Dolgoff-Kaspar Rima, Baldwin Ann, Johnson M Scott, Edling Nancy, Sethi Gulshan K
Department of Surgery and Medicine, Arizona Health Sciences Center, University of Arizona, AZ, USA.
Altern Ther Health Med. 2012 Sep-Oct;18(5):61-6.
Research shows that laughter has myriad health benefits, yet the medical community has not implemented it formally as a treatment. Patients awaiting organ transplantation have significant physical disabilities and are at risk for psychological distress. Attenuated heart rate variability (HRV) is a risk factor for a negative long-term outcome in some patients.
The study intended to evaluate the clinical utility of laughter yoga in improving psychological and physiological measures in outpatients awaiting organ transplantation. Positive results would indicate promising areas to pursue in a follow-up study.
Six participants met for 10 sessions over 4 weeks. The research team measured each participant's heart rate, HRV, blood pressure (BP), and immediate mood before and after the laughter and control interventions. The team assessed participants' longer-term mood (anxiety and depression) at the study's initiation, after a no-treatment control week, and at the end of the study.
The study occurred at the Department of Surgery and Medicine at the University of Arizona Health Sciences Center, Tucson.
Participants were patients awaiting transplants (three heart and three lung), two women and four men (ages 51-69 y). Participants had received no major surgery in the 3 months prior to the intervention, did not have a hernia or uncontrolled hypertension, and did not fall into the New York Heart Association function class 4.
The 20-minute laughter intervention involved breathing and stretching exercises, simulated laughter (ie, unconditional laughter that is not contingent on the environment), chanting, clapping, and a meditation. The 20-minute control intervention involved the study's personnel discussing health and study-related topics with the participants.
The research team measured BP, heart rate, and HRV and administered the Profile of Mood States, Beck Anxiety Inventory, and Beck Depression Inventory-II to evaluate immediate and longer-term mood. The team had planned quantitative statistical analysis of the data at the study's initiation but did not complete it because the number of enrolled participants was too low for the analysis to be meaningful. The team visually examined the data, however, for trends that would indicate areas to examine further in a follow-up study.
Participants showed improved immediate mood (vigor-activity and friendliness) and increased HRV after the laughter intervention. Both the laughter and control interventions appeared to improve longer-term anxiety. Two participants awaiting a lung transplant dropped out of the study, and no adverse events occurred.
This pilot study suggests that laughter yoga may improve HRV and some aspects of mood, and this topic warrants further research.
研究表明，笑对健康有诸多益处，但医学界尚未将其正式作为一种治疗方法。等待器官移植的患者存在严重身体残疾，并有心理困扰风险。心率变异性（HRV）减弱是部分患者长期不良预后的一个危险因素。
本研究旨在评估大笑瑜伽对改善等待器官移植门诊患者心理和生理指标的临床效用。阳性结果将表明在后续研究中有值得探索的领域。
6名参与者在4周内共进行10次会面。研究团队在大笑干预和对照干预前后测量了每位参与者的心率、HRV、血压（BP）以及即时情绪。研究团队在研究开始时、经过一周无治疗对照期以及研究结束时评估了参与者的长期情绪（焦虑和抑郁）。
该研究在图森市亚利桑那大学健康科学中心的外科和内科进行。
参与者为等待移植的患者（3例心脏移植和3例肺移植），2名女性和4名男性（年龄51 - 69岁）。参与者在干预前3个月内未接受过重大手术，没有疝气或未控制的高血压，且不属于纽约心脏协会心功能4级。
20分钟的大笑干预包括呼吸和伸展运动、模拟笑（即不依赖环境的无条件大笑）、诵经、鼓掌和冥想。20分钟的对照干预包括研究人员与参与者讨论健康和与研究相关的话题。
研究团队测量了BP、心率和HRV，并使用情绪状态量表、贝克焦虑量表和贝克抑郁量表第二版来评估即时和长期情绪。研究团队在研究开始时计划对数据进行定量统计分析，但未完成，因为纳入的参与者数量太少，分析无意义。然而，研究团队直观地检查了数据，以寻找可在后续研究中进一步研究的趋势。
大笑干预后，参与者的即时情绪（活力 - 活动和友好度）得到改善，HRV增加。大笑干预和对照干预似乎都改善了长期焦虑。2名等待肺移植的参与者退出了研究，未发生不良事件。
这项初步研究表明，大笑瑜伽可能改善HRV和情绪的某些方面，这一主题值得进一步研究。
