To twist with laughter, “to piss with laughter”, to die of laughter. Three expressions that hide a harsh reality. Researchers have decided to “seal” our Christmas and New Year by carrying out a study on the unexpected harmful effects of giggling.
Researchers at City Hospital Birmingham in the UK were obviously not in the mood for joking when they published their study in the Christmas (!) Special issue of the British Medical Journal. “Laughter is not a joke”, they blurt out dramatically in their article.
If laughter is beneficial on several levels, researchers warn that laughter sometimes presents risks.
By reviewing the scientific literature on the subject between 1946 and 2013, the British found examples of not very funny situations caused by a fit of laughter.
They cite the case of a woman who suffered cardiac arrest following a 3-minute giggle attack. Some people have swallowed unwanted objects while trying to breathe while laughing. When others have dislocated their jaw from laughing. And laughter can also be a vector of infectious agent, we learn in this study. Asthma, incontinence or choking are other side effects that can occur from this hilarity.
Good reasons to laugh
Fortunately, researchers don’t stop at these negative examples. They remind us that these situations remain exceptional and that, overall, laughter does more good than harm. 85 publications among those they have had in their hands have mentioned these virtues. In particular, laughing slows down the heart rate and would be excellent for lower hypertension. Awesome anti-stress, laughterwould also be recommended to prevent depression, according to a study in Psychological science. It would therefore be a shame to do without.
