Key result
Laughter-inducing interventions were associated with decreased blood pressure in pre-post measurements, but controlled between-group comparisons were non-significant.
Why the study?
The effects of laughter-inducing interventions on blood pressure and heart rate variability were not fully understood.
Do laughter-inducing interventions reduce blood pressure and improve heart rate variability?
Systematic Review
Do laughter-inducing interventions reduce blood pressure and improve heart rate variability?
Laughter-inducing interventions show inconsistent effects on blood pressure and heart rate variability, with controlled comparisons yielding non-significant results for blood pressure reduction.
Laughter may aid BP reduction; supports adjunctive nonpharmacologic approaches but variability by intervention and population warrants targeted trials.
In this systematic review, we sought to understand the effects of laughter-inducing interventions on blood pressure and heart rate variability. For this purpose, we identified 32 relevant records through database searching. The results suggest that laughter is associated with a decrease in blood pressure in pre–post measurements. However, this association varies according to the type of intervention delivered and the characteristics of participants. In controlled between-groups comparisons, the effect of laughter-inducing interventions on blood pressure was found to be non-significant, which can be due to the small number of studies available and its high level of heterogeneity. In studies involving heart rate variability, the most consistent findings point to an association between laughter and decreases in both frequency (LF/HF) and time-domain (SDNN) indicators. Longitudinal studies suggest that laughter frequency is associated with improved cardiovascular health. Several studies presented sub-optimal levels of quality, and more research is necessary to examine the impact of individual and intervention-related factors in the effectiveness of laughter-inducing interventions in cardiovascular health.
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Oliveira et al. (2022) reported a systematic review. Laughter-inducing interventions was evaluated on Blood pressure and heart rate variability. Laughter-inducing interventions were associated with decreased blood pressure in pre-post measurements, but controlled between-group comparisons were non-significant.
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