Laughter acts as a stress buffer -- and even smiling helps

Date:
July 30, 2020
Source:
University of Basel
Summary:
People who laugh frequently in their everyday lives may be better
equipped to deal with stressful events - although this does not
seem to apply to the intensity of laughter.



FULL STORY ========================================================================== People who laugh frequently in their everyday lives may be better equipped
to deal with stressful events -- although this does not seem to apply to
the intensity of laughter. These are the findings reported by a research
team from the University of Basel in the journal PLOS ONE.


==========================================================================
It is estimated that people typically laugh 18 times a day -- generally
during interactions with other people and depending on the degree of
pleasure they experience. Researchers have also reported differences
related to time of day, age, and gender -- for example, it is known
that women smile more than men on average. Now, researchers from the
Division of Clinical Psychology and Epidemiology of the Department of Psychology at the University of Basel have recently conducted a study
on the relationship between stressful events and laughter in terms of
perceived stress in everyday life.

Questions asked by app In the intensive longitudinal study, an acoustic
signal from a mobile phone app prompted participants to answer questions
eight times a day at irregular intervals for a period of 14 days. The
questions related to the frequency and intensity of laughter and the
reason for laughing -- as well as any stressful events or stress symptoms experienced -- in the time since the last signal.

Using this method, the researchers working with the lead authors,
Dr. Thea Zander-Schellenberg and Dr. Isabella Collins, were able to study
the relationships between laughter, stressful events, and physical and psychological symptoms of stress ("I had a headache" or "I felt restless")
as part of everyday life. The newly published analysis was based on data
from 41 psychology students, 33 of whom were women, with an average age
of just under 22.

Intensity of laughter has less influence The first result of the
observational study was expected based on the specialist literature:
in phases in which the subjects laughed frequently, stressful events
were associated with more minor symptoms of subjective stress.

However, the second finding was unexpected. When it came to the interplay between stressful events and intensity of laughter (strong, medium or
weak), there was no statistical correlation with stress symptoms. "This
could be because people are better at estimating the frequency of their laughter, rather than its intensity, over the last few hours," says the research team.


========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by University_of_Basel. Note: Content
may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Thea Zander-Schellenberg, Isabella Mutschler Collins, Marcel Miche',
Camille Guttmann, Roselind Lieb, Karina Wahl. Does laughing have
a stress-buffering effect in daily life? An intensive longitudinal
study.

PLOS ONE, 2020; 15 (7): e0235851 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0235851 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/07/200730110114.htm

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