from 120 to 110. What’s more,the level of “bad” cholesterol in the blood dropped168 to 162 mg / dl. These benefits would be associated with areduction in cortisol and adrenaline levels, hormones responsible for stress.
Improves mood and appetite
On the other hand,the laughter helps to improve the general state of mind and to reinforce the defenses of the organismby increasing the production of antibodies and the activity of T lymphocytes and “killer cells” (NK). All these effects were not observed after exposing the same patients to a 20-minute video with images from the movie “Saving Private Ryan.”
Another consequence attributed to laughter is themodification of appetite patterns. Like physical exercise, laughterreduces leptin levels, hormone responsible for the feeling of satiety, andraises ghrelin levels, substance responsible for appetite. This can be useful for those who have lost the urge to eat, for example due to depression or a chronic illness.
