the times | Wednesday January 19 2022 17
News
Laughter really may be the best
medicine, especially when it is shared
with loved ones.
Japanese researchers found that
older people who laughed regularly
with friends and family were signifi-
cantly less likely to develop health
problems than those who mostly
laughed alone.
Laughing with one’s grandchildren,
for instance, was linked with nearly a
40 per cent decrease in the chances of
needing help with basic daily tasks in
your seventies and eighties.
“It has long been thought that laugh-
ter in daily life has health benefits,” Dr
Kenji Takeuchi, of Tohoku University,
who led the study, said. “However, most
of the epidemiological studies on
laughter in daily life have focused only
on the frequency of laughter, with little
focus on the types of situations in which
laughter occurs.”
The study, published in the journal
Preventive Medicine, looked at more
than 12,500 Japanese participants who
were 65 or older. They were enrolled in
Share a good laugh and lower the risk of bad health
Rhys Blakely Science Correspondent the Japan Gerontological Evaluation
Study, which began in 2010 with the
aim of untangling the factors asso-
ciated with well-being in older adults.
They completed questionnaires on
how often they laughed and whether
they laughed alone — for example,
while watching television or reading —
or with other people.
They were tracked for an average of
about six years each, during which time
1,420 of them developed health issues
that meant they required help for basic
daily tasks such as dressing themselves.
Regularly laughing in conversation
with friends was linked to a 29 per cent
lower risk of a person needing assist-
ance, compared with people who said
they mostly laughed alone. For those
who reported regularly laughing with
grandchildren, there was a 38 per cent
reduction. For those who laughed with
a partner, the risk fell by 39 per cent.
In a separate study, the same
researchers also found that people who
hardly ever laughed at all were about
40 per cent more likely to develop
conditions such as dementia, compared
with those who laughed regularly,
regardless of whether there were others
present.
These kinds of studies do not prove
cause and effect. It may be that people
who are healthier in the first place have
more cheerful dispositions. Professor
Sophie Scott, of University College
London, who was not involved in the
Japanese research, believes that a pro-
pensity to chuckle is likely to be both a
cause and a symptom of good health.
“It seems that there is something
about sharing laughter that really is
very, very beneficial,” she said.
Vigorous laughter causes the release
of endorphins, natural painkillers
which can also generate mild euphoria.It is also associated with lower levels of
the stress hormone cortisol. More con-
troversially, some studies suggest that
laughter is also linked to the release of
human growth hormone, which may
boost the immune system.
“But there’s a second side to all of this
— people don’t laugh randomly,” Scott
said. “As a scientist, I think of laughter
as something that happens during
interactions with others.”
Other studies have shown that the
size and richness of a person’s social
network is a very good predictor of
their mental and physical well-being,
and that shared laughter strengthens
social bonds.The best medicine
6 Laughter can cause the body to
produce its own natural painkillers.
“That nice fuzzy feeling is because
of endorphins,” says Sophie Scott
of University College London.
6 It also reduces adrenaline, which
can lead to lower anxiety levels.
6 Cortisol levels also fall. The stress
hormone “is one of the things that
wakes you up in the morning”, says
Scott. “It’s why people often feel
grotty first thing.”patrick kiddTMS
[email protected] | @timesdiaryA kingdom
of a stage
Hailed as the greatest actor of his
generation almost as soon as he
left Rada 40 years ago, Sir
Kenneth Branagh says he was
kept grounded by his upbringing
in working-class Belfast, subject of
his latest film. “You couldn’t take it
seriously because nobody you
knew would allow you to,” he says.
“Getting ideas above your station
was the cardinal sin.” His parents,
in particular, “didn’t really get
what my job was”, although they
were astonished by the size of the
set for Henry V, where their
28-year-old son was cementing his
reputation as the new Olivier by
directing the film and playing the
lead role, below. Looking round
the replica of the English court,
Branagh Sr had one burning
question. “What’s going to happen
to all this wood?” he asked. At
least his son assumed this was a
comment on the carpentry, not
the acting range of the extras.Boris Johnson’s “nobody told me
cocktail hour was against the rules”
defence for accidentally attending a
party in lockdown was roundly
mocked online. Even the Mary Rose
Museum had a pop, posting a
painting of Henry VIII’s flagship
keeling over with the words:
“Nobody warned me it was a bad
idea to make a sharp turn with the
gun ports open.” Like the ship, leaks
may prove terminal for the PM.musical youth
Political ambitions can start
young and don’t always go to
plan. Michelle Donelan, the
universities minister, tells the
Women with Balls podcast that
when she was a child her
strategy was to “become a
very successful popstar,
gain the youth vote, be
really popular and then
go into politics”. This
blueprint was stymied,however, by her mother, who saw
the flaw. “She shattered my
illusions when she told me I was
desperately terrible at singing.”rhyme and reason
The brand that is Liz Truss™ has
been demonstrating its loyalty to
Johnson with a series of soirées for
MPs and donors dubbed “fizz with
Liz” and “biz for Liz”. Better than
“cuss with Truss”, I suppose. Other
contenders need to follow suit and
form their rhyming campaigns. We
could have “craic with Sunak”,
“nitty-gritty with Priti”, “carbs with
Raab”, “punt with Hunt” and, for
needy backbenchers, “hug and
chat with Tugendhat”. And for the
never-happy Spartan tendency in
the party, “moan with Bone”.At least someone is doing well out
of the pandemic. A former bishop
alerts me via his Church Times
column to the Omicron restaurant
in West Bend, Wisconsin, which
keeps selling out of T-shirts that
advertise a Mexican beer with the
motto: “I got Corona at Omicron.”soldiering on
I went to a talk recently on the
Victoria Cross by Mark Smith, one
of the Antiques Roadshow experts,
who once bumped into Godfrey
Place, winner of the VC in 1944 for
his attack on the German warship
Tirpitz by midget submarine.
Recognising the war hero, who
had been played on screen by
John Mills, as he left a London
hotel, Smith thanked him for his
service and got him a taxi. He
then heard a loud woman’s voice
shouting after him: “Godfrey!
GODFREY! You’ve forgotten
your umbrella again and it’s
the THIRD you’ve lost this
week.” As she continued her
bombardment, Smith says Place
sighed and gave him a sad
look that seemed to say:
“Fifty years ago I was
fighting the Nazis and
now I’m bullied
by my wife.”