To breathe easier, you might just need to laugh it off.
More than 35 million Americans live with a chronic respiratory disease, making it harder to meet the demands of everyday life.
Simple daily activities like walking, bathing and dressing can feel like breathing through a straw because of shortness of breath. Tiredness and lack of energy make routine household chores, cooking and shopping difficult.
Some chronic respiratory diseases are deadly and incurable, with expensive and inaccessible treatments. But a nice chuckle could be could be an effective and low-cost way to deal with symptoms of one of the most severe chronic respiratory diseases, a new trial from Turkey showed.
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) happens when swelling and irritation limit airflow in and out of the lungs. Nearly 16 million US adults have this disease, and many more aren’t aware that they have it, the CDC reports.
A leading cause of death worldwide, this condition makes breathing difficult, causes frequent coughing and wheezing and worsens over time. It can prevent patients from getting enough exercise, and even effect their cognition, impacting their ability to concentrate, remember or make decisions.
For many patients, COPD is also a significant financial burden. The types of treatment options vary from costly specialized medications like long-term maintenance inhalers and long-acting bronchodilators to frequent emergency interventions and life long interventions.
The average medical cost for a person living with COPD is $16,000 annually, compared to $6,000 for a person without the disease, according to the American Lung Association.
Researchers at Hacettepe University Faculty of Nursing in Turkey wanted to explore whether additional simple, low-cost techniques could complement existing COPD care.
“Laughter therapy had already shown promising results in a number of other chronic conditions,” said Dr. Goncagul Aldan, a lecturer and nurse who presented the research European Respiratory Society Congress in Spain.
“Its accessible, enjoyable nature suggests it could equally benefit COPD patients, not only in coping with the daily stress of living with a chronic illness, but also in directly supporting their respiratory health.”
How laughter can help with COPD
Researchers worked with 63 COPD patients at Ankara Bilkent City Hospital in Turkey.
The group was randomly split into three groups: one did pursed-lip breathing exercises, an established technique to help with COPD, while another group did laughter therapy. The final group did no therapy.
Pursed-lip breathing entails people breathing in through through their nose and out through puckered lips so that the exhale is longer. This keeps airways open and releases air trapped in the lungs.
Laughter therapy involved exercises like “rhythmic clapping with vocal sounds; playful laughter exercises, such as mimicking a motorcycle starting or a lion’s roar; a laughter meditation with spontaneous unforced laughter, and a relaxation with calm breathing and smiling.”
Participants did their exercises for 30 minutes three times a week for eight weeks.
Researchers found both exercises helped patients breathe easier — and the benefits lasted a month after the program ended. Patients who did the exercises were also in better overall health, but still needed the same amount of care.
“Laughter may exercise the breathing muscles, promote deeper exhalation, and trigger the release of endorphins, offering both physical and emotional relief,” Aldan said.
“Laughter therapy aims to evoke the effects of genuine laughter in the body. However, the mechanisms behind laughter therapy in COPD remain poorly understood, and more comprehensive research is needed.”
Researchers hope this can be another tool for COPD patients that doesn’t cost money and can be done at home without equipment or specialist support.
