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EMBARGOED UNTIL
12:01 AM EDT/Friday, April 17, 2009
Contact: Donna Krupa
Newsroom: (504) 670-4525 or 4526
Office: (301) 634-7209
Cell: (703) 967-2751
dkrupa@the-aps.org
“Mirthful Laughter,”
Coupled With Standard Diabetic Treatment, Raises Good Cholesterol And May
Lower Heart Attack Risk
New
study reports on the mind-emotion-disease model
NEW ORLEANS—The connection between the body,
mind and spirit has been the subject of conventional scientific inquiry for
some 20 years. The notion that psychosocial and societal considerations have
a role in maintaining health and preventing disease became crystallized as a
result of the experiences of a layman, Norman Cousins. In the 1970s,
Cousins, then a writer and magazine editor of the popular Saturday Review,
was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease. He theorized that if stress could
worsen his condition, as some evidence suggested at the time, then positive
emotions could improve his health. As a result, he prescribed himself, with
the approval of his doctor, a regimen of humorous videos and shows like
Candid Camera©. Ultimately, the disease went into remission and
Cousins wrote a paper that was published in the New England Journal of
Medicine and a book about his experience, Anatomy of an Illness: A
Patient’s Perspective, which was published in 1979. The book became a
best seller and led to the investigation of a new field, known then as
whole-person care or integrative medicine and now, lifestyle medicine.
Background
The unscientific foundation that was laid down by
Cousins was taken up by many medical researchers including the academic
medical researcher Dr. Lee Berk in the l980s. In
earlier work, Berk and his colleagues discovered that the anticipation of
“mirthful laughter” had surprising and significant effects. Two hormones –
beta-endorphins (the family of chemicals that elevates mood state) and
human growth hormone (HGH; which helps with optimizing immunity) – increased
by 27% and 87 % respectively in study subjects who anticipated watching a
humorous video. There was no such increase among the control group who did
not anticipate watching the humorous film. In another study, they found
that the same anticipation of mirthful laughter reduced the levels of three
detrimental stress hormones. Cortisol (termed “the steroid stress hormone”),
epinephrine (also known as adrenaline) and dopac, (the
major catabolite of dopamine), were reduced 39, 70 and 38%,
respectively (statistically
significant compared to the control group).
Chronically released high levels of these
stress hormones can be detremential to the immune system.
Lee Berk, DrPH, MPH, a preventive care specialist and
psychoneuroimmunologist, of Loma Linda University, Loma Linda, CA, has
paired with Stanley Tan, MD, PhD an endocrinologist and diabetes specialist
at Oak Crest Health Research Institute, Loma Linda, CA, to examine the
effect of “mirthful laughter” on individuals with diabetes. Diabetes is a
metabolic syndrome characterized by the risk of heart attack, blindness and
other neurological, immune and blood vessel complications. They found that
mirthful laughter, as a preventive adjunct therapy in diabetes care, raised
good cholesterol and lowered inflammation. The researchers will present
their findings entitled Mirthful Laughter, As Adjunct Therapy in Diabetic
Care, Increases HDL Cholesterol and Attenuates Inflammatory Cytokines and hs-CRP
and Possible CVD Risk. They will present the findings at the 122nd
Annual Meeting of the American Physiological Society (APS;
www.the-aps.org/press), which is part of the Experimental Biology 2009
scientific conference. The meeting will be held April 18-22, 2009 in New
Orleans.
The Study
A group of 20 high-risk diabetic patients with hypertension
and hyperlipidemia were divided into two groups: Group C (control) and Group
L (laughter). Both groups were started on standard medications for diabetes
(glipizide, TZD, metformin), hypertension (ACE inhibitor or ARB)) and
hyperlipidemia (statins). The researchers followed both groups for 12
months, testing their blood for the stress hormones epinephrine and
norepinephrine; HDL cholesterol; inflammatory cytokines TNF-α IFN-γ and
IL-6, which contribute to the acceleration of atherosclerosis and C-reactive
proteins (hs-CRP), a marker of inflammation and cardiovascular disease.
Group L viewed self-selected humor for 30 minutes in addition to the
standard therapies described above.
Results
The patients in the laughter group (Group L) had lower
epinephrine and norepinephrine levels by the second month, suggesting lower
stress levels. They had increased HDL (good) cholesterol. The laughter group
also had lower levels of TNF-α, IFN-γ, IL-6 and hs-CRP levels, indicating
lower levels of inflammation.
At the end of one year, the research team saw significant
improvement in Group L: HDL cholesterol had risen by 26 percent in Group L
(laughter), and only 3 percent in the Group C (control). Harmful C-reactive
proteins decreased 66 % in the laughter group vs. 26 percent for the control
group.
Conclusion
The study suggests that the addition of an adjunct
therapeutic mirthful laughter Rx (a potential modulator of positive mood
state) to standard diabetes care may lower stress and inflammatory response
and increase “good” cholesterol levels. The authors conclude that mirthful
laughter may thus lower the risk of cardiovascular disease associated with
diabetes mellitus and metabolic syndrome. Further studies need to be done
to expand and elucidate these findings.
In describing himself as a “hardcore medical clinician and
scientist,” Dr. Berk says, “the best clinicians understand that there is an
intrinsic physiological intervention brought about by positive emotions such
as mirthful laughter, optimism and hope. Lifestyle choices have a
significant impact on health and disease and these are choices which we
and the patient exercise control relative to prevention and treatment.”
********
Physiology
is the study of how molecules, cells, tissues and organs function to create
health or disease. The American Physiological Society (APS;
www.The-APS.org/press) has been an integral part of this
discovery process since it was established in 1887.
NOTE TO EDITORS: The APS annual meeting is part
of the Experimental Biology 2009 (EB ’09) gathering and will be held April
18-22, 2009 at the New Orleans Convention Center. To schedule an interview
with Dr. Berk, contact Donna Krupa at 301.634.7209 (office),
703.967.2751 (cell) or
DKrupa@the-APS.org.
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