Doctor's orders? ‘Belly laugh at least two to five days a week'
[December 22, 2025]
By ALBERT STUMM
Melanin Bee curves her spine like a stretching cat as she lets out a
maniacal, forced laugh.
The quick-fire pattern of manufactured giggles —“oh, hoo hoo hoo, eeh,
ha ha ha”— soon ripples into genuine laughter, and she giddily kicks her
feet.
She’s practicing what she calls Laughasté, a hilarious yoga routine she
created that is a descendant of “laughter clubs” that emerged in India
in the 1990s. It feels awkward at first, but you fake it till you make
it, she said.
“It’s about allowing yourself to be OK with being awkward,” said Bee, a
Los Angeles comedian and speaker. “Then you’re going to find some form
of silliness within that is going to allow you to laugh involuntarily.”
The laughter clubs were based on the common-sense notion that laughter
relieves stress. But a good laugh is also good for your heart, immune
system and many other health benefits, said Dr. Michael Miller, a
cardiologist and medical professor at the University of Pennsylvania.
“Like we say, exercise at least three to five days a week,” Miller said.
“Belly laugh at least two to five days a week.”
The study of laughter
Although luminaries from the ancient Greeks to Freud have opined on the
roots and implications of laughter, the modern study of laughter —
gelotology — began emerging in the 1960s.
Stanford University psychologist William F. Fry, one of gelotology’s
founders, drew blood samples from himself while watching Laurel and
Hardy. He discovered that laughter increased the number of
immune-boosting blood cells.
In 1995, Dr. Madan Kataria, a physician in Mumbai, got wind of the
emerging research as editor of a health magazine while researching an
article on stress management. To combat his own stress, he started the
first daily laughter club in a park. It ballooned from a handful of
participants to more than 150 within a month, he said.
After the group quickly ran out of jokes, Kataria created exercises that
activated the diaphragm, and he incorporated yogic breathing exercises,
light stretches and deliberately silly sounds and movements.
“We were faking in the beginning and within seconds, everybody was in
stitches,” Kataria said.
Why is laughter good for you?
Miller began studying laughter in the 1990s. Showing funny movies to
study participants, he found that laughter produces endorphins in the
brain that promote beneficial chemicals in the blood vessels. Nitric
oxide, for example, causes blood vessels to dilate, which lowers blood
pressure, inflammation and cholesterol.
The combination reduces the risk for a heart attack, he said, and the
endorphins are natural pain killers.
“When you’ve had a really good laugh, you feel very relaxed and light,”
said Miller, who is also chief of medicine at the Philadelphia Veterans
Administration, where he is implementing a laughter therapy program.
“It’s like you’ve taken pain medication.”
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A woman wearing star-shaped glasses smiles during a campaign rally
for former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in Sao Paulo, Brazil,
Oct. 29, 2022. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix, File)
 Forced laughter — or simulated
mirth, in academia — may even be more beneficial than spontaneous
laughter, said Jenny Rosendhal, a senior researcher of medical
psychology at Jena University in Germany.
Rosendhal completed a meta-analysis of 45 laughter studies, among
other research, and found that laughter-inducing therapies decreased
glucose levels, the stress hormone cortisol and chronic pain. They
also improved mobility and overall mood, especially in older
populations.
Because humor is subjective, it is hard to measure. That’s why much
of the more recent research has focused on laughter yoga and similar
programs that provoke sustained bouts of laughter during 30- to
45-minute sessions, Rosendhal said.
Laughter yoga is particularly effective for people who might not
feel like laughing, such as those struggling with depression or
cancer patients, she said. With simulated laughter, the
physiological mechanisms are the same, such as additional inhaling,
exhaling and muscle activity that also improves mood.
“The well-being comes through the back door,” she said. “You start
with an exercise, and then the spontaneous laughter comes later
because it’s funny to see people laughing.”
How to laugh more
During a recent video call, Kataria said the trick is to learn
to laugh for no reason. He and others in laughing yoga classes
around the world have created hundreds of exercises that help.
The simplest: Get together with another person, look in each other’s
eyes and repeat the sound “ha” for a full minute. Or try the
“breathe in and laugh.” Bring your hands to your chest on a deep
inhale, hold your breath for three seconds, and burst out laughing
on the exhale while extending your hands forward.
In laughing yoga classes, people may pretend to greet each other
like aliens, crawl around like their favorite animals, or tap their
temple as if a light bulb went off, exclaiming, “Aha! ha ha ha!”
Kataria suggested bringing laughter into your daily life, even at
things that might not seem funny. Demonstrating “credit card bill
laughter,” he held out his hand as if looking at a statement, and
burst into a roiling, infectious laughter. For inspiration, you
could log into one of the three dozen free online American laughter
clubs recognized by Laughter Yoga International.
“Really, it’s not about forcing yourself to laugh,” he said. “It’s
like activating your laughter muscles, getting rid of your mental
inhibitions and shyness. Then the real laughing is childlike
laughing, unconditional laughing.”
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