Turns out laughter really is the best medicine

Published 11:00 am Wednesday, August 17, 2005

Local seniors find that a hearty laugh can even lower their blood pressure.

Just telling people there’s a Laughter Club causes people to smile.

So imagine how funny it is for the seniors who attend the Monday gatherings at the Bainbridge Island Senior Center.

What many people don’t realize is that laughing has proved to be good for what ails them, helping reduce stress and depression, improve breathing and elevate moods.

“It brightens up your day,” said Marjorie Beer, a Laughter Club regular. “And it gives you just a better outlook on life.”

“You don’t need a joke to laugh,” said Jane Allan, executive director of the Bainbridge Island Senior Community Center and leader of the group. “You can learn to laugh for no reason.”

Allen and assistant director Eileen Magnuson did just that last year at a two-day workshop in Vancouver, B.C., led by Dr. Madan Kataria of Mumbai, India, whom Allen had heard about on the news. Kataria started Laughter Club International in 1995 to find out if laughter really is the best medicine.

According to his website, people now are laughing in some 2,500 clubs from the U.S. to Vietnam.

Kataria’s idea of Laughter Yoga “combines laughter exercises (simulated laughter) and yoga breathing, which turns into real laughter when practiced in a group.”

He believes anyone can laugh for 15 to 20 minutes without depending on a great sense of humor or jokes.

Kataria extols the many benefits of laughing on a regular basis: “It strengthens the immune system, unwinds the negative aspects of stress, is a powerful antidote for depression and anxiety, alleviates high blood pressure and asthma and increases pain tolerance,” according to his website.

Western medicine agrees.

At the Seattle Cancer Treatment and Wellness Center, for example, a “laugh leader” takes patients through their forced-laugh exercises once a month to aid healing with the mind. Laughter exercises also work abdominal muscles, stimulate circulation and improve lung capacity.

The Bainbridge club warms up with some deep breaths and Kataria’s signature Ho-Ho, Ha-Ha-Ha exercise, which is like a yoga exercise that causes rhythmic movement of the diaphragm and abdominal muscles.

Essentially, it gets the lungs going.

Allan lets her group choose what exercises they wish to do and requests ring out from the circle of seniors. This week’s group numbered 11.

Among the favorites are the Milkshake Laugh (“choose your favorite flavor”), Gibberish, Belly Laugh and Marjorie’s Wolf Howl. Some movements are done from a sitting position; in others, participants stand or move about the circle.

Those who must stay seated are still part of the action and everyone takes deep, cleansing breaths between exercises.

Laughter here definitely is contagious. Even first-timers follow along with gusto and any inhibitions are left at the door. Naturally, smiles abound.

Wave Tillman has been attending the Laughter Club since it started last winter. Regular laughter has lowered her blood pressure to the point that she no longer has to take medication for it, she said.

“I love the laughter. It makes me feel good and it lifts me up,” Tillman said. “I feel exhilarated afterwards.”

One woman laughingly warned not to print any names or addresses.

“They may come and get us,” she said.

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Laugh out loud

The Laughter Club meets 11:30 a.m. to noon Mondays at the Bainbridge Island senior center on Brien Drive. It is free, and drop-ins are welcome. Call 842-1616 for more information.