Medicinal mirth gets research rebuke
By Bruce Bower
The belief that laughing and humor promote physical health is widespread. A growing movement among health-care workers touts “therapeutic humor” through seminars, workshops, videotapes, and Web sites. However, results of research on the purported health benefits of mirth call to mind a well-told joke with a punch line that falls flat. Or so concludes psychologist Rod A. Martin of the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario.
“Despite the popularity of the idea that humor and laughter have significant health benefits, the current empirical evidence is generally weak and inconclusive,” Martin says.