It has long been known that laughter is the best medicine - but now it turns out that this is also true for the eyes.
A study found that laughter can be just as effective as eye drops when it comes to dry eyes, writes "Daily Mail", quoted by BTA.
Researchers suggest that laughter could be prescribed as an alternative treatment for the condition “dry eye syndrome”, which causes red and itchy eyes and which affects one in seven people.
In general, laughter is associated with numerous health benefits, from relieving stress and chronic pain to strengthening the immune system.
Scientists from Great Britain and China set out to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of laughter exercises in patients with symptoms of dry eye disease.
The study involved 283 people aged 18 to 45 diagnosed with this disease of the ocular surface.
They took sodium hyaluronic acid eye drops four times a day for eight weeks or were assigned to a laughter exercise group for the same period. After watching an instructional video, the laughing group was asked to vocalize and repeat phrases including “Hee, hee, hee“, “ha,ha,ha“ and “cabbage, cabbage, cabbage“.
They had to perform this in five-minute sessions a total of 30 times, using a facial recognition mobile app to standardize the exercise and improve facial movements.
Both treatments were stopped after eight weeks, and any change in the ocular surface discomfort score was measured at weeks ten and twelve.
The mean score at eight weeks was 10.5 points lower, indicating less discomfort, in the laughter exercise group and 8.83 points lower for those who used eye drops, suggesting that the procedure was more effective in the first group.
Laughter exercises also showed significant improvement in other indicators of eye health, such as post-blink wetness, function of the sebaceous glands that help prevent tears from evaporating too quickly, and general mental health.
Authors from the University of Belfast and Sun Yat-sen University in China write in the British Medical Journal that this could prove to be a cheap and effective alternative to the drops. They add: “As a safe, environmentally friendly and inexpensive intervention, laughter exercise may serve as a first-line home treatment for people with symptomatic dry eye disease and limited corneal moistening.
A study found that laughter can be just as effective as eye drops when it comes to dry eyes, writes "Daily Mail", quoted by BTA.
Researchers suggest that laughter could be prescribed as an alternative treatment for the condition “dry eye syndrome”, which causes red and itchy eyes and which affects one in seven people.
In general, laughter is associated with numerous health benefits, from relieving stress and chronic pain to strengthening the immune system.
Scientists from Great Britain and China set out to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of laughter exercises in patients with symptoms of dry eye disease.
The study involved 283 people aged 18 to 45 diagnosed with this disease of the ocular surface.
They took sodium hyaluronic acid eye drops four times a day for eight weeks or were assigned to a laughter exercise group for the same period. After watching an instructional video, the laughing group was asked to vocalize and repeat phrases including “Hee, hee, hee“, “ha,ha,ha“ and “cabbage, cabbage, cabbage“.
They had to perform this in five-minute sessions a total of 30 times, using a facial recognition mobile app to standardize the exercise and improve facial movements.
Both treatments were stopped after eight weeks, and any change in the ocular surface discomfort score was measured at weeks ten and twelve.
The mean score at eight weeks was 10.5 points lower, indicating less discomfort, in the laughter exercise group and 8.83 points lower for those who used eye drops, suggesting that the procedure was more effective in the first group.
Laughter exercises also showed significant improvement in other indicators of eye health, such as post-blink wetness, function of the sebaceous glands that help prevent tears from evaporating too quickly, and general mental health.
Authors from the University of Belfast and Sun Yat-sen University in China write in the British Medical Journal that this could prove to be a cheap and effective alternative to the drops. They add: “As a safe, environmentally friendly and inexpensive intervention, laughter exercise may serve as a first-line home treatment for people with symptomatic dry eye disease and limited corneal moistening.