Having a good laugh with friends helps people deal with pain, a new study suggests. An international research team, led by Oxford University, found that real laughter triggers the release of protective endorphins, which manage pain and promote feelings of well being.
According to the team’s research, published online in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, watching just 15 minutes of comedy with others increased the pain threshold by an average of about 10 per cent. The fact that only hearty, rather than polite, laughter releases endorphins has probably evolved as a way of promoting socializing among humans, the researchers suggest. Many studies have already shown that laughter is 30 times more likely to occur if people are together rather than alone. The endorphin rush appears to be limited to a good belly laugh, shared with others. The paper distinguishes between unforced laughter and polite laughter. It concludes that when we laugh hard we produce a series of exhalations without drawing breath, an involuntary physical mechanism that is limited to humans and appears to trigger the release of endorphins.
Source: http://www.ox.ac.uk/media/news_stories/2011/111409_1.html
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