title: A chuckle a day keeps the doctor away: therapeutic humor and laughter.
abstract: There are several beneficial efforts attributed to humor and laughter, including improved immune function, increased pain tolerance, and decreased stress response. Humor therapy, laughter therapy, laughter meditation,and laughter clubs all have unique implications as group programs and as self-management techniques. For practitioners to implement credible programs and effectively teach self-management techniques, further empirical research on the physical, psychosocial, debonafide, and the placebo effects of humor and laughter needs to be conducted.
authors.affiliation: Nursing Services, Naval Medical Center San Diego, California 92134-1005, USA. cmmacdonald@nmcsd.med.navy.mil
authors.forename: Catherine M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: MacDonald
mesh_terms: D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D007845:Laughter; D014925:Wit and Humor as Topic