Yamakoshi Tatsuya, Sakamoto Ryo, Fukuda Takafumi, Kanatome Ayana, Koyama Atsuko, Ano Yasuhisa
Kirin Central Institute, Kirin Holdings Company, Limited, 2-26-1, Muraoka-Higashi, Fujisawa-Shi, Kanagawa, 251-8555, Japan.
Sakai City Medical Center, Psychosomatic Medicine, Sakai City, Japan.
BMC Complement Med Ther. 2025 Apr 1;25(1):123. doi: 10.1186/s12906-025-04863-5.
Disorders associated with mental health significantly impact disability-adjusted life year values and represent an ongoing problem in stressed societies. Worsening mental health also affects cognitive function and quality of life. Increasing attention has thus been attracted to preventive measures for mental and brain health in daily life. This has created a growing interest in care using laughter. This study assessed the effects of a short-term, laughter-based intervention on the mental health and cognitive functions of middle-aged adults.
The study applied a single-blind, crossover-controlled trial design. Cognitive tasks (e.g., digit vigilance) were performed after participants viewed a video clip of approximately four minutes (comedic or control video), and the resulting scores were treated as the primary endpoint. The secondary endpoints included cerebral blood flow in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (measured using NIRS), heart rate variability (calculated from ECG), subjective mood assessment, and salivary stress biomarkers (e.g., α-amylase activity).
The study was conducted on 25 healthy Japanese-speaking adults aged 40 to 65. Results revealed a significant increase in digit vigilance scores. Compared to viewing the control video, participants evinced a trend toward an increase in serial seven subtraction scores after viewing the comedic video. No significant differences were found for other cognitive tasks. The cerebral blood flow was also significantly higher in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex during the cognitive tasks performed after the participants viewed the comedic video compared to the control video. The outcomes of heart rate variability, subjective mood state assessment, and salivary stress markers also suggested that the comedic video intervention could subsequently contribute to the activation of parasympathetic activity and reduce psychological stress levels.
The outcomes indicated that interventions using short comedic videos can improve focus and may reduce psychological stress. These results support the clinical benefits of humor, which can be utilized as a simple, non-invasive approach to promoting the health of middle-aged adults.
The study was approved by the ethics committee of Kirin Holdings Company (No. 2020-014) and registered in the University Hospital Medical Information Network (UMIN) database (Registration No. UMIN000043332; http://www.umin.ac.jp/ctr/ ) on February 15, 2021.
与心理健康相关的疾病对伤残调整生命年值有显著影响，并且在压力较大的社会中是一个持续存在的问题。心理健康状况的恶化也会影响认知功能和生活质量。因此，日常生活中针对心理和大脑健康的预防措施受到了越来越多的关注。这使得人们对利用笑声进行护理的兴趣日益浓厚。本研究评估了基于笑声的短期干预对中年成年人心理健康和认知功能的影响。
本研究采用单盲、交叉对照试验设计。在参与者观看一段约四分钟的视频片段（喜剧或对照视频）后进行认知任务（如数字警觉性测试），所得分数作为主要终点。次要终点包括背外侧前额叶皮质的脑血流量（使用近红外光谱测量）、心率变异性（根据心电图计算）、主观情绪评估以及唾液应激生物标志物（如α-淀粉酶活性）。
该研究对25名年龄在40至65岁、讲日语的健康成年人进行。结果显示数字警觉性分数显著提高。与观看对照视频相比，参与者在观看喜剧视频后连续做七减法分数有上升趋势。其他认知任务未发现显著差异。与对照视频相比，参与者观看喜剧视频后进行认知任务时，背外侧前额叶皮质的脑血流量也显著更高。心率变异性、主观情绪状态评估和唾液应激标志物的结果也表明，喜剧视频干预随后可能有助于激活副交感神经活动并降低心理压力水平。
结果表明，使用简短喜剧视频进行干预可以提高注意力，并可能减轻心理压力。这些结果支持了幽默的临床益处，幽默可作为一种简单、非侵入性的方法来促进中年成年人的健康。
本研究经麒麟控股公司伦理委员会批准（编号2020 - 014），并于2021年2月15日在大学医院医学信息网络（UMIN）数据库注册（注册号UMIN000043332；http://www.umin.ac.jp/ctr/ ）。
